/newsroom/taxonomy/term/2622/all en /newsroom/channels/news/secrets-hot-saturn-and-its-spotted-star-unlocked-mcgill-universite-de-montreal-astronomers-353964 <p>Exoplanets, planets located beyond our Solar System, captivate both scientists and the public, holding the promise of unveiling diverse planetary systems and potentially habitable worlds. Despite being very much not like our Earth, large gas giant planets found very close to their stars have proven to be ideal test targets for telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to refine astronomers’ methods of understanding exoplanets.</p> Fri, 05 Jan 2024 16:47:02 +0000 claire.loewen@mcgill.ca 307572 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/hot-jupiter-unusual-winds-284028 <p>The hottest point on a gaseous planet near a distant star isn’t where astrophysicists expected it to be – a discovery that challenges scientists’ understanding of the many planets of this type found in solar systems outside our own.</p> <p><span>Unlike our familiar planet Jupiter, so-called hot Jupiters circle astonishingly close to their host star -- so close that it typically takes fewer than three days to complete an orbit.  And one hemisphere of these planets always faces its host star, while the other faces permanently out into the dark.</span></p> Fri, 19 Jan 2018 21:53:02 +0000 christopher.chipello@mcgill.ca 32859 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/nasas-hubble-captures-blistering-pitch-black-planet-270306 <p>NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a planet outside our solar system that looks as black as fresh asphalt because it eats light rather than reflecting it back into space. This light-eating prowess is due to the planet's unique capability to trap at least 94 percent of the visible starlight falling into its atmosphere.</p> Thu, 14 Sep 2017 15:13:06 +0000 justin.dupuis@mcgill.ca 32288 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/expert-nasa-news-conference-exoplanet-feb-22-2017-266556 <p>NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets. The event will air live on NASA Television. (Source: NASA)</p> Wed, 22 Feb 2017 15:39:35 +0000 vincent.allaire@mcgill.ca 26729 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/nearing-limits-life-earth-257865 <p><em><strong>By Katherine Gombay, </strong><strong><a href="/newsroom/">McGill Newsroom</a></strong></em></p> <p><em>Failure to find active microbes in coldest Antarctic soils has implications for search for life on Mars</em></p> Mon, 18 Jan 2016 17:11:06 +0000 nima.adibpour@mail.mcgill.ca 25096 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/water-mars-nasa-announcement-255675 <p> Mon, 28 Sep 2015 15:22:40 +0000 vincent.allaire@mcgill.ca 24495 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/nasa-telescopes-find-galaxy-cluster-vibrant-heart-255122 <p><span>"Usually, the stars at the centers of galaxy clusters are old and dead, essentially fossils," said Tracy Webb of Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Montreal, Canada, lead author of a new paper on the findings accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. "But we think the giant galaxy at the center of this cluster is furiously making new stars after merging with a smaller galaxy."</span></p> <p> Fri, 11 Sep 2015 01:00:57 +0000 laurie.devine@mcgill.ca 24463 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/keplers-new-discoveries-july-23-254193 <p> Thu, 23 Jul 2015 13:10:10 +0000 vincent.allaire@mcgill.ca 24352 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/new-horizons-probe-pluto-flyby-july-14-253779 <p> Fri, 03 Jul 2015 20:54:41 +0000 melody.enguix@mcgill.ca 24286 at /newsroom