Too Much UV Light Could Turn Gas Planets Into Sad Rocky Cores
The atmosphere of a gas giant exoplanet located 163 light-years from Earth is being blasted into space by its host…
Dead Kepler Telescope Caught 'Exquisite' Observation of Mystifying Supernova
NASA’s recently retired Kepler space telescope was famous for its ability to spot thousands of exoplanets. But this…
Scientists Spot Tantalizing New Super-Earth Around Nearby Star
Scientists have spotted strong evidence of a super-Earth orbiting the second-closest star system to the Sun, according…
Goodbye, Kepler Space Telescope
NASA’s venerable Kepler space telescope, which discovered nearly 2,700 exoplanets in distant star systems, has…
Astronomers Wonder: Can Moons Have Moons?
Inquisitive kids ask some questions that parents just can’t answer. Astronomer Juna Kollmeier’s son gave her a real…
New Hubble Observations Boost Evidence for Elusive Exomoon
Astronomers have confirmed thousands of planets outside our Solar System, but not a single exomoon. New research is…
NASA’s TESS Space Telescope Has Spotted Its First Exoplanet
Say hello to Pi Mensae c—a small, Earth-like planet located nearly 60 light-years from our Solar System. It’s probably…
Deteriorating Kepler Space Telescope Refuses to Die
Unwilling to go quietly into that good night, the Kepler Space Telescope is once again gathering scientific…
New Report Urges NASA to Intensify Search for Exoplanets and Aliens
A new congressionally mandated report says NASA should refine its strategy and improve its tools to foster the study of…
Astronomers Directly Detect Iron and Titanium on an Exoplanet for the First Time
Scientists directly observed the signal of iron and titanium atoms in the atmosphere of an exoplanet 600 light-years…
This Exoplanet Is So Hot, It Apparently Tears Apart Water Molecules
There’s an exoplanet whose surface is so hot, it rips apart water molecules. It’s almost a star, but not quite; it’s an…
Planet or Star? Either Way, This Rogue Object Is Really Weird
Various news outlets have been discussing a strange object in space, which may or may not be a planet. New measurements…
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope Not Dead Yet, May Even Have Another Exoplanet Survey Left in It
NASA’s $600 million Kepler space telescope, which is more or less running on thruster fuel fumes nearly a decade after…
This Solar System Catalog Could Be Key to Finding an Earth-Like Exoplanet
By searching for the telltale, periodic dimming of light from distant stars, astronomers can spot orbiting exoplanets…
NASA's TESS Spacecraft Has Begun Its Search for Faraway Planets
NASA’s newest exoplanet-hunting spacecraft has started taking scientific data as of last week, according to a NASA…
New Analysis of Potentially Habitable Exoplanet Makes Us Hungry for Better Telescopes
Eleven light-years from Earth, orbiting a dim red star, there’s an exoplanet called Ross 128b that, as we recently…
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope Is Running Out of Fuel and May Not Have Much More Time
NASA’s storied Kepler Space Telescope—the craft which has discovered thousands of exoplanets since its launch in…
Astronomers Have Captured First Direct Evidence of an Exoplanet Being Born
At this point, we’ve spotted several thousand exoplanets—there’s nothing super exciting anymore about finding a distant…
New Technique Reveals Hidden Infant Planets Orbiting a Newborn Star
Since the 1990s, scientists have detected thousands of exoplanets orbiting distant stars, but the discovery of baby…