Exoplanets
One Year, Almost 1,000 Planetary Candidates. An Update On TESS
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope launched back in April, 2018. After a few months of testing, it was ready to…
Snowball Exoplanets Might Be Better for Life Than We Thought
When astronomers discover a new exoplanet, one of the first considerations is if the planet is in the habitable zone,…
NASA Promised More Smaller, Earth-size Exoplanets. TESS is Delivering.
When NASA launched TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) in 2018, it had a specific goal. While its predecessor, the Kepler…
Here’s a First. Astronomers See a Moon Forming Around a Baby Exoplanet
Astronomers have discovered, for the first time, moons forming in the disk of debris around a large exoplanet. Astronomers have…
Competition Will Let You Name an Exoplanet
When it comes to naming all those exoplanets that astronomers keep finding, it's up to the International Astronomical Union (IAU)…
In Order to Reveal Planets Around Another star, a Starshade Needs to Fly 40,000 km Away from a Telescope, Aligned Within Only 1 Meter
If NASA sends a Starshade into space, it will need to perform some very accurate formation flying with the space…
New Instrument is Searching for Planets Around Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to us, at 4.37 light-years (about 25 trillion miles) away. In 2016, astronomers…
Astronomers See Adorable Baby Planets Forming Around a Young Star
370 light years away from us, a solar system is making baby planets. The star at the center of it…
A Very Rare Planet Discovered. Less Massive than Neptune, Hotter than Mercury. Very Few Should Exist
Astronomers have discovered a very rare, very unusual planet in a distant solar system. The planet, called NGTS-4b, is three…
18 – Yes, 18 – New Earth-sized Exoplanets have been Found in Kepler’s Data
Scientists working with data from the Kepler mission have discovered an additional 18 Earth-sized worlds. The team used a newer,…