Extrasolar Planets News

July 19, 2024

Top Headlines

Astronomers Spot a 'Highly Eccentric' Planet on Its Way to Becoming a Hot Jupiter

July 17, 2024 — The newly discovered planet TIC 241249530 b has the most highly elliptical, or eccentric, orbit of any known planet. It appears to be a juvenile planet that is in the midst of becoming a hot Jupiter, ...

NASA's Webb Investigates Eternal Sunrises, Sunsets on Distant World

July 15, 2024 — Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have finally confirmed what models have previously predicted: An exoplanet has differences between its eternal morning and eternal evening atmosphere. WASP-39 b, a giant planet with a diameter 1.3 ...

Scorching Storms on Distant Worlds Revealed

July 15, 2024 — An international study reveals the extreme atmospheric conditions on the celestial objects, which are swathed in swirling clouds of hot sand amid temperatures of 950C. Using NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers set out to ...

Scientific Definition of a Planet Says It Must Orbit Our Sun; A New Proposal Would Change That

July 11, 2024 — The International Astronomical Union defines a planet as a celestial body that orbits the sun, is massive enough that gravity has forced it into a spherical shape, and has cleared away other objects ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:58pm EDT

Found With Webb: A Potentially Habitable Icy World

July 9, 2024 — A international team of astronomers has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising 'super-Earth' covered in ice or ...

Building Materials for Water-Rich Planets in the Early Solar System

July 9, 2024 — Age data for certain classes of meteorite have made it possible to gain new findings on the origin of small water-rich astronomical bodies in the early solar system. These planetesimals continually ...

Stench of a Gas Giant? Nearby Exoplanet Reeks of Rotten Eggs, and That's a Good Thing

July 8, 2024 — An exoplanet infamous for its deadly weather has been hiding another bizarre feature -- it reeks of rotten eggs, according to a new study of data ...

The Density Difference of Sub-Neptunes Finally Deciphered

June 27, 2024 — The majority of stars in our galaxy are home to planets. The most abundant are the sub-Neptunes, planets between the size of Earth and Neptune. Calculating their density poses a problem for ...

Telltale Greenhouse Gases Could Signal Alien Activity

June 25, 2024 — If aliens modified a planet in their solar system to make it warmer, we'd be able to tell. A new study identifies the artificial greenhouse gases that would be giveaways of a terraformed ...

Watery Planets Orbiting Dead Stars May Be Good Candidates for Studying Life -- If They Can Survive Long Enough

June 13, 2024 — The small footprint and dim light of white dwarfs, remnants of stars that have burned through their fuel, may make excellent backdrops for studying ...

Mysterious Mini-Neptunes

June 13, 2024 — This study discovered mini-Neptunes around four red dwarfs using observations from a global network of ground-based telescopes and the TESS space telescope. These four mini-Neptunes are close to ...

Small, Cool and Sulfurous Exoplanet May Help Write Recipe for Planetary Formation

June 10, 2024 — Astronomers observing exoplanet GJ 3470 b saw evidence of water, carbon dioxide, methane and sulfur dioxide. Astronomers hope the discovery of this ...

Planet-Forming Disks Around Very Low-Mass Stars Are Different

June 6, 2024 — Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astronomers studied the properties of a planet-forming disk around a young and very low-mass star. The results reveal the richest hydrocarbon ...

'Weird' New Planet Retained Atmosphere Despite Nearby Star's Relentless Radiation

June 5, 2024 — A rare exoplanet that should have been stripped down to bare rock by its nearby host star's intense radiation somehow grew a puffy atmosphere instead ...

Earlier Headlines

Intriguing Nearby World Sized Between Earth, Venus

May 23, 2024 — Astronomers have discovered a planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus only 40 light-years ...

Planet Hunters Unveil Massive Catalog of Strange Worlds

May 23, 2024 — While thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, relatively little is known about them. A NASA catalog featuring 126 exotic, newly discovered worlds includes detailed measurements ...

Potentially Habitable 'Exo-Venus' With Earth-Like Temperature Discovered

May 23, 2024 — Astronomers have made the rare and tantalizing discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet 40 light-years away that may be just a little warmer than our own world. The potentially-habitable planet, named ...

Webb Telescope Offers First Glimpse of an Exoplanet's Interior

May 20, 2024 — A surprisingly low amount of methane and a super-sized core hide within the cotton candy -- like planet WASP-107 ...

Detection of an Earth-Sized Exoplanet Orbiting the Ultracool Dwarf Star SPECULOOS-3

May 15, 2024 — Astronomers have just discovered a new Earth-sized exoplanet around SPECULOOS-3, an 'ultracool dwarf' star as small as Jupiter, twice as cold as our Sun, and located 55 light-years from ...

WASP-193b, a Giant Planet With a Density Similar to That of Cotton Candy

May 14, 2024 — Astronomers have just discovered WASP-193b, an extraordinarily low-density giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like ...

Squeezed by Neighbors, Planet Glows With Molten Lava

May 9, 2024 — Astrophysicists discovered that an exoplanet is covered with so many active volcanoes that seen from a distance it would take on a fiery, glowing-red ...

Possible Atmosphere Surrounding Rocky Exoplanet

May 8, 2024 — Researchers may have detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. This is the best evidence to date for the existence of any rocky planet ...

Webb Telescope Probably Didn't Find Life on an Exoplanet -- Yet

May 2, 2024 — Recent reports of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope finding signs of life on a distant planet understandably sparked excitement. A new study challenges this finding, but also outlines how the ...

NASA's Webb Maps Weather on Planet 280 Light-Years Away

Apr. 30, 2024 — Researchers have successfully used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 ...

Exoplanets True to Size

Apr. 12, 2024 — A star's magnetic field must be considered in order to correctly determine the characteristics of exoplanets from observations by space telescopes such as Kepler, James Webb, or PLATO. ...

Study Shedding New Light on Earth's Global Carbon Cycle Could Help Assess Liveability of Other Planets

Apr. 10, 2024 — Research has uncovered important new insights into the evolution of oxygen, carbon, and other vital elements over the entire history of Earth -- and it could help assess which other planets can ...

CHEOPS Detects a 'Rainbow' on an Exoplanet

Apr. 5, 2024 — The CHEOPS space telescope is providing new information on the mysterious exoplanet WASP-76b. This ultra-hot giant is characterized by an asymmetry between the amount of light observed on its eastern ...

Astronomers Conduct First Search for Forming Planets With New Space Telescope

Mar. 27, 2024 — Planets form in disks of dust and gas called protoplanetary disks that whirl around a central protostar during its final ...

Tiniest 'Starquake' Ever Detected

Mar. 26, 2024 — An orange dwarf star has yielded the tiniest 'starquakes' ever recorded, measured by an international team of ...

Groundbreaking Survey Reveals Secrets of Planet Birth Around Dozens of Stars

Mar. 5, 2024 — A team of astronomers has shed new light on the fascinating and complex process of planet formation. The research brings together observations of more than 80 young stars that might have planets ...

Ultraviolet Radiation from Massive Stars Shapes Planetary Systems

Mar. 1, 2024 — Up to a certain point, very luminous stars can have a positive effect on the formation of planets, but from that point on the radiation they emit can cause the material in protoplanetary discs to ...

Astronomers Reveal a New Link Between Water and Planet Formation

Feb. 29, 2024 — Researchers have found water vapor in the disc around a young star exactly where planets may be forming. Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth, and is also thought to play a significant role in ...

A New Beginning: The Search for More Temperate Tatooines

Feb. 22, 2024 — Luke Skywalker's childhood might have been slightly less harsh if he'd grown up on a more temperate Tatooine -- like the ones identified in a new study. According to the study's ...

Mysterious Gap in Size Distribution of Super-Earths Explained

Feb. 9, 2024 — Astronomers have uncovered evidence of how the enigmatic gap in the size distribution of exoplanets at around two Earth radii emerges. Their computer simulations demonstrate that the migration of ...