methane has been being found on a bunch of exoplanets recently and that’s good

So there’s a bit of a problem in astronomy called the “missing methane” problem. Methane is a very common chemical in our solar system, but for some reason we weren’t finding it in other solar systems, which was weird.
But recently with the James Webb Space Telescope we’ve found some methane in the atmospheres of two planets:
-Wadirum, (originally named WASP-80b before being given an official name in 2019) a planet half the size of jupiter and very, very hot
-and K2-18b, a planet 8x bigger than earth that we recently confirmed was a hycean planet (a hydrogen atmosphere and a gigantic global ocean)

So looks like the solution to the missing methane was we just weren’t looking hard enough

Mulchatna is a cool planet

It's 3.5x the size of Jupiter (and actually exists in real life), so its bigger than every planet in the solar system combined and then some, and orbits closer to its star than Mercury orbits the sun. It also has a weirdly-shaped orbit. It's an oval, instead of a circle. This means that it's perihelion, or closest point to its star, and aphelion, or furthest point, are very different distances, which causes Mulchatna to have some super extreme seasons.

Like the temperature variations are measured in the thousands of degrees. It's a crazy type of planet called an "eccentric Jupiter" and we actually know of quite a few of them.

Here's a video where I explain it more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GwbkS-J4zk

The planet Janssen: Is it made of diamonds or not?

55 Cancri is a real star system located 41 light-years away from earth. It has five known planets, the first of them being 55 Cancri e, which is officially named Janssen.
Janssen is a super-Earth planet, meaning it's not a gas giant, but it's way bigger than Earth. It also orbits its star once every 18 hours, so it's year is less than a day on Earth.
Because of this, Janssen is really hot. It's a lava planet. However, it's star, Copernicus, has a lot of carbon inside it. This is weird for a star. Because stars and planets form out of the same material, Copernicus's planets, including Janssen, are also probably carbon-rich.

Carbon, under constant heat and pressure, forms diamonds.
Janssen is under constant heat and pressure, and is probably really carbon-rich. This means that up to 1/3 of the planet might be made of diamonds. Imagine two entire earths, core, crust, mantle, and all, but just made of diamonds.
Janssen would have more diamonds than that.

But, this is unconfirmed. Janssen might not be a diamond planet. But it also could be. It's an actual possibility that a close star to the Solar System could have a planet worth a few nonillion dollars.



For more information, I made a video about Janssen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TXrnXk1hh4

WE MIGHT HAVE JUST DETECTED ALIEN LIFE
THIS IS NOT CLICKBAIT IM SERIOUS

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, we analyzed the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b.


K2-18b is half the size of Neptune, and so is right between the sizes of a really big rocky planet or a really small ice giant, so we don’t really know which one it is. What we do know though is that it has a thick atmosphere made of mostly hydrogen, and it might have an global ocean of water.
This type of planet is called a Hycean Planet, or a planet with a thick hydrogen atmosphere and a huge ocean.

But hydrogen and water isn’t the only thing that was detected. Methane and carbon dioxide were also found, which are chemicals created by life. However, they are also created by non-living processes, so c02 and ch4 isn’t a definite biosignature yet.
What is a biosignature is dimethyl sulfide, a chemical produced by so many ocean bacteria it’s called the “smell of the sea”.

Hints of dimethyl sulfide were detected on K2-18b, an ocean planet. This detection is not confirmed, and needs more data, but if it is real, then we just detected our first sign of alien life outside the solar system.

telling minecraft players about planets
its been a while, but today's planet is Phailinsiam

(Fail-in-see-ahm)

Phailinsiam, also known as GJ 3470 b, is an ice giant exoplanet about 96 light-years away from Earth. It's 12x bigger than Earth, making it a bit smaller than Neptune.

Phailinsiam, despite being an ice giant, is over 600 degrees fahrenheit. It's only called an "ice" giant because it's likely made of mostly water, like Uranus or Neptune. But Phailinsiam won't remain an ice giant much longer.
That's because it's atmosphere is currently being blasted into space at a rate of 100,000 tons per second. That means it looses half the mass of planet Earth every billion years. At that rate, in just a few billion years, Phailinsiam will lose its atmosphere entirely and just become an exposed core, or a Chthonian Planet.

Phailinsiam's atmosphere is also the most well-studied of any exoplanet, and we even know the color of the planet: a hazy blue. So, it makes sense that the planet was named after a blue Siamese sapphire.

Made a new video for my colonization of the solar system project: youtu.be/vtY8nr0UdTQ?si=Ycz8xSdSU3AjpPCc

Member interviews are officially back! Peep our interview with YokaiS and learn a bit about their modeling, animation, robotics, data packing and inspirations!

The potentially rocky exoplanet size comparison
This is a chart I've made of various rocky exoplanets, compared to Earth. They are:

WD 1145+017 b: the smallest known exoplanet, its about the size of Haumea

Draugr, Poltergeist, and Phobetor: These were some of the first few exoplanets ever discovered, and they orbit a dead star called a pulsar. Draugr is about the size of Mercury and Poltergeist and Phobetor are 4x bigger than Earth.

Kua'kua: Also known as LHS 3844 b, this is an exoplanet about the size of Earth, which has been studied by the James Webb Space Telescope and was confirmed to have almost no atmosphere.

Kepler-452 b: a potentially habitable exoplanet 5x the mass of Earth.

Janssen: this one's also known as 55 cancri e, but is properly named Janssen. It's a lava planet 8x the mass of Earth.

Kepler-22b: another potentially habitable exoplanet, about 9x the mass of earth

Enaiposha: This planet, also known as GJ 1214b, is the most likely candidate we have for a planet made almost entirely of water, or an ocean planet. "Enaiposha" literally means "large body of water" in the Maa language.

TOI-849b: the largest known rocky planet, at 40x the mass of Earth. It's most likely the exposed core of a gas giant that got its atmosphere blown away by radiation. This is also known as a Chthonian Planet.

Here's part one of the Colonization of the Asteroid Belt, part of my Colonization of the Solar System series im uploading to youtube!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-TA3LQef9A

Just found a second size comparison I thought was cool

This is the planet Janssen compared to Earth and Mars.
Janssen is a giant lava planet 8x more massive than Earth orbiting a star called Copernicus.

These are 10 real gas giant exoplanets in our galaxy, with jupiter for comparison.

All 10 of these planets are "hot Jupiters" meaning they're large, gas giant planets that are scorching hot. Some of these reach over 2,000 degrees.
(Also note: other than HD 189733 b, we dont know what these planets look like, these are just artists interpretations. Even for HD 189733b, we only know that its blue in color, not what its clouds look like)

india has become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon with their successful chandrayaan-3 mission today