HARPS Discovers First Exoplanet Orbiting a Solar Twin in a Star Cluster
Using the HARPS planet-finding instrument on ESO’s 3.6-meter telescope, astronomers have discovered three exoplanets orbiting stars in the cluster Messier 67 and one of the…
Exoplanet
“Super-Earths” May be More Earth-Like than Previously Thought
A newly published study reveals that the odds of Super-Earth exoplanets having an Earth-like climate are much greater than previously thought. Massive terrestrial planets, called…
Astronomers Discover the First Earth-Mass Transiting Planet
While searching Kepler data for exomoons, astronomers discovered the first Earth-mass planet that crosses in front of its host star. Cambridge, Massachusetts – An international…
Five New Rocky Planets Discovered in Kepler Data
Researchers announced that ground-based follow-up observations of Kepler’s exoplanet systems have resulted in the discovery of five new rocky planets. More than three-quarters of the…
Hubble Reveals Cloudy Weather on Exoplanet GJ1214b
Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope, researchers from the University of Chicago have detected clear evidence of clouds in the atmosphere of exoplanet GJ1214b….
A New Technique for Determining the Mass of Exoplanets
MIT researchers have developed a new technique for determining the mass of exoplanets using only their transit signal, helping researchers determine the mass of exoplanets…
Newly Discovered Exoplanet HD 106906 b is Unlike Anything in Our Own Solar System
Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet that is unlike anything in our own Solar System. HD 106906 b has 11 times the mass of Jupiter and…
Hubble Finds Signatures of Water on Distant Exoplanets
Using Hubble’s high-performance Wide Field Camera 3, astronomers have peered into the atmospheres of five distant exoplanets, finding faint signatures of water in their atmospheres….
Astrobiologists Search for Signs of Life on Dying Planets
Using computer models of the climates and biospheres, astrobiologists are researching how signs of life might look on dying planets. If life does exist anywhere…
Astronomers Estimate One in Five Sol-Like Stars Have Planets Conducive to Life
Based on a statistical analysis of all the Kepler data, astronomers now estimate that one in five stars like our Sun have planets about the…
Kepler Data Reveal the Discovery of 833 New Candidate Planets
The latest analysis of Kepler Space Telescope data has revealed the discovery of 833 new candidate planets; ten of these candidates are less than twice…
NASA Study Reveals that Carbon Planets May be Waterless
Using planetary models based on measurements of our sun’s carbon-to-oxygen ratio, researchers found that planets rich in carbon, including so-called diamond planets, may lack oceans….
Astronomers Create First Cloud Map of a Planet Beyond Our Solar System
Astronomers used data from NASA’s Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes to produce a very low-resolution ‘map’ of the exoplanet Kepler-7b. Scientists using data from NASA’s…
How to Distinguish Habitable Worlds Apart from Lifeless Gas Giants
A new study demonstrates how to distinguish between cloudy mini-Neptunes and volatile-dominated super-Earths based on the differences in the wing steepness and relative depths of…
How NASA Engineers Revamped Spitzer to Probe Exoplanets
This short narrative looks back on how NASA engineers revamped the Spitzer Space Telescope to probe exoplanets. Now approaching its 10th anniversary, NASA’s Spitzer Space…
Scientists Estimate Earth’s Remaining Habitable Lifetime, Examine Habitability of Exoplanets
By using habitable zone and stellar evolution models, astrobiologists from the University of East Anglia have estimated that habitable conditions on Earth will be possible…
New Research Explores the Possibility of Detecting Biomarkers on Distant Planets
New research presented to the European Planetary Science Congress at UCL aims to explore how atmospheric biomarkers from faraway planets might be detected in the…
New Flicker Technique Measures Surface Gravity of Distant Stars
Astronomers at Vanderbilt have developed a new flicker technique to measure the surface gravity of distant stars. The technique can also be used to significantly…
