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A Crystal Ball Into Our Solar System’s Future
Giant Gas Planet Orbiting a Dead Star Gives Glimpse Into the Predicted Aftermath of our Sun’s Demise Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Astronomers have discovered the very first confirmed planetary system that resembles the expected fate of our solar system, when the Sun reaches the end of its life in about five billion years. The researchers detected the […]
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A Black Hole Triggers a Premature Supernova
The first observation of a brand-new kind of supernova had been predicted by theorists but never before confirmed Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – In 2017, a particularly luminous and unusual source of radio waves was discovered in data taken by the Very Large Array (VLA) Sky Survey, a project that scans the night sky in radio wavelengths. […]
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Observatories Assemble: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Joins W. M. Keck Observatory and Japan’s Hisaki Satellite to Solve “Energy Crisis” on Jupiter
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Sitting more than five times the distance from the Sun as Earth, Jupiter is not expected to be particularly warm. Based on the amount of sunlight received, the average temperature in the planet’s upper atmosphere should be about minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit or a chilly minus 73 Celsius. Instead, the measured value […]
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Astronomers Probe Layer-Cake Structure of Brown Dwarf’s Atmosphere
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Jupiter may be the bully planet of our solar system because it’s the most massive planet, but it’s actually a runt compared to many of the giant planets found around other stars. These alien worlds, called super-Jupiters, weigh up to 13 times Jupiter’s mass. Astronomers have analyzed the composition of some of […]
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HR 8799 Super-Jupiters’ Days Measured for the First Time, Gives a New Spin on Unraveling Planet Formation Mystery
W. M. Keck Observatory Planet Imager and Characterizer Instrument Delivers First Science, Capturing Spin Measurements of HR 8799 Exoplanets Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Astronomers have captured the first-ever spin measurements of HR 8799, the famed system that made history as the very first exoplanetary system to have its image taken. Discovered in 2008 by two Maunakea […]
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Teardrop Star Reveals Hidden Supernova Doom
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Astronomers have made the rare sighting of two stars spiraling to their doom by spotting the tell-tale signs of a teardrop-shaped star. The tragic shape is caused by a massive nearby white dwarf distorting the star with its intense gravity, which will also be the catalyst for an eventual supernova that will […]
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A White Dwarf Living on the Edge
Astronomers Have Identified A White Dwarf So Massive That It Might Collapse Maunakea and Haleakala, Hawaiʻi – Astronomers have discovered the smallest and most massive white dwarf ever seen. The smoldering cinder, which formed when two less massive white dwarfs merged, is heavy, “packing a mass greater than that of our Sun into a body […]
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Abnormally High Alcohol and Mystery Heat Source Detected on Comet Wirtanen
Study Reveals Latest Details of Comet 46P/Wirtanen’s Chemical Composition Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Comet 46P/Wirtanen was releasing an unusual amount of alcohol as it made its historic flyby of Earth two and a half years ago. That’s one of the findings from the latest published study comet detectives conducted after observing 46P/Wirtanen with W. M. Keck […]
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New, Third Type of Supernova Observed
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – An international team of astronomers has captured the very first evidence of a new type of supernova. The discovery confirms a prediction made four decades ago and could lead to new insights into the life and death of stars. It also sheds new light on the thousand-year mystery of the supernova that […]
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30-year Stellar Survey Cracks Mysteries of Galaxy’s Giant Planets
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Current and former astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have wrapped up a massive collaborative study that set out to determine if most solar systems in the universe are similar to our own. With the help of W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi, the 30-year planetary […]
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