News & Media

A new model that accounts for the interplay of forces acting on newborn planets can explain two puzzling observations that have cropped up repeatedly among the more than 3,800 planetary systems cataloged to date. One puzzle known as the “radius valley” refers to the rarity of exoplanets with a radius about 1.8 times that of Earth. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft observed planets of this size about 2-3 times less frequently than it observed super-Earths with radii about 1.4 times that of Earth and mini-Neptunes with radii about 2.5 times Earth’s. The second mystery, known as “peas in a pod,” refers to neighboring...

“In the solar system, something happened to prevent the Earth from growing to become a much larger type of terrestrial planet called a super-Earth ,” said Rice University astrophysicist André Izidoro, referring to the massive rocky planets seen around at least 30% of sun-like stars in our galaxy. Izidoro and colleagues used a supercomputer to simulate the solar system’s formation hundreds of times. Their model, which is described in a study published online in Nature Astronomy, produced rings like those seen around many distant, young stars. It also faithfully reproduced several features of the solar system missed by many...

One of the research themes of CLEVER Planets is how life-essential elements are delivered to planets. One source of delivery is the bombardment, or late accretion phase. A study involving CLEVER Planets researchers Andre Izidoro and Rajdeep Dasgupta was published today in Nature Astronomy, exploring late accretion in the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system. TRAPPIST-1 is a small, ultra-cool star located 39 light years away, hosting seven Earth-sized planets that orbit the star in a near-perfect harmony. The investigators used this fragile orbital balance to place an upper limit on how much bombardment the planets could have tolerated in their infancy....

Research by CLEVER Planets investigators Damanveer Grewal and Rajdeep Dasgupta reveals that the prospects for life on a given planet depend not only on where the planet forms, but also how, linking Earth’s nitrogen budget to the rapid growth of moon- to Mars-sized bodies. In a study published in Nature Geoscience, Grewal and Dasgupta show the competition between the time it takes for material to accrete into a protoplanet and the time the protoplanet takes to separate into its distinct layers — a metallic core, a shell of silicate mantle and an atmospheric envelope in a process called planetary...

A new article in Nature Astronomy by CLEVER Planets scientists Damanveer Grewal, Rajdeep Dasgupta, and Bernard Marty shows that Earth’s nitrogen came from both the inner and outer regions of the disk that formed our solar system, contrary to an earlier theory. Nitrogen is a volatile element that, like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, makes life on Earth possible. Knowing its source offers clues to not only how rocky planets formed in the inner part of our solar system but also the dynamics of far-flung protoplanetary disks. “Researchers have always thought that the inner part of the solar system, within...

Carbon is one of the building blocks of life. At CLEVER Planets, we are interested in learning as much as possible into carbon’s history on Earth. A new paper released today in Nature Geosciences explores the Lomagundi event — a event occurring over 2 billion years ago and that describes a somewhat unique phase in carbon history. During this event, carbon isotope ratios were skewed. The CLEVER Planets researchers working on the paper developed a series of events that could have explained this skew. The crux of their theory lies in increased volcanic activity and cycling of carbon deep...

Earth’s breathable atmosphere is key for life, and a new study in Nature Geoscience by CLEVER Planets scientists James Eguchi, Rajdeep Dasgupta, and Johnny Seales suggests that the first burst of oxygen was added by a spate of volcanic eruptions brought about by tectonics, tying together the deep Earth and surface habitability. The study offers a new theory to help explain the appearance of significant concentrations of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere about 2.5 billion years ago, something scientists call the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). Scientists have long pointed to photosynthesis as a likely source for increased oxygen during the...

One of the main tasks of CLEVER Planets is to study how elements like carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and others ended up on Earth. And not just ended up on Earth, but in places on Earth where they could be accessed by emerging life-forms that must have them (i.e., not buried deeply beneath the surface.) Now, CLEVER Planets researchers have helped to write “Deep carbon: Past to present“, a book that “offers a critical summary” of what is known about deep carbon. “Deep” carbon refers to buried carbon. It may be buried, but scientists are discovering that deep carbon still...

CLEVER Planets recently posted a Twitter story on some sharp swings in climate that Earth has experienced over its billions of years of existence. Case in point: about half a billion years ago, plants started to creep out of the river beds and aquatic sphere, and migrated up to land. We all know how plants suck up carbon dioxide, and the loss of carbon in the atmosphere led to an ice age that lasted a whopping hundred million years! Who knew that a humble plant had so much power? Not to be outdone, more dramatic events like volcanic eruptions...