Exoplanet news, features and articles
Latest about Exoplanets
Scientists have a new way to find oceans — and possible alien life — on distant planets
By Ivan Paul published
Scientists have proposed a new technique to help researchers identify oceans on exoplanets — a key step to finding life outside our planet.
NASA identifies 17 planets with possible subsurface oceans, and they could be fit for life
By Conor Feehly published
A new NASA survey identified 17 exoplanets that may have the right conditions for liquid water oceans hidden beneath icy shells. The planets could be good candidates in the search for alien life.
Enormous planet discovered around tiny star could break our understanding of solar system formation
By Joanna Thompson published
The massive planet LHS 3154b orbits a star much smaller than Earth's sun, and its discovery could upend everything we think we know about how solar systems form.
6 alien worlds have been 'waltzing' in perfect rhythm for 4 billion years
By Robert Lea published
Six exoplanets with sizes between Earth and Neptune have been in rhythm with each other since they were born around the same star 4 billion years ago, new research suggests.
Scientists may finally understand why large alien planets keep turning into 'super-Earths'
By Sharmila Kuthunur published
New research finds that certain large exoplanets are shrinking due to internal processes, creating an abundance of rocky 'super-Earths'.
James Webb telescope detects 'fluffy' alien planet that rains sand
By Conor Feehly published
Clouds of silicate sand exist high in exoplanet WASP-107b's atmosphere, new James Webb Space Telescope observations reveal.
The oldest continents in the Milky Way may be 5 billion years older than Earth's
By Briley Lewis published
Several exoplanets at the edge of our galaxy could have formed continents — and advanced life — 5 billion years earlier than Earth, new research suggests.
James Webb telescope detects alien planet with clouds made of quartz
By Joanna Thompson published
The exoplanet WASP-17b's atmosphere is full of quartz clouds, according to a new James Webb Space Telescope observations.
Mysterious signals from 'hell planet' 40 light-years from Earth could finally be solved by James Webb Space Telescope
By Paul Sutter published
The hellish super-Earth '55 Cancri e' may be constantly losing and re-growing its atmosphere, a new study of the planet's strange transit signals suggests.
James Webb telescope sees potential signs of alien life in the atmosphere of a distant 'Goldilocks' water world
By Harry Baker published
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected potential traces of dimethyl sulfide, a chemical only known to be created by phytoplankton on Earth, in the atmosphere of an exoplanet believed to have its own liquid ocean.
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