exoplanets

Latest about exoplanets

An artist's depiction of K2-141b, showing molten rock evaporating into a thin atmosphere in the region closest to the exoplanet's star.

This bizarre planet could have supersonic winds in an atmosphere of vaporized rock

By Meghan Bartels published

Scientists think they have identified a lava world so dramatic that it might boast a thin regional atmosphere of vaporized rock where it is closest to its star.

Planets
A rogue planet bends the light of the star behind it, relative to Earth.

An Earth-size planet is careening untethered through the galaxy, scientists find

By Brandon Specktor published

'Rogue' planets are worlds without suns. Astronomers have discovered one the size of Earth for the first time ever.

Planets
Artist's illustration of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Using data from TESS, scientists have discovered an "improbable" exoplanet that should've been engulfed by its star but wasn't.

Distant alien planets could be turned into dark matter detectors

By Paul Sutter published

A pair of astronomers is advocating a daring new research program: to turn our widening search for life beyond Earth into a hunt for dark matter.

Dark Matter
The earth

Aliens on 1,000 nearby stars could see us, new study suggests

By Rafi Letzter published

Humans have gotten good at spotting planets orbiting alien stars. But how many of those alien stars are able to look back and see us?

Extraterrestrial Life
This artist's depiction shows the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone identified by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.

Planets more hospitable to life than Earth may already have been discovered

By Stephanie Pappas published

At least two dozen planets outside the solar system might be better for life than Earth.

Planets
This Earth-size planet (shown in this artistic illustration) zips around its star every 3.14 days.

'Pi planet' alien world takes 3.14 days to orbit its star

By Mike Wall published

Scientists have found an alien world that orbits its host star every 3.14 Earth days, a close approximation of the famous mathematical constant pi.

Extraterrestrial Life
Light curves around a black hole's event horizon in this illustration.

Thousands of Earthlike 'blanets' might circle the Milky Way's central black hole

By Rafi Letzter published

Tens of thousands of planets like Earth and Neptune might orbit the giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

Black Holes
The two giant planets in the TYC 8998-760-1 system are visible as two bright dots in the center (TYC 8998-760-1b) and bottom right (TYC 8998-760-1c) of the frame, noted by arrows. Other bright dots, which are background stars, are visible in the image as well. By taking different images at different times, the team was able to distinguish the planets from the background stars. The image was captured by blocking the light from the young, sunlike star (top-left of center) using a coronagraph, which allows for the fainter planets to be detected. The bright and dark seen on the star’s image are optical artifacts.

Multiplanet system around sunlike star photographed for 1st time ever

By Mike Wall published

For the first time ever, astronomers have directly imaged multiple planets orbiting a sunlike star.

Planets
This image shows the disk around the young AB Aurigae star, where the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has spotted signs of planet birth. Close to the center of the image, in the inner region of the disk, we see the "twist" (in very bright yellow) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. This twist lies at about the same distance from the AB Aurigae star as Neptune from the sun. The image was obtained with the VLT's SPHERE instrument in polarized light.

Baby exoplanet spotted growing around distant star (photo)

By Mike Wall published

New imagery pinpoints the spot where a baby planet is forming around the young star AB Aurigae, which lies 520 light-years from Earth.

Exoplanets
Illustration of a gas giant like Jupiter.

This bacteria can survive on pure hydrogen. Could alien life do the same?

By Diane Lincoln published

Could aliens that breathe helium and hydrogen live on exoplanets throughout the cosmos?

Extraterrestrial Life
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