New Space Telescope, CHEOPS, Will Improve the Hunt for Exoplanets
While the planet has been on lockdown the last two months, a new space telescope called CHEOPS opened its eyes, took its first pictures of…
Exoplanet
Presence of an Earth-Like Planet Around Our Nearest Star Confirmed – Evidence of a Mysterious Second Signal Discovered
The existence of a planet the size of Earth around the closest star in the Alpha Centauri star system, Proxima Centauri, has been confirmed by…
ESO Telescope Sees Telltale Signs of a Baby Planet Coming Into Existence
The Twist Marks the Spot – ESO Telescope Sees Signs of Planet Birth Observations made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT)…
Search for Extraterrestrial Life Boosted by New Exoplanet Climate ‘Decoder’
After examining a dozen types of suns and a roster of planet surfaces, Cornell astronomers have developed a practical model – an environmental color “decoder”…
Ocean Circulation May Hold the Key to Finding Alien Life on Exoplanets
In search for alien life, planets exactly like Earth may not be best places to look, study finds. Researchers across the globe have long tackled…
New Detectability Index Aids Search for Extraterrestrial Life on Exoplanets
Whether there is life elsewhere in the universe is a question people have pondered for millennia, and within the last few decades, great strides have…
New Spectrograph on Subaru Telescope Shows “Earth-Like” TRAPPIST-1 Planetary Orbits Not Misaligned
Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope have determined that the Earth-like planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are not significantly misaligned with the rotation of the star….
Planet-Hunters Discover Incredibly Rare Super-Earth – “One in a Million”
Astronomers at the University of Canterbury (UC) have found an incredibly rare new Super-Earth planet towards the center of the galaxy. The planet is one…
Aliens That Breathe Hydrogren May Thrive on Planets That Are Quite Different Than Earth
When searching for extraterrestrial life, astronomers may want to look at planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres. As new and more powerful telescopes blink on in the…
Astronomers Could Spot Clues to Alien Life Orbiting Long-Dead Stars
The next generation of powerful Earth- and space-based telescopes will be able to hunt distant solar systems for evidence of life on Earth-like exoplanets —…
Weather Forecast: Scattered Clouds, Iron Rain and Yellow Skies for Super-Hot Exoplanet WASP-79b
The weather forecast for the giant, super-hot, Jupiter-size planet WASP-79b is steamy humidity, scattered clouds, iron rain and yellow skies. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope teamed…
Gravitational King of Kepler-88 Planetary System Dethroned by Newly Discovered Exoplanet
Hawaii astronomer discovers massive extrasolar planet with Maunakea telescope. Our solar system has a king. The planet Jupiter, named for the most powerful god in…
Hubble Observes Aftermath of Massive Collision – “Blueprint for How Planets Destroy Each Other”
The Hubble Space Telescope offers insight into the nature of exoplanet Fomalhaut b. What astronomers thought was a planet beyond our solar system, has now…
How Earth Climate Models Help NASA Scientists Picture Life on Unimaginable Worlds
In a generic brick building on the northwestern edge of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center campus in Greenbelt, Maryland, thousands of computers packed in racks…
New Space Telescope Cheops Ready for Science – Observes Its First Exoplanets
Cheops, ESA’s new exoplanet mission, has successfully completed its almost three months of in-orbit commissioning, exceeding expectations for its performance. The satellite, which will commence…
Hidden Earth-Like Habitable Planet Discovered in Old NASA Kepler Data
A team of transatlantic scientists, using reanalyzed data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, has discovered an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star’s habitable zone, the…
Sulfur ‘Spices’ Alien Atmospheres – Points to Signs of Life
They say variety is the spice of life, and now new discoveries from Johns Hopkins researchers suggest that a certain elemental ‘variety’—sulfur—is indeed a ‘spice’…
NASA WFIRST Will Detect Exoplanets Using Warped Space-Time
The NASA mission will identify planets with large orbits, similar to our solar system’s far-flung giants, Uranus and Neptune. NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope…