Caltech
IPAC
JPL
NASA

NASA Exoplanet Science Institute Headlines

NExScI is the science operations and analysis center for NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. We provide tools and archives for the exoplanet community, administer the Sagan program of fellowships and workshops, and support the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer and administration of the NASA Keck telescope time. Click here to see past headlines and events.

Hot Jupiters in a Petri Dish

Nikole Lewis, a Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, is the lead author on a recent paper that discusses the results of the longest Spitzer observation yet of a hot Jupiter. "These planets are much hotter and more dynamic than our own Jupiter. Strong winds are churning material up from below, and the chemistry is always changing," said Lewis. Click for the press release and for the ApJ paper.

Fingerprinting Exoplanet Atmospheres

image NExScI director Chas Beichman is a co-author on a new ApJ paper that examines the first simultaneous spectroscopic observations of multiple planets in a planetary system other than our own. Click for the press release and for the ApJ paper.

Exoplanet Characterization by Proxy

Sarah Ballard, a Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Washington, is inferring the properties of small, relatively cool stars too distant for measurement, by comparing them to closer stars that now can be directly observed. Her results are discussed in a press release and will be published in ApJ.

NExScI 101

For an introduction to NExScI's managed and supported data tools, archives, telescope time, meetings, and fellowships, click here. This PDF file contains the NExScI brochures and handouts prepared for the January 2013 AAS meeting in Long Beach. The movie that we show at the NExScI booth can be viewed here.

Have We Found Other Earths?

Read the statement of Dr. John M. Grunsfeld, NASA's Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space U.S. House of Representatives.

2013 Sagan Summer Workshop Cancelled

The 2013 Sagan Summer Workshop on Imaging Planets and Disks has been cancelled due to impacts of the Federal Budget sequestration (full statement).

Announcing the 2013 Class of Sagan Fellows!

NExScI is pleased to announce the 2013 Sagan Postdoctoral Fellows. Click here for more information on the Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowship program.

Call for 2013B NASA Keck Proposals

The 2013B call is now closed. It included opportunities for Kepler Key Science and Comet ISON observations. Details can be found here.

NASA Keck Time Discovers Atmospheric Molecules around HR8799c

image NASA Keck PI, Dr. Travis Barman (Lowell Observatory) is part of a team that has made the most detailed examination to date of a Jupiter-sized exoplanet atmosphere. Using NASA time on the Keck II telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory, they have detected a cloudy atmosphere containing water vapor and carbon monoxide around HR8799c. Click here for the press release and here for the Science Express article.

Exoplanet Archive Releases KOI Lists

The NASA Exoplanet Archive has the newly released Kepler Object of Interest lists, including lists from quarters 1-8 and the cumulative list. The cumulative list contains a total of 3541 objects with 2740 confirmed planets and candidates. The Exoplanet Archive is funded by NASA to serve the user community working with exoplanet data. exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu

KOA Releases NIRC2 Data

The Keck Observatory Archive (KOA) has released raw and calibrated images from the Near Infrared Camera 2 (NIRC2). As of May 7, 1,240 nights of NIRC2 data have been archived, and 932 nights are public. These data include all four observing modes. Access NIRC2 data here.

2012 Sagan Summer Workshop on Exoplanet Light Curves

This was the largest summer workshop to date, with over 150 attendees. View presentations and videos from the workshop.