81–100 of 339 results
Proxima Centauri c

Exoplanets

Astronomers Discover Second Planet in Nearest Star System

Astronomers have announced the discovery of Proxima Centauri c, an inhospitable super-Earth just 4.3 light-years away.

Star with two suns

Exoplanets

NASA's TESS Introduces Us to Our Planetary Neighbors

NASA's TESS mission announces the results from its first year of exoplanet-hunting in the southern sky, introducing us to some of our planetary neighbors.

Debris ring around a white dwarf star

Exoplanets

How a White Dwarf Is Vaporizing Its Giant Planet

Astronomers have long suspected that white dwarfs eat their planetary companions. Now, indirect observations show the process in action.

LHS 1140 b

Exoplanets

New Method May Expedite Search for Exoplanets with Atmospheres

A team of astronomers propose screening exoplanets by their temperatures to determine whether they host an atmosphere — and are worth following up.

microlensing diagram

Exoplanets

Observations Confirm Lensing Planet Discovered by Amateur

Follow-up observations of an amateur-discovered exoplanet show that the planet orbits its star at the snow line, where ice giants may form.

Colliding exoplanets (artist's concept)

Exoplanets

Astronomers Monitor Exoplanet-Scale Collision

New infrared observations probe a system that underwent a planetary-scale collision tens of thousands of years ago.

Exoplanets

Two Eyes to Hunt Stray Planet Masses

How can we measure the masses of free-floating planets wandering around our galaxy? A new study identifies one approach that combines the power of two upcoming missions.

Exoplanets

Milestone: Astronomers Discover Water Vapor on a Super-Earth

Two independent teams of astronomers have discovered the signature of water vapor in the atmosphere of super-Earth K2-18b.

hot Jupiter WASP-121b

Exoplanets

Planet WASP-12b Might Be on a Death Spiral into its Parent Star

A mere 3 million years from now — a cosmic eye-blink away — the star WASP 12 might consume its exoplanet WASP-12b.

Exomoon (art)

Exoplanets

Have Astronomers Detected Exomoons At Last?

Have astronomers detected two giant exomoons? The answer depends on how convincing you deem newly presented results — and how you define a moon.

Artist's concept of Beta Pictoris system

Solar System

Beta Pic's New Planet, Jupiter’s Fuzzy Core & An Ancient Star

Astronomers announce another planet around Beta Pictoris, simulations explain Jupiter's large and fuzzy core, and observations reveal an ancient star.

Space Missions

TESS's First Year of Science

NASA’s latest exoplanet hunter has found more than two dozen new worlds, at least one of which might be habitable.

Exomoon (art)

Exoplanets

Exomoon or No Exomoon?

Last October, the first discovery of a potential exomoon was announced. But is Kepler-1625b-i an actual moon in another solar system? Or just an artifact of data reduction?

Planet formation (artist's concept)

Exoplanets

Youngest Confirmed Exoplanet Provides Clues on Its Formation

Observations of the youngest confirmed planet, CI Tau b, suggest it's still hot from its birth — a point in favor of a quick-start model of formation.

PDS 70 (art)

Exoplanets

Astronomers Directly Detect Newborn Planets

Infant planets are coming together in a system 370 light-years away, and they’re shedding light on the early lives of Saturn and Jupiter in our solar system.

Exocomets around Beta Pictoris (art)

Exoplanets

Found: Exoplanet in the "Hot Neptune Desert" & Exocomets Around Beta Pictoris

Two teams of astronomers have announced the discovery of a Neptune-size planet in an unexpected orbit and three exocomets whizzing around nearby star Beta Pictoris.

August 2012 issue of Sky & Telescope

Exoplanets

Solar System "Twin" Is Missing Its Baby Jupiters

Exceptional new images of the LkCa 15 system, a young, Sun-like star thought to host infant gas giant planets, shows those planets don't exist.

Kepler 47 (artist's concept)

Exoplanets

Third Planet Found Orbiting Binary Star System Kepler 47

Astronomers have found a third planet circling a pair of stars in the Kepler 47 system.

HR 8799e (artist's impression)

Exoplanets

Best View Yet of Baby Giant Exoplanet

Astronomers have taken the best spectrum yet of exoplanet HR 8799e, a gas giant in its infancy.

Super-puff exoplanet

Exoplanets

Inflating a Super-Puff Planet

Super-puffy exoplanets are a problem. They shouldn’t exist — and yet we've detected half a dozen of them. Here's what theory might be getting wrong.