Study Suggests Habitable Zone Alone Isn’t Sufficient to Support Life
New research from Yale University suggests that simply being in the habitable zone isn’t sufficient to support life. A planet also must start with an…
Exoplanet News
Exoplanet GJ 1132b Might Have a Thin Oxygen Atmosphere
New research from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reveals that the Venus-like Exoplanet GJ 1132b might possess a thin, oxygen atmosphere – but no life…
Astronomers Discover a Planet in a Triple Star System
Using direct imaging, a team of astronomers has discovered a young Jovian exoplanet within a triple-star system. If you thought Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tatooine,…
Astronomers Confirm Youngest Known Transiting Exoplanet
Using the MEarth-North and MEarth-South arrays, astronomers have confirmed the discovery of the youngest known planet, only 11 million years old, which transits its star…
Astronomers Find an Unexpected Amount of Giant Planets in Star Cluster Messier 67
A team of astronomers reveals that there are far more planets of the hot Jupiter type than expected in star cluster Messier 67. The surprising…
New Reseach Shows Cloudy Days on Hot Jupiters May Hide Atmospheric Water
New research suggests that as much as half of the water in the atmospheres of exoplanets may be blocked by clouds or hazes. Water is…
New Models Show That Kepler-62f Might Be Able To Sustain Life
New research reveals that a distant planet known as Kepler-62f could be habitable. The planet, which is about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the direction…
Lund Astronomers Believe Planet 9 Was an Exoplanet
New research details how Planet 9 may have once been an exoplanet “captured” by our sun billions of years ago. Through a computer-simulated study, astronomers…
Kepler Space Telescope Reveals 1,284 New Planets
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has verified 1,284 new planets – the single largest finding of planets to date. “This announcement more than doubles the number…
Astronomers Discover Three Potentially Habitable Worlds
Astronomers have discovered three planets with sizes and temperatures similar to those of Venus and Earth, orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star just 40 light-years from…
Scientists Identify a Free-Floating, Planetary-Mass Object in TW Hydrae
New data from WISE and its predecessor, the Two Micron All Sky Survey, reveals the lowest-mass free-floating object in TW Hydrae family — a likely…
Hot Jupiter KELT-4Ab Boasts Rare Triple Suns
Using the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope, a team of astronomers has discovered an alien planet that has three suns in its sky. Eat your heart…
Astronomers Investigate the Mystery of Migrating ‘Hot Jupiters’
Using infrared light, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope measured the extreme temperature swings of exoplanet HD 80606b. The last decade has seen a bonanza of exoplanet…
Hubble Measures Rotation of ‘Super-Jupiter’ Exoplanet 2M1207b
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has measured the rotation rate of an extreme exoplanet by observing the varied brightness in its…
Hubble Reveals a Dry Atmosphere Around Super-Earth 55 Cancri e
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers reveal that exoplanet 55 Cancri e has a dry atmosphere without any indications of water vapor. For the first…
Exploring 20 Years of Exoplanets [Video]
This seven minute video from the European Southern Observatory details the discovery of exoplanets over the last twenty years. Not a single confirmed planet outside…
Space Telescopes Reveal Details of Ten Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet Atmospheres
Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, a team of astronomers details the atmospheres of ten Jupiter-sized exoplanets and was able to…
Exoplanet HD 106906b Likely Kicked Out of Its Local Neighborhood
Researchers believe that a planet located at an unusually large distance from its star – 16 times farther than Pluto is from the sun –…
