In 1995, a pair of scientists discovered a planet outside our solar system orbiting a solar-type star. Since that ...

This collection celebrates the 30 th anniversary of the detection of the first planet outside our Solar System orbiting a main sequence star. Experts reflect on the impact of various milestones in ...

What can sub-Neptune exoplanets teach astronomers about finding life beyond Earth? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team of scientists ...

As more and more exoplanets are discovered throughout the galaxy, scientists find some that defy explanation—at least for awhile. A new study, published in Nature, describes a process that might ...

What can a 3D map of an exoplanet’s atmosphere teach astronomers about the planet’s formation, evolution, and composition? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as ...

It's the first use of a new technique called 3D eclipse mapping. Astronomers have produced the first-ever three-dimensional map of a planet outside our solar system — WASP-18b — marking a major leap ...

Surveys of the Galaxy have found that the most common type of planet is typically closer to its host star than the innermost planet of the Solar System, Mercury, is to the Sun. The orbits of these ...

"This finding is the first direct evidence of water’s interstellar journey from clouds to the materials that form planetary systems — unchanged and intact." The first-ever detection of heavy water in ...

Astronomers have discovered that the exoplanet K2-18b, located 124 light years away in the constellation of Leo, may be one of the most promising candidates for life beyond Earth. With a size more ...

For years, some exoplanets looked like good bets to have water, some with deep global oceans. They sit between Earth and Neptune in size, and several early spectra hinted at water friendly chemistry ...