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

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

Thursday, May 31 brings us the second of two full Moons for North Americans this month. Some almanacs and calendars assert that when two full Moons occur within a calendar month, that the second full Moon is called the "Blue Moon." picked by AutumnLotus 3 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

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

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

A gay boy wishes for a planet full of Unicorns. This is the story of that planet picked by dork 2 years 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

An image released today of a distant star and its potential planetary companion could go down in history as the first picture of a planet outside our solar system orbiting a sunlike star. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

A team of astronomers from Penn State and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland has discovered a new planet that is closely orbiting a red-giant star, HD 102272, which is much older than our own Sun. The planet has a mass that is nearly six times that of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Astronomers have announced the discovery of a fifth planet circling 55 Cancri, a star beyond our solar system. The star now holds the record for number of confirmed extrasolar planets orbiting in a planetary system. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The fiery demise of a fifth rocky planet in our Solar System might have led to a flurry of asteroid impacts that pockmarked the Moon and Earth billions of years ago. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

NASA-supported scientists have realized that something does happen every month when the Moon gets a lashing from Earth's magnetic tail. "Earth's magnetotail extends well beyond the orbit of the Moon and, once a month, the Moon orbits through it," says Tim Stubbs. "This can have consequences ranging from lunar 'dust storms' to electrostatic discharges." picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The scientists behind the Cassini orbiter have announced the discovery of Saturn's 60th moon, a little thing that showed up in time-lapse photography of the ringed planet. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years 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

A team of astronomers says it may have spotted the youngest planet ever found, boasting an age of less than 100,000 years old, and perhaps as young as 1600 years old. They say it bolsters a controversial theory that planets form very quickly, like stars – but other astronomers say the massive object may not be a planet at all but a 'failed' star, which explains its speedy birth. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

It's the planet that really shouldn't exist - or at least not for long. It is 10 times the size of Jupiter, orbits its own star in under 24 hours and should soon be spiralling into the surface of its searingly-hot sun.

WASP-18b is a planet where temperatures exceed 2100C - enough to create clouds of silica-based gems. picked by Bingo 3 months 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

The plains of solidified lava that give the Moon its quirky human-like face as seen from Earth were created more than four billion years ago. The evidence comes from an unearthly silvery-grey stone that was blasted off from the face of the Moon, perhaps by an impacting asteroid, and was then captured by Earth's gravity, prompting it to fall to ground in Botswana. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago