At a distance of 11.9 light years, Epsilon Indi (ε Indi) is an orange dwarf star (also known as a K dwarf) with 71% of the Sun’s diameter. An international team1, led by Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA2) reseacher Tiago Campante, studied this star...
How many earth-like planets orbit the habitable zone of solar-like stars? How planets form and evolve in their planetary systems? What about the interaction with their stars? These are among the questions the ESA PLATO mission is called to answer, through exquisite...
A rare star system with six exoplanets has been unlocked with the help of ESA’s Cheops mission. The discovery is particularly valuable because the planets’ orbital configuration shows that the system is largely unchanged since its formation more than a billion years ago.
From 25 to 27 September, the INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Catania will host a workshop dedicated to PLATO, the 3rd mission of class M in the ESA Cosmic Vision program. Its main goal is detecting terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of solar type stars. With...