Researchers at the University of East Anglia have made an important step in the race to discover whether other planets could develop and sustain life. Their new research, published yesterday in the journal Astrobiology, shows the vital role of oceans in m
Astronomers announced today that they 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 anything so hefty would grab hydrogen gas as it grew and become a Jupiter-like gas gi
Carbon-rich planets may be more common than previously thought, according to a new research by Yale University astronomers.Some of these planets, all located far beyond Earth's solar system, could contain vast deposits of graphite or diamonds, and their apparent abu
Astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" – the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet and could possibly sustain life. The planet, called
The presence of atmospheric water was reported previously on a few planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system, but a paper published yesterday in Astrophysical Journal is the first one that conclusively measured and compared the profiles and
On the exoplanet Kepler 7b, the weather is highly predictable, an international team of scientists has found: On any given day, the exoplanet, which orbits a star nearly 1,000 light-years from Earth, is heavily overcast on one side, while the other side likely enjoys
Astronomers at NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have, for the first time, identified a true color of planed out of our Solar System. The planet is 63 light-years away and is boringly named HD 189733b but it is rather interesting, bizarre and exotic. It is also
A team at Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has just discovered an exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Detecting alien worlds presents a significant challenge since they
A new advanced telescope imaging system is expected to improve detection of exoplanets obscured by exponentially bright stars. Unlike Kepler mission which uses the transit method to find out exoplanets transiting in front of their stars, this one actually blots out
In this 8th session of the internet-based live lectures between Universities and Institutes, Dr Heike Rauer gives an overview on the current status of exoplanet detections with focus on terrestrial planets in and near the habitable zone, detected by different
