Exoplanets
In Order to Reveal Planets Around Another star, a Starshade Needs to Fly 40,000 km Away from a Telescope, Aligned Within Only 1 Meter
If NASA sends a Starshade into space, it will need to perform some very accurate formation flying with the space…
New Instrument is Searching for Planets Around Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to us, at 4.37 light-years (about 25 trillion miles) away. In 2016, astronomers…
Astronomers See Adorable Baby Planets Forming Around a Young Star
370 light years away from us, a solar system is making baby planets. The star at the center of it…
A Very Rare Planet Discovered. Less Massive than Neptune, Hotter than Mercury. Very Few Should Exist
Astronomers have discovered a very rare, very unusual planet in a distant solar system. The planet, called NGTS-4b, is three…
18 – Yes, 18 – New Earth-sized Exoplanets have been Found in Kepler’s Data
Scientists working with data from the Kepler mission have discovered an additional 18 Earth-sized worlds. The team used a newer,…
Small, Tough Planets can Survive the Death of Their Star
Sad fact of the Universe is that all stars will die, eventually. And when they do, what happens to their…
Habitability of Planets Will Depend on Their Interiors
A lot of the headlines and discussion around the habitability of exoplanets is focused on their proximity to their star…
TESS Just Found its First Earth-Sized World
NASA's new planet-hunting telescope, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), just found its first Earth-sized world. Though the Earth-sized planet, and…
Ground-Based Telescope Directly Observes the Atmosphere of an Extrasolar Planet, and Sees Swirling Clouds of Iron and Silicates
We've finally got our first optical look at an exoplanet and its atmosphere, and boy is it a strange place.…
It Took 10 Years to Confirm the First Planet Ever Found by Kepler
Even though astronomy people are fond of touting the number of exoplanets found by the Kepler spacecraft, those planets aren't…