Arriving at Space Station Gamma near Exoplanet 14853. Built over thousands of years, this hollow sphere has been constructed to the exact specifications of Blar Bindlestaff, who all local citizens know from the oft repeated video of the opening ceremony. Historians use Canterbury Cathedral, Sagrada Família or The Titan Hexagon as a metaphor, but unlike those constructions, it continues to grow. New simultaneous housing units are built on exact opposites to keep the perfect balance.

#scifi #exoplanet #MicroFiction #bloomscrolling #nature #photography

#UniBe:
"
Angesichts der bemerkenswerten Erfolge des Weltraumteleskops CHEOPS hat die Europäische Weltraumorganisation (ESA) die erneute Verlängerung der CHEOPS-Mission beschlossen. Das Weltraumteleskop, das an der Universität Bern gebaut wurde und dessen wissenschaftliches Operationszentrum sich an der Universität Genf befindet, wird nun bis Ende 2029 weiter betrieben. ..
"
https://mediarelations.unibe.ch/medienmitteilungen/2026/medienmitteilungen_2026/cheops_weltraummission_verlaengert/index_ger.html

11.6.2026

#CHEOPS #CSH #ESA #Exoplanet #Raumfahrt #Schweiz #SpaceFlight #Weltraumteleskop

Astronomers have revealed distinct differences in atmospheric conditions between the morning and evening transition zones of the ultra-hot gas #planet WASP-121 b, which separate day from night, commonly called terminators.

This phenomenon had previously been predicted by theoretical computations.

The discovery corresponds to an asymmetry in the absorption of infrared light received from the host #star, which is partially filtered through the planet's #atmosphere during its #transit.

The researchers interpret this as the result of non-uniform temperatures and chemical compositions in the #exoplanet's atmosphere.

The evening terminator absorbs more light than the morning side, consistent with the commonly accepted picture of powerful winds that transport intense heat from the day to the night side. Hot winds follow the planet's rotation eastward, which heats the evening zone.

With rising temperatures, this region is bound to expand, increasing the planet's cross-section and allowing it to absorb stellar radiation more efficiently.

#astronomy #exoplanets
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-jwst-reveals-dawn-dusk-atmosphere.html

Paper by Gapp et al. (2026):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02887-6

Spied from orbit around Exoplanet 38502, the newest in runabout spacecraft. The designer, Astrid Hoku, wanted to call it ‘Bird of Prey’, but the marketing department felt that it was not suitable for the desired consumer. Later they accepted ‘Accipiter’ as a name, and both sides were vaguely happy in the enterprise.

#scifi #exoplanet #MicroFiction #bloomscrolling #nature #photography

Sand clouds form every morning but clear up by nightfall on WASP-94A b, a well-studied gas giant located nearly 700 light years away from Earth.

New research using data from the #JWST is among the first to detect #cloud cycles on a Hot #Jupiter #exoplanet.

By isolating the clouds, researchers were able to more accurately measure the properties of the #planet's #atmosphere and provide one of the clearest pictures to date of the planet's composition.

Observations revealed that mornings and evenings on WASP-94A b have extremely different weather patterns: Mornings are riddled with clouds made of magnesium silicate, a common mineral found in rocks, while the evening has clear skies.

Hot Jupiter planets orbit much closer to their stars—closer even than Mercury to the sun—and therefore are much hotter and are exposed to more radiation. Because of their extreme environments, these planets also make good laboratories to study the chemistry and physics of cloud dynamics.

#astronomy #exoplanets
https://hub.jhu.edu/2026/05/21/astronomy-exoplanet-atmospheres-detecting-clouds/

Paper by Mukherjee et al. (2026):
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx5903