Tag Archives: exoplanet

Impossible exoplanets and Rhetoric

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This is episode 62 of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, our first release of 2022. Happy New year! In this episode, we’re doing something a little different. Traditionally we alternate between interviews and Science Explainy Bits, but the second segment here is a bit more philosophical than usual, and ran a bit short, so I’ve added something a bit more topical – some astronomy news! Impossible exoplanet As covered previously on this website, the science media were very excited to report … Continue reading →

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Giant exoplanet upsets theories on how planets form

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Astronomers have identified the biggest star known to have exoplanets yet, upsetting standard planetary formation models. To date, b Centauri is the biggest star known to host an exoplanet. Estimates of its mass put it at between two and four times the previous record holder, meaning it could be up to ten times bigger than our own Sun.

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Podcast #36: José da Silva at ScopeX 2018

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Welcome to Episode 36 of the Urban Astronomer podcast, and the first in our ScopeX 2018 series. In this episode we feature the first of the public lectures I recorded at ScopeX. It is by José da Silva, and he speaks about exoplanets, and what we can tell about their weather. Links This talk on YouTube ScopeX José on FaceBook

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Podcast #12: Interview with Jen Millard

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What a week! What with preparing my booth for ICON 2017 and interesting new projects at the day job, it’s taken me this long to finally finish editing and releasing this interview with Jen Millard.  I’m hoping you’ll find it well worth the wait, though, as Jen describes a whole new way of studying exoplanets observation that I’d never heard of before.  But in case you’re worried about too much high-level technical science talk, don’t worry.  She was able to … Continue reading →

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KELT-11b: an unusually puffy exoplanet

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In the constellation of the Sextant, lies a star, invisible to the naked eye. Until recently it was known only by its catalogue number HD93396. But recently, a robotic telescope in Sutherland, South Africa, called KELT-South noticed something unusual about it.  Every 4.7 days, it’s light would dim slightly, for seven hours.  KELT-South had found an exoplanet. The project scientists renamed the star KELT-11, and the planet KELT-11b. KELT-South is one of a pair of robotic telescopes. The name is an … Continue reading →