Astronomers Discover a Cloud-Free ‘Hot Saturn’ Exoplanet, WASP-96b
Scientists have detected an exoplanet atmosphere that is free of clouds, marking a pivotal breakthrough in the quest for greater understanding of the planets beyond…
Exoplanet News
Hubble Detects Helium in the Atmosphere of Exoplanet WASP-107b
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b. This is the first time this element has…
Astronomers Simulate Conditions Inside ‘Super-Earths’
By aiming intense X-ray beams at iron samples, scientists have studied the cores of “super-Earth” planets triple the size of Earth. The team, led by…
Chemical Models Help Astronomers Study the Atmospheres of Hot Exoplanets
Chemical models developed to help limit the emission of pollutants by car engines are being used to study the atmospheres of hot exoplanets orbiting close…
Scientists Discover Earth-Sized Planet With Dayside Temperature of Over 2000°C
A hot, metallic, Earth-sized planet with a density similar to Mercury — situated 339 light years away — has been detected and characterized by a…
TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets Reveal Clues About Habitable Worlds
TRAPPIST-1 is an ultra-cool red dwarf star that is slightly larger, but much more massive, than the planet Jupiter, located about 40 light-years from the…
Astronomers Confirm the Existence of 15 New Exoplanets, Including One Super-Earth
Scientists report the existence of 15 new planets — including one ‘super-Earth’ that could harbor liquid water — orbiting small, cool stars near our solar…
Scientists Discover a Large Amount of Water in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere
NASA surprised by how much water found in atmosphere of WASP-39b Using Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, scientists studied the “hot Saturn” called WASP-39b —…
Outbursts From Supermassive Black Hole Transform Exoplanets
A team of astrophysicists and planetary scientists has predicted that Neptune-like planets located near the center of the Milky Way galaxy have been transformed into…
Saturn-Like Planet Raises Fascinating Questions About Planet Formation
Nestled in the young Ophiuchus star-forming region, 410 light-years from the Sun, a fascinating protoplanetary disc named AS 209 is slowly being carved into shape….
Astronomers Discover 95 New Exoplanets Using Kepler
“We started out analyzing 275 candidates of which 149 were validated as real exoplanets. In turn 95 of these planets have proved to be new…
Astronomers Unlock the Mysteries of Super-Earths
A star about 100 light-years away in the Pisces constellation, GJ 9827, hosts what may be one of the most massive and dense super-Earth planets…
TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets Potentially Hold More Water Than Earth
A new study has found that the seven planets orbiting the nearby ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 are all made mostly of rock, and some could…
Astronomers Conduct First Atmospheric Survey of Earth-Sized Planets Orbiting TRAPPIST-1
Worlds in the star’s habitable zone are not smothered under primordial atmospheres Only 40 light-years away — a stone’s throw on the scale of our…
Quasar Microlensing Reveals Planets in Extragalactic Galaxies
A University of Oklahoma astrophysics team has discovered for the first time a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Using microlensing–an astronomical phenomenon…
Simulations Show Planetary Bodies May Have Extremely Low-Density Surfaces
Spacecraft landing on Jupiter’s moon Europa could see the craft sink due to high surface porosity, research by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Robert Nelson…
Unexpected Discovery Challenges Scientists’ Understanding of Exoplanets
The hottest point on a gaseous planet near a distant star isn’t where astrophysicists expected it to be – a discovery that challenges scientists’ understanding…
New NASA Research Shows Disk Patterns Around Stars Can Self-Generate
When scientists searching for exoplanets — worlds located beyond our solar system — first spotted patterns in disks of dust and gas around young stars,…
