Planet-seekers who have spotted 28 new planets orbiting other stars in the past year say Earth's solar system is far from unique and there could be billions of habitable planets. picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg have discovered the youngest known extrasolar planet. Its host star is still surrounded by the disk of gas and dust from which it was only recently born. This discovery allows scientists to draw important conclusions about the timing of planet formation. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Three undergraduate students, from Leiden University in the Netherlands, have discovered an extrasolar planet. The extraordinary find, which turned up during their research project, is about five times as massive as Jupiter. This is also the first planet discovered orbiting a fast-rotating hot star. picked by AutumnLotus 12 months ago

The hottest planet ever discovered is charcoal black and makes even some stars seem cool. Scientists think the exoplanet absorbs nearly all the starlight that reaches its surface and then reradiates it back out into space as heat. picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

Astronomers have discovered a planet, WASP-17, that is twice the size of Jupiter. That makes it the largest planet ever discovered. Unlike other planets, it orbits opposite to its star’s direction.
But why is WASP-17 so big? The discovery suggests that have been subjected to intense tides as it traveled in its strange orbit, causing it to become stretched and bloated. picked by Bingo 4 months ago

The new definition, proposed this week by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), basically says every round object orbiting the sun is a planet, unless it orbits another planet. Asteroid Ceres will become a planet. Pluto's moon Charon will become a planet, things could get really strange. picked by Jaxomlotus 3 years ago

Science fiction may soon become science fact. Astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have recently concluded that the upcoming planet-finding mission, SIM PlanetQuest, would be able to detect an Earth-like planet around the star 40 Eridani, a planet familiar to "Star Trek" fans as "Vulcan." picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

Classic sci-fi film cut down to half an hour and given the feel of a Twilight Zone episode. Why? Because of the involvement of Rod Serling in both - and the whopping great twist! picked by TheStep 3 years ago

A SUPER-HOT planet 1500 light years away has been seen waxing and waning like the moon. The discovery hints that hot gas giants come in two varieties. picked by AutumnLotus 6 months ago

A planet outside our solar system with a year roughly equal to Earth's has been discovered around a dying, red giant star. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Only in the state of Illinois, but Pluto has been declared a planet once again - igniting a fresh round of debate over the status of the "planet" (and debate over whether there is a debate). picked by amabaie 9 months ago

Two rocks found together in Antarctica are chunks of a dwarf planet that was smashed apart early in the solar system's history, detailed studies suggest. Other remnants of the proto-world may still be floating around in the asteroid belt, and might be identifiable by the spectrum of the sunlight they reflect. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The solar system's smallest planet has been shrinking at an unexpected rate, researchers announced on Thursday.

When NASA's Mariner 10 probe flew by Mercury in 1974 and 1975, it returned images of strange cliffs called 'scarps' that cut across all sorts of geological formations. That suggested that the planet's surface has contracted over time. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Costa Rica tops the "Happy Planet Index," a ranking of ecological efficiency among the world's nations, survey officials say.
Of the 143 nations surveyed for the Happy Planet Index, the United States ranked 114. picked by kakana 5 months ago

Astronomers have peered into the womb of a stellar disk to capture an image of material falling onto what could be a planet in an early stage of formation. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Astronomers have discovered the first known planet to survive its "red-giant" phase, a period when an aging star expands and engulfs bodies orbiting it. The discovery of the gas-giant planet three times the size of Jupiter offers a look at the future of our own solar system and what will happen to the Earth when the sun grows old and collapses. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The tell-tale signature of the molecule methane in the atmosphere of the Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet HD 189733b has been found with the Hubble Space Telescope. Under the right circumstances methane can play a key role in prebiotic chemistry – the chemical reactions considered necessary to form life as we know it. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Astronomers have discovered what may be the smallest alien planet yet — a rocky ``SuperEarth'' only four times heavier than our home planet. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Astronomers have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth.

While Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

For the first time, astronomers have observed the initial phase in the formation of an earth-like planet. What astronomers observed was that a protoplanetary disk, or ring, around the binary star known as KH 15D, is composed of solid particles larger than what is usually observed in space. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago