The Planet Crafter, a well-received survival crafting game, has officially launched version 1.0 on Steam, introducing a 10-person cooperative multiplayer mode and three new biomes. Players can now explore and terraform an alien world while encountering new, large animals and uncovering additional lore. The update also includes end-game content, procedural wrecks to discover, new crafting items, and various improvements. The game is currently available at a 30% discount until April 24.
Scientists have revealed that the Jupiter-like exoplanet WASP-12b, known as a "hot Jupiter," is doomed to be completely devoured by its star in just three million years, much sooner than previously thought. The extreme gravity of the star is already deforming and tearing apart the planet, with its atmosphere being stripped away. This rare and extreme planet, orbiting very close to its giant star, is being slowly cannibalized, and its tragic end has been predicted by researchers.
Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to obtain the most high-fidelity observations yet of an alien world named VHS 1256 b, which is just 70 light-years from Earth. The planetary-mass object has a 10,000-year orbit around not one but two stars and is ravaged by a constant, tempestuous storm of sand. The team identified many of the components of VHS 1256 b's atmosphere, including unambiguous detections of methane, carbon monoxide, and water, with additional evidence of carbon dioxide. Its mass straddles the boundary between giant planets and brown dwarfs, and its precise nature is unknown.
