Exoplanets
Astronomers Have a New Way to Find Exoplanets in Cataclysmic Binary Systems
Have you heard of LU Camelopardalis, QZ Serpentis, V1007 Herculis and BK Lyncis? No, they're not members of a boy…
An Ambitious Plan to Find Earth 2.0
When it comes to astronomy, the more instruments watching the sky, the better. Which is why it has been so…
Earth has Clouds of Water. Hot Exoplanets Have Clouds of Sand
A team of astronomers studied brown dwarfs to figure out how hot exoplanets form clouds of sand. They found that…
Water Worlds Could Have Plumes of Nutrients Carried up From Down Below
Earth's oceans are one huge, uniform electrolyte solution. They contain salt (sodium chloride) and other nutrients like magnesium, sulphate, and…
Using the Sun as a Gravitational Lens Would Let Us See Exoplanets With Incredible Resolution
Have you ever seen wispy arcs and rings in astronomical images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories?…
Two New Rocky Planets Discovered Close to the Solar System
TESS has struck paydirt again. NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft has found two new super-Earths orbiting a star only 33 light-years away.…
How Do Hot Jupiters Get So Close to Their Stars?
In this age of exoplanet discovery, we've discovered thousands of exoplanets of different types. The hot Jupiter is one of…
Objects That Share the Same Orbit are Common in the Solar System. But we’ve Never Seen co-Orbital Exoplanets. Why?
“Where are all the Trojans” is a question valid in both the study of ancient history and the study of…
“Wind-Ruffled Waves, Foam and Wave Shadows, Above Natural Blue Seawater.” This is how we’ll Spot Exoplanets With Oceans
Our planet's oceans generate tell-tale light signatures when sunlight reflects off them. Exoplanets with significant ocean coverage may do the…
These are the Best Places to Search for Habitable Exomoons
Our Solar System contains eight planets and more than 200 moons. The large majority of those moons have no chance…