Extrasolar Planets News

September 9, 2016

Earth's Carbon Points to Planetary Smashup

Twin Stars Hosting Three Giant Exoplanets

Exoplanet: Is Proxima B Really Habitable?

Planet Nine May Spell Doom for Solar System

Latest Headlines

updated 12:40am EDT

New Light on the Complex Nature of 'Hot Jupiter' Atmospheres

Sep. 2, 2016 — A team of international researchers used state-of-the-art modelling techniques to extensively study the atmosphere of a 'hot Jupiter' found 150 light-years from Earth. The ... read more

A Better Way to Learn If Alien Planets Have the Right Stuff

Aug. 24, 2016 — A new method for analyzing the chemical composition of stars may help scientists winnow the search for Earth 2.0. Researchers describe a computational modeling technique that ... read more

Unexpected Trove of Gas Discovered Around Larger Stars

Aug. 25, 2016 — Astronomers using ALMA surveyed dozens of young stars -- some Sun-like and others approximately double that size -- and discovered that the larger variety have surprisingly ... read more

Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star

Aug. 24, 2016 — Astronomers have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red ... read more

A New Goldilocks for Habitable Planets

Aug. 19, 2016 — The search for habitable, alien worlds needs to make room for a second 'Goldilocks,' according to a researcher. A new study suggests that simply being in the habitable zone isn't sufficient to ... read more

Venus-Like Exoplanet Might Have Oxygen Atmosphere, but Not Life

Aug. 18, 2016 — The distant planet GJ 1132b intrigued astronomers when it was discovered last year. Located just 39 light-years from Earth, it might have an atmosphere despite being baked to ... read more

Brown Dwarfs Reveal Exoplanets' Secrets

Aug. 15, 2016 — Brown dwarfs are smaller than stars, but more massive than giant planets. As such, they provide a natural link between astronomy and planetary science. However, they also ... read more

Venus May Have Been Habitable, NASA Climate Modeling Suggests

Aug. 11, 2016 — Venus may have had a shallow liquid-water ocean and habitable surface temperatures for up to two billion years of its early history, according to NASA computer modeling of ... read more

Most Likely Earth-Like Exoplanets Cataloged

Aug. 3, 2016 — An international team of researchers has pinpointed which of the more than 4,000 exoplanets discovered by NASA's Kepler mission are most likely to be similar to Earth. The ... read more

Is Earthly Life Premature from a Cosmic Perspective?

Aug. 1, 2016 — The universe is 13.8 billion years old, while our planet formed just 4.5 billion years ago. Some scientists think this time gap means that life on other planets could be ... read more

Nearby Earth-Like Planet Discovered

'Earth-Like' Planet Found Just Outside Solar System

What We Know So Far About Earth's New Twin

Astronauts Ready ISS for Space Taxis With Mutli-Hour Spacewalk

Jupiter's Great Red Spot Heats Planet's Upper Atmosphere

July 27, 2016 — Researchers have discovered that Jupiter's Great Red Spot may provide the mysterious source of energy required to heat the planet's upper atmosphere to the unusually high values ... read more

First Atmospheric Study of Earth-Sized Exoplanets Points to Possible Habitability

July 20, 2016 — Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted the first search for atmospheres around temperate, Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system and found indications that increase ... read more

NASA's Kepler Confirms 100+ Exoplanets During Its K2 Mission

July 18, 2016 — Scientists report the largest haul of confirmed planets - tallying more than a hundred -- since NASA's Kepler space telescope switched from staring into one patch of sky to detecting planets ... read more

Warm Jupiters Not as Lonely as Expected

July 14, 2016 — After analyzing four years of Kepler space telescope observations, astronomers have given us our clearest understanding yet of a class of exoplanets called 'Warm Jupiters,' showing that ... read more

Surface Composition Determines Temperature and Therefore Habitability of a Planet

July 14, 2016 — Astronomers have shown that the interaction between the surface and the atmosphere of an exoplanet has major consequences for the temperature on the planet. This temperature, in turn, is a crucial ... read more

Stellar Outburst Brings Water Snowline Around a Young Star Into View

July 13, 2016 — A violent outburst by the young star V883 Orionis has given astronomers using ALMA their first view of a water 'snowline' in a protoplanetary disk -- the transition point around the star ... read more

Deepest Ever Look Into Orion

July 12, 2016 — ESO's HAWK-I infrared instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile has been used to peer deeper into the heart of Orion Nebula than ever before. The spectacular picture reveals about ... read more

Surprising Planet With Three Suns Discovered

July 7, 2016 — A team of astronomers have used the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope to image the first planet ever found in a wide orbit inside a triple-star system. The orbit of such a planet ... read more

Lush Venus? Searing Earth? It Could Have Happened

July 5, 2016 — It may not have taken much in the early solar system to set Earth and Venus on very different paths, according to researchers. A new paper points the way toward what scientists should consider as ... read more

Teenagers on a Work Experience 'Discover' New Planet

July 1, 2016 — A group of teenagers on work experience at Keele University in Staffordshire, UK, may have discovered a new ... read more

How Planetary Age Reveals Water Content

June 29, 2016 — Water is necessary for life as we know it, but too much water is bad for habitability. Therefore, to study the habitability of extrasolar planets, determining the abundance of water is a key element. ... read more

What Happens When You Steam a Planet?

June 28, 2016 — Numerical models show hot, rocky exoplanets can change their chemistry by vaporizing rock-forming elements in steam atmospheres that are then partially lost to ... read more

Moon Discovered Over Dwarf Planet Makemake in the Kuiper Belt

June 27, 2016 — Scientists have discovered an elusive, dark moon orbiting Makemake, one of the 'big four' dwarf planets populating the Kuiper Belt region at the edge of our solar ... read more

When It Comes to Brown Dwarfs, 'How Far?' Is a Key Question

June 27, 2016 — Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars. They're stars' dim, low-mass siblings and they fade in brightness over time. They're fascinating to astronomers for a variety of ... read more

Fastest-Spinning Brown-Dwarf Star Is Detected by Its Bursts of Radio Waves

June 27, 2016 — Astronomers have detected what may be the most rapidly rotating, ultra-cool, brown-dwarf star ever seen. The super-fast rotation period was measured by using the 305-meter Arecibo radio telescope -- ... read more

Newborn Giant Planet Grazes Its Star

June 20, 2016 — For the past 20 years, exoplanets known as 'hot Jupiters' have puzzled astronomers. These giant planets orbit 100 times closer to their host stars than Jupiter does to the Sun, which ... read more

NASA's K2 Finds Newborn Exoplanet Around Young Star

June 20, 2016 — Astronomers have discovered the youngest fully formed exoplanet ever detected. The newfound planet, K2-33b, is a bit larger than Neptune and whips tightly around its star every five days. It is only ... read more

Unexpected Excess of Giant Planets in Star Cluster Messier 67

June 17, 2016 — Astronomers have found that there are far more planets of the hot Jupiter type than expected in a cluster of stars called Messier 67. This surprising result was obtained using a number of telescopes ... read more

Small Planets Hiding in Giant Cloaks

June 14, 2016 — Hazes and clouds high up in the atmospheres of exoplanets may make them appear bigger than they really are, according to new ... read more

Fascinating Orbits: Celestial Bodies Surprisingly Erratic

June 14, 2016 — Astronomers are researching the way in which celestial bodies orbit each other, now and in the future. This often turns out to be more erratic than you might ... read more

Wednesday, July 27, 2016