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Space

🚀 Space Pulse · 2026-09-13 22:00 UTC

⚡ TL;DR

NASA's exoplanet catalog lands six new worlds in a single day, anchored by a fresh batch of microlensing giants and warm Jupiters from 2026 survey campaigns.

A high-energy electron flux alert from NOAA has been running since September 10, keeping the space-weather picture active heading into mid-week.

🔭 DISCOVERIES

WARM JUPITER PAIR AROUND F-TYPE STARS

  • HD 278555 b is a gas giant of 0.84 Jupiter masses orbiting an F-type star every 28.8 days at 0.1985 AU, announced in 2026 and newly added to the NASA exoplanet catalog. [1]
  • HD 715 b weighs in at 0.635 Jupiter masses and takes 56.4 days to circle its F-type host at 0.336 AU, also confirmed in 2026. [2]
  • Both planets sit in the warm-Jupiter regime, a class thought to bridge hot Jupiters and cold giants in migration theory. [1] [2]

MICROLENSING HAUL ADDS FOUR COLD AND TEMPERATE GIANTS

  • KMT-2025-BLG-2272L b is a hefty 2.47-Jupiter-mass planet orbiting at 3.89 AU with a 9.7-year period, detected by the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network and announced in 2026. [3]
  • KMT-2025-BLG-0026L b clocks in at 2.13 Jupiter masses at 0.96 AU with a 1.4-year period, placing it near the habitable-zone edge of its unknown host star. [4]
  • KMT-2025-BLG-0030L b is 1.15 Jupiter masses at 2.35 AU on a 4.7-year orbit, a cold Jupiter analog from the same 2026 KMT survey. [5]
  • OGLE-2016-BLG-0261L b rounds out the set at 0.21 Jupiter masses and 0.72 AU with a 2.3-year period, a microlensing planet with roots in the 2016 OGLE survey now formally cataloged in 2026. [6]
  • All four were found via gravitational microlensing, the only technique routinely sensitive to cold giants and free-floating planets in the galactic bulge. [6] [3] [5] [4]

COMET NEOWISE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

  • NASA APOD for September 13, 2026 features Comet NEOWISE rising over the Adriatic Sea, giving the public a fresh look at one of the most visually celebrated comets of the decade. [7] [8]

☀️ SPACE WEATHER

ELEVATED ELECTRON FLUX PERSISTS AT EARTH

  • NOAA SWPC issued a Continued ALTEF3 alert (Serial 3743) at 08:27 UTC on September 13, confirming that 2 MeV integral electron flux has remained above 1,000 pfu since September 10 at 13:04 UTC. [9]
  • Yesterday's peak reached 1,828 pfu at 16:15 UTC on September 12, well above the 1,000 pfu alert threshold, posing elevated charging risks to satellites in high-altitude orbits. [9]
  • The event has now persisted for more than three days; operators of geostationary and GPS-orbit spacecraft should monitor deep-dielectric charging conditions. [9]

📄 RESEARCH

EXOPLANET CENSUS UPDATE

  • The six planets added to the NASA exoplanet catalog on September 12 to 13, 2026 span a wide range of architectures, from a sub-Saturn microlensing world at 0.21 Jupiter masses to a super-Jupiter at 2.47 masses, illustrating the diversity ground-based surveys continue to reveal. [1] [2] [6] [3] [5] [4]
  • The KMT microlensing detections (KMT-2025-BLG-2272L b, KMT-2025-BLG-0030L b, KMT-2025-BLG-0026L b) collectively suggest cold and temperate gas giants remain common in the galactic bulge stellar population surveyed by KMT. [3] [5] [4]
  • OGLE-2016-BLG-0261L b illustrates the long pipeline typical of microlensing science, where a 2016 event takes a decade of follow-up modeling before a planet mass and orbit can be formally confirmed and cataloged. [6]

📎 Sources

  1. HD 278555 b — NASA Science
  2. HD 715 b — NASA Science
  3. KMT-2025-BLG-2272L b — NASA Science
  4. KMT-2025-BLG-0026L b — NASA Science
  5. KMT-2025-BLG-0030L b — NASA Science
  6. OGLE-2016-BLG-0261L b — NASA Science
  7. APOD: 2026 September 13 – Comet NEOWISE Rising over the Adriat… — NASA News Releases
  8. APOD: 2026 September 13 – Comet NEOWISE Rising over the Adriat… — NASA Science
  9. Space Weather Message Code: ALTEF3 — NOAA SWPC Alerts

Curated from official sources — NASA/ESA/JAXA/ESO/NOAA/arXiv/Launch Library. Informational only.
Serial 20260913-22-v80 · 2026-09-13 22:00 UTC · pulse.uzylab.com

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