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Exoplanet Research
Between the least massive star and most massive planet lies the mysterious brown dwarf: a class of objects that are neither star nor planet.
With such a vast Universe and raw ingredients that seem to be everywhere, could it really be possible that humanity is truly alone?
Within the next few decades, we may well have hard evidence for the existence of alien life on worlds light-years distant from Earth.
Some fascinating observations of K2-18b have come along with horrendous, speculative communications. There's no evidence for oceans or life.
Finding a tiny planet around bright stars dozens or hundreds of light-years from Earth is extremely difficult.
Scientists may have detected the somewhat smelly chemical dimethyl sulfide on a planet 120 light-years from Earth.
Each of our three nearest stars might have an Earth-like planet in orbit around it. Here's what we'll learn when we finally observe it.
Can two planets stably share the same orbit? Conventional wisdom says no, but a look at Saturn's moons might tell a different story.
We may be the last generation born not knowing if we are alone in the Universe.
The giant impact theory suggests our Moon was formed from proto-Earth getting a Mars-sized strike. An exoplanet system shows it's plausible.
The space telescope's findings challenge the notion of a galaxy brimming with life.
Exoplanet LP 791-18d is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.
A surprising JWST discovery around Fomalhaut has a different, superior explanation: not a great dust cloud, but a mere background object.
Back in 1990, we hadn't discovered a single planet outside of our Solar System. Here are 10 facts that would've surprised every astronomer.
The nearby, bright star Fomalhaut had the first optically imaged planetary candidate. Using JWST's eyes, astronomers found so much more.
They're the most common type of exoplanet known today, and many astronomers have called them "super-habitable." None of that is true.
This oddball system of three stars might be our best chance at finding nearby life in the Universe.
Eternal twilight.
Finding this missing piece of water’s path through the universe offers clues to how it came to be on Earth.
NASA has finally chosen which flagship mission, like Hubble and JWST, will launch in ~2040. Detecting alien life is now a reachable goal.
If life is common in the Universe, then where is everybody? Known as the Fermi Paradox, a new project may help solve the riddle.
Individual space telescopes, like Hubble and JWST, revolutionized our knowledge of the Universe. What if we had an array of them, instead?
It's a radical but plausible idea.
JWST just found its first transiting exoplanet, and it's 99% the size of Earth. But with no atmosphere seen, perhaps air is truly rare.
Red dwarf stars were supposed to be inhospitable. But TOI-700, now with at least two potentially habitable worlds, is quite the exception.
Astronomers have been looking for radio waves sent by a distant civilization for more than 60 years.
All across the Universe, planets come in a wide variety of sizes, masses, compositions, and temperatures. And most have rain and snow.
Most exoplanets have been found around single stars via the transit method. But binary star systems might contain even more of them.
NASA is creating a planet habitability index, and Earth may not be at the top. With our current data, ranking habitability is guesswork.
As recently as 1990, we didn't know of any planets beyond our Solar System. Today, with 5000+, we're deep into the weeds of how they form.