Reading Between the Stars: How to Trust Gaia’s Parallaxes for Unstable Sources
This paper presents a method to correct Gaia's parallax uncertainties for stars with poor astrometric fits, typically caused by binaries. By simulating Gaia observations, El-Badry shows that uncertainty can be reliably adjusted using a formula based on RUWE, brightness, and parallax. This correction allows astronomers to use data from complex systems that would otherwise be discarded.
Revisiting HD 28185: The Surprising Discovery of an Outer Planet in a Saturn-like Orbit
Astronomers recently revisited the exoplanet system around the star HD 28185, leading to a surprising discovery. While it was already known to host a giant planet with an Earth-like orbit, new research by Alexander Venner and his team revealed a second planet, HD 28185 c, previously thought to be a brown dwarf. This outer planet, about six times the mass of Jupiter, follows a Saturn-like orbit, making it one of the most distant exoplanets detected through radial velocity and astrometry methods. The findings offer exciting insights into how distant giant planets may be more common than previously thought.