Astrophysicists from Liege have discovered three Earth-sized planets around a star 40 light years away. These planets could present habitable conditions on their surfaces. In addition, the large telescopes of the future will be capable of studying them in detail and detecting whether or not life exists on them!

While reviewing observations taken during flybys of Mars, Lauriane Soret and Jean-Claude Gérard were able to spot new aurorae in the Red Planet’s Southern Hemisphere and demonstrate their very peculiar features.

Located only 21 light years from Earth, HD 219134b is the nearest rocky planet known beyond our solar system. No doubt it will also be the most studied in the coming years.

On Jupiter, aurorae are linked to different phenomena, some of which have not yet been explained. Combined observations by means of the Hisaki and Hubble satellites have made it possible to identify one of these previously poorly understood mechanisms.

Astronomers from the Universities of Cambridge and Liège have measured significant changes in the temperature of a super-Earth, the famous 55 Cancri e, potentially induced by intense volcanic activity.