Questions tagged [exoplanet]
Questions regarding planets that lie outside the Solar System.
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Which is the closest exoplanet to Earth?
The closest star to Earth (after the Sun) is well-known: Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years away. But what about the closest exoplanet to Earth, outside of the Solar System?
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What observational constraints are there in detecting the presence of volcanism on exoplanets?
This question is somewhat related to my earlier question How are the compositional components of exoplanet atmospheres differentiated?, but this about a specific surface-atmospheric phenomena - ...
user8
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What practical considerations are there for amateur observations of transiting exoplanets?
Obviously, I am not referring to actual viewing of the exoplanets themselves, but detecting their effects on the brightness of the light emitted from the parent star (as in the diagram below from The ...
user8
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What is the current accepted theory for the fate of hot Jupiters?
It is well established that one main feature of many hot jupiters is their close proximity to their parent star, usually the equivalent of being within the orbit of Mercury. So, these planets are gas ...
user8
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Is the surface of TrES-2b actually dark?
The exoplanet TrES-2b is known as the darkest planet ever found, reflecting <1% of the light that hits it.
What does it mean in respect to the surface? What would we see below the atmosphere of ...
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Do any known exoplanetary/solar bodies have "annular" eclipses similar to Earth's?
This was somewhat inspired by this question but is a bit different: I am interested in if there are any known systems in which the angular size of the eclipsing object is almost the same as the ...
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What percent of planets are in the position that they could be viewed edge-on from Earth? (and thus able to undergo transits)
Star number 12644769 from the Kepler Input Catalog was identified as
an eclipsing binary with a 41-day period, from the detection of its
mutual eclipses (9). Eclipses occur because the orbital ...
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What proportion of planetary systems have been found with 'Hot Jupiters'
According to the NASA website "The strange attraction of Hot Jupiters", one of the main types of exoplanets that have been detected are Hot Jupiters, which are
These are behemoth worlds that orbit ...
user8
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How hot can a planet be?
Given that some exoplanets, particular "Hot Jupiters", orbit very closely to their parent star, how hot can these planets become?
What is the hottest exoplanet discovered so far?
user8
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What is the most extreme weather found on another planet?
On Venus, there is really inhospitable weather, as well as within the gas giants in our solar system. Are there examples of even more extreme weather on planets found in other solar systems than ours?
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How are the compositional components of exoplanet atmospheres differentiated?
How are exoplanetary atmosphere compositional spectra distinguished from those of the parent star(s), from the composition of the planetary surface or any other factor? Is it actually possible to ...
user8