Extrasolar Planets
A First: Star Caught in the Act of Devouring a Planet
How’s this for a depressing look into Earth’s potential future: astronomers have witnessed the first evidence of a planet's destruction…
Sifting Starlight, Finding New Worlds
Looking directly at stars is a bad way to find planets orbiting faraway suns but using a new technique, scientists…
Exoplanet’s Atmosphere Undergoes Dramatic Variations
Since its discovery in 2005, exoplanet HD 189733b has been one of the most-observed extra solar planets, due to its…
What a View! Exoplanet Odd Couple Orbit in Close Proximity
Imagine if the Neptune was only a million miles from Earth. What a view we’d have! … not to mention…
Terrestrial Planets Could be More Common Than Gas Giants
Editor’s note: This guest post was written by Andy Tomaswick, an electrical engineer who follows space science and technology. As…
First SETI Search of Gliese 581 Finds No Signs of ET
[/caption] The first targeted SETI search of a system with a potentially habitable world has come up empty, but perhaps…
A Planetary System That Never Was Teaches About Those That May Be
While Kepler and similar missions are turning up planets by the fist full, there's long been many places that astronomers…
Rogue Planets Could Drive By And Scoop Up Life
[/caption] Free-floating "rogue" planets may occasionally dip into the inner Solar System, picking up dust containing organic compounds -- a.k.a.…
Light From a ‘SuperEarth’ Detected for the First Time
[/caption] The star 55 Cancri has been a source of joy and firsts for planet hunters. Not only was it…
Searching for Exoplanet Oceans More Challenging Than First Thought
[/caption] As astronomers continue to discover more exoplanets, the focus has slowly shifted from what sizes such planets are, to…