Phil Plait

Bad Astronomy

Carnival of Space 130

Collection of CRISPR-Cas mutagenised rice plants.

(Image Courtesy of the University of Milan) 

Moon-Rice

Learn about the Moon-Rice project, which aims to create rice crops that can grow in space and help keep astronauts healthy. 

Moon-Rice Could Soon Sprout in Space, Adding a Fresh Ingredient to Astronauts' Diets

Being bombarded with so much high-energy radiation does not bode well for HIP 67522 b. The planet is similar in size to Jupiter but has the density of candy floss, making it one of the wispiest exoplanets ever found.

Over time, the radiation carried by the flares is eroding away the planet’s wispy atmosphere, meaning it is losing mass much faster than we thought. In the next 100 million years, HIP 67522 b could go from an almost Jupiter-sized planet to a much smaller Neptune-sized planet.

(Image Credit: 
Janine Fohlmeister (Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam))

Cheops-stellar-flares

Learn about new observations that reveal an exoplanet is destroying itself by cuddling up to its host star, in an astronomical first.

A Clingy, Cotton Candy Exoplanet Is Causing Its Host Star to Flare Up

Sunday Newsletter 

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Get Your Weekly Dose of Fun, Quirky, and Fascinating Science — Our Sunday Newsletter Is Here

 Image of the disk around the star TWA 7 recorded using ESO’s Very Large Telescope’s SPHERE instrument. The image captured with JWST’s MIRI instrument is overlayed. We can clearly see the empty area around TWA 7 B in the R2 ring (CC #1). (Image Credit: JWST/ESO/Lagrange) 

JWST TWA7 

Learn more about TWA 7 b, an exoplanet with the mass of Saturn that was captured by creating a fake eclipse.

James Webb Space Telescope Captures Smallest Exoplanet Ever Seen in Historic First

Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy (Image Credit: muratart/Shutterstock) 

Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy

Learn about the new research that changes the estimates of the Milky Way’s demise.

Andromeda-Milky Way Galaxy Smash-Up May Not Happen As Soon As Expected

(Image Credit: MartiBstock/Shutterstock) 

Asteroid with chances of hitting the moon

Learn about the increased impact probability of 2024 YR4, an asteroid that has a small chance to hit the Moon in 2032.

Chances of City-Killer Asteroid Impacting the Moon Raised from 3.8 to 4.3 Percent