Extrasolar Planets
Tilt-A-Whirl! A Tale Of Strange Planetary Orbits In Kepler-56
A faraway group of planets is puzzling scientists. Newly reported Kepler-56's system has three planets -- two smaller ones close…
On the Road to One Thousand Exoplanets
A quiet milestone in modern astronomy may soon come to pass. As of today, The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia lists a…
Wet Asteroid’s Remains Found In Old Star That Could Have Hosted Habitable Planets
Remains of a water-filled asteroid are circling a dying white dwarf star, right now, about 150 light-years from us. The…
Giveaway: Win a Copy of “Five Billion Years of Solitude” by Lee Billings
A new book, “Five Billion Years of Solitude,” takes reader from the earliest SETI searches and discoveries in astrobiology to…
Exoplanets and the Search for Life in the Universe: Q&A with author Lee Billings
As far as our understanding of life in the Universe goes, right now, we’re it. But the past decade has…
Detecting the Magnetic Fields of Exoplanets May Help Determine Habitability
Astronomers may soon be able to observe the shockwaves between the magnetic fields of exoplanets and the flow of particles…
‘Diamond’ Super-Earth’s Makeup Called Into Question In New Study
A precious planet? Don't think so fast, a new study says. The so-called "diamond super-Earth", 55 Cancri e, may actually…
Mercury’s Resonant Rotation ‘Should Be Common’ In Alien Planets
Three to two. That's the ratio of the time it takes Mercury to go around the sun (88 days) in…
First Cloudy Alien Planet Spotted From Earth
Call it cloudy with a low chance of meatballs. The alien world Kepler-7b -- a very reflective world in big…
Magnetic Fields are Crucial to Exomoon Habitability
Astronomers believe that hidden deep within the wealth of data collected by NASA’s Kepler mission are minuscule signatures confirming the…