EXTRA SOLAR

2,688 articles

Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets
Jul 29, 2014 (SPX)
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have gone looking for water vapor in the atmospheres of three planets orbiting stars similar to the sun -- and h...
The Most Precise Measurement of an Alien World's Size
Jul 28, 2014 (JPL)
Thanks to NASA's Kepler and Spitzer Space Telescopes, scientists have made the most precise measurement ever of the radius of a planet outside our solar system....
Transiting Exoplanet with Longest Known Year
Jul 24, 2014 (SPX)
Astronomers have discovered a transiting exoplanet with the longest known year. Kepler-421b circles its star once every 704 days. In comparison, Mars orbits our...
'Challenges' in quest to find water on Earth-like worlds: study
Jul 24, 2014 (AFP)
A study of unprecedented detail has revealed astonishingly little water on three distant planets, hinting at potential obstacles in the search for Earth-like wo...
Brown Dwarfs May Wreak Havoc on Orbits of Nearby Planets
Jul 21, 2014 (SPX)
Planets that move around their stars in circular orbits are a better bet for life than those in elongated orbits when it comes to creating habitable climate con...
NASA Mission To Reap Bonanza of Earth-sized Planets
Jul 21, 2014 (SPX)
Set to launch in 2017, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will monitor more than half a million stars over its two-year mission, with a focus o...
Friction from Tides Could Help Distant Earths Survive, and Thrive
Jul 16, 2014 (SPX)
As anybody who has started a campfire by rubbing sticks knows, friction generates heat. Now, computer modeling by NASA scientists shows that friction could be t...
Newfound Frozen World Orbits in Binary Star System
Jul 11, 2014 (SPX)
A newly discovered planet in a binary star system located 3,000 light-years from Earth is expanding astronomers' notions of where Earth-like-and even potentiall...
Discovery expands search for Earth-like planets
Jul 04, 2014 (SPX)
A newly discovered planet in a binary star system located 3,000 light-years from Earth is expanding astronomers' notions of where Earth-like-and even potentiall...
Mega-Earth in Draco Smashes Notions of Planetary Formation
Jun 20, 2014 (NASA)
Worlds like this one aren't supposed to exist. In Draco the Dragon-the 8th largest constellation in our sky-there exists asolid planet weighing close to 17 time...
Kepler space telescope ready to start new hunt for exoplanets
Jun 10, 2014 (Voice of Russia)
NASA's Kepler spacecraft is now fully operational for its new "Second Light" K2 mission. The telescope specializing in seeking planets outside of the solar syst...
Astronomers Confounded By Massive Rocky World
Jun 05, 2014 (JPL)
Astronomers have discovered a rocky planet that weighs 17 times as much as Earth and is more than twice as large in size. This discovery has planet formation th...
Two planets orbit nearby ancient star
Jun 04, 2014 (SPX)
An international team of astronomers, including five Carnegie scientists, reports the discovery of two new planets orbiting a very old star that is near to our ...
First light for SPHERE exoplanet imager
Jun 04, 2014 (SPX)
SPHERE passed its acceptance tests in Europe in December 2013 and was then shipped to Paranal. The delicate reassembly was completed in May 2014 and the instrum...
'Neapolitan' exoplanets come in three flavors
Jun 03, 2014 (SPX)
The planets of our solar system come in two basic flavors, like vanilla and chocolate ice cream. We have small, rocky terrestrials like Earth and Mars, and larg...
Because you can't eat just one: Star will swallow two planets
Jun 03, 2014 (SPX)
Two worlds orbiting a distant star are about to become a snack of cosmic proportions. Astronomers report that the planets Kepler-56b and Kepler-56c will be swal...
Astronomers find a new type of planet: The 'mega-Earth'
Jun 03, 2014 (SPX)
Astronomers have discovered a new type of planet - a rocky world weighing 17 times as much as Earth. Theorists believed such a world couldn't form because anyth...
'Godzilla' of Earths circles distant star
Jun 02, 2014 (AFP)
Astronomers have spotted the "Godzilla" of all Earths, a huge rocky planet orbiting a star 560 light years away that is changing scientists' understanding of th...
Why Does Earth Have No Super-Earth Cousins?
May 30, 2014 (SPX)
New discoveries of many super-Earth planets orbiting very close to sun-like stars have started to make Earth's solar system look a little lonely. The mystery of...
Astronomers identify signature of Earth-eating stars
May 23, 2014 (SPX)
Some Sun-like stars are 'Earth-eaters.' During their development they ingest large amounts of the rocky material from which 'terrestrial' planets like Earth, Ma...
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