“Field Guide” to Mysterious Exoplanets Known As Hot Jupiters
By combining Hubble Space Telescope observations with theoretical models, a team of astronomers has gained insights into the chemical and physical makeup of a variety…
Exoplanet News
Is Earth an Oddball? One of the Strangest Things in the Cosmos Might Be – Us
One of the strangest things in the cosmos might be – us. Among the thousands of planets confirmed to be in orbit around other stars,…
Astronomers Detect First Signature of Magnetic Field on a Planet Outside of Our Solar System
Researchers have identified the first signature of a magnetic field surrounding a planet outside of our solar system. Earth’s magnetic field acts as a shield…
At Least 70 Free-Floating Planets Discovered in a Nearby Region of the Milky Way
The more than 70 sunless worlds are each roughly the mass of Jupiter. Using observations and archival data from several of NSF’s NOIRLab’s observatories, together…
A Mars-Sized Planet Discovered Orbiting Extremely Close to Host Star – Its Year Is Less Than 10 Hours
The planetary nature of a Mars-sized object orbiting extremely closely to an M-dwarf star has been validated using the Penn State Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF)….
Mysterious Galactic Nomads: At Least 70 Rogue Planets Uncovered in Our Milky Way
Rogue planets are elusive cosmic objects that have masses comparable to those of the planets in our Solar System but do not orbit a star,…
Airbus Will Build ESA’s Ariel Exoplanet Spacecraft
ESA and Airbus have signed a contract to move forward with the design and construction of the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, Ariel, planned for…
Exoplanet Bonanza: 172 New Planetary Candidates Found – Including Some Truly Bizarre Planetary Systems
New planetary candidates found by sifting through archival Kepler Telescope data. A fully automated exoplanet-detection system sifted through years of data from NASA’s retired Kepler…
Citizen Scientists Discover Young-Jupiter-Like Object Missed by Previous Exoplanet Searches
New study finds a world about 146 light years away that’s not quite a planet, not quite a brown dwarf. Citizen scientists have discovered a…
Planet Hunters: ESA’s New and Future Exoplanet Missions
ESA’s trifecta of dedicated exoplanet missions – Cheops, Plato, and Ariel – will also be complemented with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope mission. The…
Discovery of Sub-Earth Planet: Ultra-Light and Super-Fast Exoplanet Is Not Like Anything in Our Solar System
As far as extrasolar planets go, ‘GJ 367 b’ is a featherweight. With half the mass of Earth, the newly discovered planet is one of…
Surprise Planet Discovered Around Extreme Star Pair
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) has captured an image of a planet orbiting b Centauri, a two-star system that can be…
Eggshell Planets Have a Thin Brittle Crust With No Tectonics – Unlikely To Be Habitable
Planets without plate tectonics are unlikely to be habitable. But currently, we’ve never seen the surface of an exoplanet to determine if plate tectonics are…
In the Search for a “Second Earth,” Astronomers Discover Hot, Dense Planet With Eight-Hour Year
An international team of researchers has discovered a new planet, GJ 367 b, whose surface temperature may reach 1,500 degrees Centigrade – hot enough to…
Sub-Earth Planet Discovered by Astronomers: Boiling New World Is Ultra-Light and Super-Fast
The boiling new world, which zips around its star at ultraclose range, is among the lightest exoplanets found to date. Ultra-short-period planets are small, compact…
Tread Lightly: Strange “Eggshell Planets” Possible Around Other Stars
Strange ‘eggshell planets’ are among the rich variety of exoplanets possible, according to a study from Washington University in St. Louis. These rocky worlds have…
Astronomers Find a Blazing Hot Planet That Orbits Its Star in Just 16 Hours!
Mercury is the speed champion in our Solar System. It orbits the Sun every 88 days, and its average speed is 47 km/s. Its average…
Newly Discovered Extreme “Ultrahot Jupiter” Blitzes Around Its Star – One Year Is Just 16 Hours Long
A newly discovered “ultrahot Jupiter” has the shortest orbit of any known gas giant. The hunt for planets beyond our solar system has turned up…
