world development and scientific research

  Gaseous worlds similar to Neptune that are about Neptune's size                                    A Neptunian planet is what? Neptunian exoplanets resemble our solar system's Neptune or Uranus in size. (Neptune has a radius almost four times that of Earth and a mass nearly 17 times that of Earth.) The interiors of Neptunian exoplanets could vary, but they are all likely to be rocky with heavy metals in their cores. The atmospheres of Neptunian planets are often dominated by hydrogen and helium. Mini-Neptunes, planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, are also being found. In our solar system, there are no planets like these. Discover some planets that resemble Neptune. HAT-P-26_b                  ...

  A gas giant is what? A massive planet primarily made of helium and/or hydrogen is referred to as a gas giant. These planets feature swirling gases atop a solid core rather than hard surfaces, similar to Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. Exoplanets that are gas giants can be far bigger than Jupiter and orbit their stars much more closely than any planets in our solar system. Our knowledge of the formation and evolution of planets for the most of human history was based on the eight (or nine) planets in our solar system. But during the past 25 years, more than 4,000 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, have been found, and this has completely transformed everything. Helium and/or hydrogen make up the majority of gas giants in our solar system, such as Jupiter and Saturn. "Hot Jupiters" are gas giants that are located closer to their stars. Within these broad groups is much diversity. For example, hot Jupiters, which are gas giants like Jupiter but orbi...

Over the past few hundred years, Earth has been demoted from its former position as the center of the cosmos. We now know that we are probably merely one of the trillions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy, and one of the smaller ones at that, in an era of rapid scientific discovery. But Earth continues to be exceptional and unique thus far. Despite intensive exploration of the solar system and the thousands of exoplanets that have been confirmed by our increasingly sophisticated telescopes, our planet is still the only one that is known to support life. It's an embarrassment of riches in some ways. From the boiling, corrosive lakes of Yellowstone National Park to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, Earth's plentiful, tenacious, and ubiquitous lifeforms appear to occupy nearly every nook and cranny. Only a few hundred million years, or an eyeblink in geologic time, may have passed since the formation of Earth from a spinning disc of gas and dust. The evolution of Earth However, Eart...