Extrasolar Planets
Webb Blocks the Star to See a Debris Disk Around Beta Pictoris
You think you know someone, then you see them in a slightly different way and BAM, they surprise you. I’m…
Hubble Watches an Exoplanet Atmosphere Change Over Three Years
If you want to know more about an exoplanet atmosphere, watch how it changes over time. That's the mantra of…
Entropy is the Key to a Planet’s Habitability
We all know that to have life on a world, you need three critical items: water, warmth, and food. Now…
A Planetary System With Six Sub-Neptunes Locked in Perfect Resonance
Researchers using TESS and Cheops data found a system with six sub-Neptune-sized planets, all orbiting in direct resonance with each…
Next Generation Space Telescopes Could Use Deformable Mirrors to Image Earth-Sized Worlds
NASA and its commercial partners are working on deformable mirrors (DM) that will allow next-generation telescopes to directly observe exoplanets.
The Combination of Oxygen and Methane Could Reveal the Presence of Life on Another World
In a recent study, a pair of researchers from the Carl Sagan Institute developed a model for finding exoplanets similar…
Will Solar Panels Work at Proxima Centauri?
Solar panels are the perfect way to provide electricity for spacecraft operating near the Sun. Spacecraft as far out as…
The Most Compelling Places to Search for Life Will Look Like “Anomalies”
A new study considers how future astrobiology studies could search for life "as we don't know it" on exoplanets.
The PLATO Mission Could be the Most Successful Planet Hunter Ever
A new study estimates how many exoplanets the ESA's PLATO mission will discover during its four-year run, with encouraging results!
Astronomers Find an Earth-Sized World That May Be Carpeted in Volcanoes
Astronomers think they've found an extrasolar planet covered in volcanoes like Jupiter's moon Io, but this world is about the…