Discoveries

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In: Discoveries, Exoplanets, History, Observatory, Reflections

50 planet discoveries, that is.  The 50th, TOI-564b was announced on arxiv today, a nice Xmas present. A hot Jupiter in a grazing orbit, this discovery makes a nod to the past, and points to the future. The past, because the first exoplanet found, in 1995, was a hot Jupiter.  The future because this one was found by TESS, which is likely to dominate discoveries for years to come. As is customary, milestones are occasions for reflection.  Back in Oct 2010 PEST was just a plywood shell, and planet discovery was just a dream.   Now, the list of PEST co-discoveries includes a diversity ofRead More →

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In: Discoveries, Exoplanets, Reflections, TESS

The email a few weeks ago said; “Thank you again for publishing with us. As a thank you to our accepted authors, you are invited to receive a one year complimentary personal subscription to Nature.” Now the first copy has arrived on my desk.  This may not seem a big deal, but Nature is probably the most prestigious multi-disciplinary science journal in the world – the wave nature of particles, the structure of DNA, nuclear fission and plate tectonics were all first announced in its pages. And I’m receiving it as an author, on publication in Nature Astronomy of the the first TESS planet discoveriesRead More →

Artist’s impression of LHS 1140b transiting its host, a small, faint red star. Depicted in blue is the atmosphere the planet may have retained. Credit: M. Weiss/CfA

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In: Discoveries, Exoplanets

There is a new top candidate for the best place to search for life outside our Solar System.  Announced in Nature on April 20th 2017, LHS 1140b is a super-Earth in the habitable zone of a nearby small star.  This is the story of that discovery and the role PEST played.Read More →