Press Releases

The most recent

Funding for Mont-Mégantic Observatory secured for five years
August 8 2018

Funding for Mont-Mégantic Observatory secured for five years

Ottawa and Quebec announce $4M in funding for the world-class observatory through 2023. With a…

Discovering the closest habitable worlds: the grand planet survey
April 5 2018

Discovering the closest habitable worlds: the grand planet survey

SPIRou’s long awaited large planet survey will be debuting soon. This program will extent for…

When do aging brown dwarfs sweep the clouds away?
February 27 2018

When do aging brown dwarfs sweep the clouds away?

Brown dwarfs, the larger cousins of giant planets, undergo atmospheric changes from cloudy to cloudless…

A ‘hot Jupiter’ with unusual winds
January 22 2018

A ‘hot Jupiter’ with unusual winds

Puzzling finding raises new questions about atmospheric physics of giant planets The hottest point on…

Scientists Solve the Mystery of Blinking Brown Dwarfs
August 17 2017

Scientists Solve the Mystery of Blinking Brown Dwarfs

Dim objects called brown dwarfs, less massive than the Sun but more massive than Jupiter,…

When a brown dwarf is actually a planetary mass object
May 9 2017

When a brown dwarf is actually a planetary mass object

Sometimes a brown dwarf is actually a planet—or planet-like anyway. A team led by Carnegie’s…

New measurements of the WASP-47 System Point to a Puzzling Formation History
May 9 2017

New measurements of the WASP-47 System Point to a Puzzling Formation History

A team led by iREx researcher Lauren Weiss combined measurements from the W. M. Keck…

New low-mass objects could help refine planetary evolution
September 30 2016

New low-mass objects could help refine planetary evolution

When a star is young, it is often still surrounded by a primordial rotating disk…

Brown dwarfs hiding in plain sight in our solar neighborhood
September 6 2016

Brown dwarfs hiding in plain sight in our solar neighborhood

Cool brown dwarfs are a hot topic in astronomy right now. Smaller than stars and…

Planet-Devouring Star Reveals Possible Limestone Crumbs
July 1 2016

Planet-Devouring Star Reveals Possible Limestone Crumbs

A group of researchers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have discovered a planet-like body…

A newborn giant planet flying close to its star
July 1 2016

A newborn giant planet flying close to its star

For the last 20 years, the giant planets known as hot Jupiters have presented astronomers…

Trottier Foundation donates $1 million towards search for extraterrestrial life
October 7 2015

Trottier Foundation donates $1 million towards search for extraterrestrial life

The Trottier Foundation donates $1 million to Université de Montréal’s Institute for Research on Exoplanets,…