Experts: Canadian astronomers set to join Ariel space mission

Published: 25 July 2023

This week Canada announced it will contribute to the European Space Agency’s Ariel mission. A first mission of its kind, the Ariel space telescope will launch in 2029 to study the atmospheres of...

New insights into seasons on a planet outside our solar system

Published: 13 January 2022

XO-3b, a hot Jupiter on an eccentric orbit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

Astronomers uncover mysterious origins of ‘super-Earths’

Published: 10 February 2021

Mini-Neptunes and super-Earths up to four times the size of our own are the most common exoplanets orbiting stars beyond our solar system. Until now, super-Earths were thought to be the rocky cores...

Canadian astronomers determine Earth’s fingerprint in hopes of finding habitable planets beyond the Solar System

Published: 28 August 2019

Two McGill University astronomers have assembled a “fingerprint” for Earth, which could be used to identify a planet beyond our Solar System capable of supporting life.

The dark side of extrasolar planets share surprisingly similar temperatures 

Published: 26 August 2019

A new study by McGill University astronomers has found that the temperature on the nightsides of different hot Jupiters is surprisingly uniform, suggesting the dark side of these massive gaseous...

What will be the next big things in astronomy?

Published: 30 May 2019

It’s been an exciting time for astronomy lovers in the past few years: the first black hole picture amazed, many exoplanets have been discovered, gravitational waves were observed for the first...

Billion-year-old lake deposit yields clues to Earth’s ancient biosphere

Published: 18 July 2018

A sample of ancient oxygen, teased out of a 1.4 billion-year-old evaporative lake deposit in Ontario, provides fresh evidence of what the Earth’s atmosphere and biosphere were like during the...

New theory on how Earth’s crust was created

Published: 5 May 2017

More than 90% of Earth’s continental crust is made up of silica-rich minerals, such as feldspar and quartz. But where did this silica-enriched material come from? And could it provide a clue in the...

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