Kepler Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to Earth
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has discovered a planet and star that closely resemble the Earth and our Sun. NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed the first…
Exoplanet News
Astronomers Believe There May Be a New Population of Circumbinary Planets
Newly published research from astronomers at Cornell University suggests that there may be a new population of circumbinary planets, which orbit around more-compact binaries (with…
Astronomers Discover a “Jupiter Twin” Around a Sun-Like Star
Using the ESO 3.6-meter telescope, an international team of astronomers has identified a planet just like Jupiter orbiting at the same distance from the Sun-like…
Venus Transit Reveals Clues about the Venusian Atmosphere
Astronomers used the Venus transit to make measurements of how the Venusian atmosphere absorbs different kinds of light, revealing clues to what elements are layered…
Study Predicts Building Blocks for Earth-Like Planets in Every Exoplanet System in the Milky Way
A new study being presented at National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno shows that Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in the Milky Way are three times…
11 Billion Year Old Stars Have Earth-like Planets
A newly published study has shown with high precision that even stars older than 11 billion years have Earth-like planets. A new study of 33…
“Behemoth” Bleeding Atmosphere Around a Warm Exoplanet Discovered by Hubble
An enormous cloud of hydrogen is bleeding off the warm exoplanet GJ 436b due to exreme radiation from it’s star. The huge cloud is about…
Kepler-138b: First Exoplanet Smaller Than Earth to Have Its Mass and Size Measured
A team of astronomers have measured the mass and size of the smallest exoplanet yet, a Mars-sized planet named Kepler-138b orbiting a red dwarf star…
Scientists Discuss the Search for Life in Our Solar System and Beyond
Follow along as researchers discuss the search for evidence of habitability in our solar system and beyond during the 2015 Astrobiology Science Conference. NASA and…
Hubble Detects Stratosphere on Distant Planet WASP-33b
Using NASA’s Hubble Telescope, a team of researchers has detected a stratosphere on the planet WASP-33b. A stratosphere occurs when molecules in the atmosphere absorb…
How Hubble Has Helped Scientists Study Exoplanets
This sixth video in a series celebrating Hubble’s 25th anniversary explains how Hubble has helped scientists study exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, as…
Astronomers Identify Circular Orbits of 74 Earth-Sized Planets
New research from MIT and Aarhus University reveals that 74 exoplanets orbit their respective stars in circular patterns, much like the planets of our solar…
Kepler Finds Evidence of Daily Weather Cycles on Exoplanets
Using Kepler data, researchers from the University of Toronto reveal evidence of daily weather cycles on six extra-solar planets. “Cloudy for the morning, turning to…
51 Pegasi b: The First Exoplanet Directly Detected Spectroscopically in Visible Light
Using the HARPS planet-hunting machine, astronomers have made the first-ever direct detection of the spectrum of visible light reflected off an exoplanet. The new observations…
NASA’s NExSS Coalition to Search for Life on Distant Worlds
NASA’s Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, or “NExSS,” coalition brings experts from a variety of scientific fields together for an unprecedented initiative dedicated to the…
NASA Missions are Finding Water in Surprising Places
As NASA scientists explore our solar system and search for new worlds, they are finding water in surprising places. Water is but one piece of…
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite – The Search for Planets Outside Our Solar System
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is set to discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest stars in the sky. The Transiting Exoplanet…
“Chemical Fingerprints” Could Help Scientists Recognize Life on the Surface of Exoplanets
A new catalog of reflectance spectra for a diverse range of pigmented microorganisms may help scientists recognize life on the surface of planets orbiting stars…