Kevin B. Stevenson

Meticulous 14-year observations of three 'cotton-candy' exoplanets in Kepler-51 yielded an unexpected surprise. The James Webb Space Telescope recorded the outermost known planet crossing the star's disk two hours ahead of schedule. The anomaly was only explained by adding an invisible fourth planet

Webb studied the planet HAT-P-26 b and found water, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide in its air. Previously, SO₂ had only been spotted on scorching hot giants or chilly sub-Neptunes; now it's clear that photochemistry works across a wide temperature range. A trend emerged: the higher the atmospher

LTT-9779 b is a planet from the 'hot Neptune desert', a region where worlds usually perish. But it survived thanks to a carbon cocoon: an atmosphere of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide turned out to be so thick that it doesn't evaporate even at 2000°C. On top of that, this exoplanet reflects 80% o

The James Webb telescope is hunting for an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1 e, but the star's flares get in the way. Scientists found a fix: record the noise using the neighboring airless planet TRAPPIST-1 b, then subtract it from the main signal. Early tests show the method works on quiet days, but a power