Extrasolar Planets
Lightweight Disk Could Harbour Planets
Astronomers are looking for planets around other stars, but they're also looking for the conditions where planets might be forming…
Deep Impact Begins Searching for Extrasolar Planets
NASA's Deep Impact completed its main mission. Back in July 2005, the spacecraft's impactor carved a hole great big hole…
Astronomers Could Detect Oceans on Extrasolar Planets
Imagine if astronomers could tell the difference between Earth-like extrasolar planets just by seeing the reflected light from their oceans?…
Using Gravity to Find Planets in the Habitable Zone
Astronomers have several techniques to discover planets. But one of the least used so far, gravitational microlensing, might be just…
Red Dwarfs Have Teeny Tiny Habitable Zones
As space telescopes get larger and more sensitive, the search for Earth-sized worlds surrounding other stars is about to get…
Researchers Find a Planet, Right Where They Expected
Before Neptune was discovered in the 1840s, astronomers predicted its location based on how it was interacting with Uranus. Once…
Some Stars Can Go through a Second Stage of Planet Formation
Newly forming planetary systems follow a routine. They collapse down from a cloud of gas and dust to form a…
If You Crashed Neptune and Jupiter Together…
Our early Solar System was a violent place. For hundreds of millions of years, large planetoids smashed together, forming larger…
Earth, Barely Habitable?
Our home planet has been often described in glowing, nurturing terms. A cradle for life, right in the goldilocks zone.…
Studying Planets With Sunglasses
While finding a planet orbiting another star is incredibly exciting, it's almost becoming commonplace. The current exoplanet count is up…