Extrasolar Planets
New Technique to Find Earth-like Exoplanets
[/caption] Another technique has been added to the exo-planet hunters' toolkit, and it doesn't require huge ground-based telescopes or space-based…
How Water Protected Our Molecules
One would think that crafting a shield out of water wouldn't do much good (not in medieval combat re-enactments, anyways).…
Planet of Lava a Former Gas Giant
Matryoshka dolls are a popular novelty for tourists going to Russia to bring home for their children. These dolls, which…
First Direct Spectrum of an Exoplanet Orbiting a Sun-like Star
[/caption] Astronomers have obtained the first direct spectrum – a “chemical fingerprint” – of a planet orbiting a distant, Sun-like…
Second Smallest Exoplanet Found
[/caption] Planet hunters have detected an extrasolar planet that is only four times the mass of Earth, making it the…
Kepler Discovers Planets-like Objects Hotter Than Stars
Possible habitable zones around stars. Credit: Kepler mission The Kepler mission announced the discovery of 5 new extrasolar planets today…
New Observations of TrES-2b May Reveal New Exoplanet
[/caption] For those know their solar system history, the discovery of Neptune is an especially exciting story. Before it was…
First Super-Earths Discovered Around Sun-like Stars
Astronomers say it’s a "neck-and-neck race" as to whether the first potentially habitable planets will be detected from the ground…
Exoplanet Not Really There?
This artist's concept shows the smallest star known to host a planet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In May 2009, astronomers were…
Cool – Literally – Extrasolar Planet Imaged
Yet another planet outside of our Solar System has been directly imaged, bumping the list up past ten. Given that…