Latest about exoplanets
'Like a family photo of our solar system': The James Webb telescope is watching 2 alien planets being born before our eyes
Aimed at the nearby star PDS 70, the James Webb Space Telescope is watching newborn planets take shape before our eyes in uprecedented detail.
Newly discovered super-Earth orbits in and out of its star's habitable zone. Could life survive its extreme climate?
The climate on such a world must be beyond bizarre.
'Mathematically perfect' star system discovered 105 light-years from Earth may still be in its infancy. Could that change its prospects for life?
Once thought to be 8 billion years old, the star HD 110067 — famous for its six synchronized exoplanets — may be only 2.5 billion years old, new research suggests.
'Unique and extreme': James Webb telescope detects possible alien world bubbling over with volcanoes
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected possible signs of gases released by volcanic activity on a distant exoplanet.
'Ridiculously smooth': James Webb telescope spies unusual pancake-like disk around nearby star Vega — and scientists can't explain it
The nearby bright star Vega is surrounded by a surprisingly smooth, 100 billion-mile-wide disk of cosmic dust, confirming that it is not surrounded by any exoplanets, JWST images reveal. And scientists cannot explain its lack of alien worlds.
James Webb Space Telescope is 'science and magic rolled together,' says iconic astronomer Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Maggie Aderin-Pocock tells us about the power of the James Webb Space Telescope and how she inspires disadvantaged students to enter STEM.
32 alien planets that really exist
Beyond our solar system, countless alien worlds of lava, ice, water and noxious gas swirl through the cosmos. Here are some of the strangest exoplanets that scientists have discovered so far.
Space photo of the week: The 1st image of an alien planet
The Very Large Telescope in northern Chile imaged a "super-Jupiter" exoplanet called 2M1207b, precisely 20 years ago this week. This was the first direct visual confirmation of a world beyond our solar system.
James Webb telescope spots 6 enormous 'rogue planets' tumbling through space without a star
The James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered six "rogue planets" careening through space without a star. The objects are believed to have formed directly from gas collapse, blurring the lines between planets and stars.
