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In another first for modern astronomy, astronomers at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have produced what may the first direct photograph of an exoplanet that is orbiting a star that has another previously-known planet that was found using the proven "transit method". The transit method is where the planet’s presence is detected by the dimming of the parent star as the planet transits between the star and Earth.

"If it is confirmed that CVSO 30c orbits CVSO 30, this would be the first star system to host both a close-in exoplanet detected by the transit method and a far-out exoplanet detected by direct imaging," according to the ESO release article.
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NASA’s Juno spacecraft is scheduled to enter orbit around our solar system’s largest planet on the July 4th holiday. While the probe will be trying to avoid fireworks on Independence Day, it will instead be treated to an amazing view of Jupiter, a colorful globe of storms 300 times more massive than the Earth.
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In The Martian, fictional astronaut and consummate wiseacre Mark Watney survives being stranded on the red planet by growing potatoes in the Martian soil, extending his usual rations well past their expected usefulness. But in the real world, there have been concerns over using Mars’s soil to grow food, due to there being a great deal more heavy elements found in it, as compared to what’s found in typical Earth dirt. However, a new study from the Netherlands appears to show that Watney may have been on to something.
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Last October, researchers with the Kepler Planet Hunters program announced the discovery of unusual patterns in the light output of a star indexed as KIC 8462852, patterns that could only be explained by massive objects in orbit around the star, blocking a significant portion of its light. While many theories were put forward to explain the phenomenon, ranging from proto-planetary debris to massive comets, all of the explanations failed to fit what was being observed — except for the otherwise controversial idea that the light might be blocked by massive alien artifacts.
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