extrasolar planet Archives

Earth-Sized Planet Takes Just Four Hours to Orbit its Star

21 Jul , 2017 by Matt Williams

The Kepler space observatory has made some interesting finds since it began its mission back in March of 2009. Even after the mission suffered the loss of two reaction wheels, it has continued to make discoveries as part of its K2 mission. All told, the Kepler and K2 missions have detected a total of 5,106 […]

Is This The Exoplanet Where Life Will First Be Found?

20 Apr , 2017 by Matt Williams

An international team of scientists has found another rocky planet (LHS 1140b) orbiting a nearby red dwarf star. And it looks to be our best bet to date for finding a habitable exoplanet.

Finally! A Low Mass Super-Earth With Some Funky Atmosphere

7 Apr , 2017 by Matt Williams

Ongoing observation of exoplanet GJ 1132b has revealed a dense atmosphere, a finding which has great significance in the hunt for life beyond Earth.

Planets Around Stars like Proxima Centauri are Probably Earth-Sized Water Worlds

27 Oct , 2016 by Matt Williams

A new study from the University of Bern indicates that most planets that orbit red dwarf stars might be water worlds, which could have a serious effect on the hunt for extra-terrestrial life

What is a Terrestrial Planet?

1 Jul , 2015 by Matt Williams

Earth and all the other inner planets of the Solar System have something in common: they are composed of silicate rock and minerals that is differentiated into layers (i.e. terrestrial)

Citizen Planet Hunters Find a Planet in a Four-Star System

15 Oct , 2012 by Nancy Atkinson

A family portrait of the PH1 planetary system: The newly discovered planet is depicted in this artist’s rendition transiting the larger of the two eclipsing stars it orbits. Off in the distance, well beyond the planet orbit, resides a second pair of stars bound to the planetary system. Image Credit: Haven Giguere/Yale. A planet has […]

Exoplanet

13 Oct , 2009 by Jean Tate

[/caption] An exoplanet – or extrasolar planet – is a planet which orbits a star other than our own Sun. After a bit of a false start – lasting many decades! – when a small number of detections of planets around other stars were reported but not confirmed, the first reliable, independently confirmed exoplanet was […]

Super Earths

9 Sep , 2009 by Fraser Cain

[/caption] The holy grail in the search for extrasolar planets will be the discovery of Earthlike planets orbiting other stars. With better telescopes and techniques, astronomers will eventually be able to even detect the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and determine if there’s life there. Although Earth-sized planets are impossible to detect with current observatories, astronomers […]

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