exoplanets

Latest about exoplanets

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
An artist's depiction of a super-Earth exoplanet.

Scientists spot super-Earth planet in Earth-like orbit

By Meghan Bartels published

Scientists suspect they have identified an intriguing new alien planet in a particularly roundabout way.

Planets
An artist's depiction of a distorted exoplanet.

Heavy-metal alien planet may be shaped like a football

By Charles Q. Choi published

An exoplanet may be shaped like an American football due to the mighty gravitational forces it experiences close to its star, a new study finds.

Extraterrestrial Life
This artist's concept shows magnetic loops carrying gas and dust above disks of planet-forming material circling stars.

How big can a planet get?

By Natalie Hinkel published

Why isn't there an endless variety of planets in the universe? An astrophysicist explains why planets only come in two flavors.

Planets
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