A ‘hot Neptune’ exoplanet has been found to contain sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere — an atmosphere that’s also gushing into space as the planet loops over its star’s poles on a steeply inclined orbit every three-and-a-third days. The existence of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet, dubbed GJ 3470b and located 96 […]
A strange planet discovered with NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has astronomers confused. Despite getting relentlessly bombarded with radiation from its red giant parent star, the world has, against all odds, hung on to its atmosphere. It is also smaller, older and hotter than scientists thought possible for such a planet. In truth, the […]
NASA announced the discovery of a planet 316 million miles from Earth that orbits every 12.8 days and is possibly even habitable. Gliese 12 b is a “super Earth exoplanet” that is nearly the same size as Earth or slightly smaller, according to a NASA news release. Exoplanets are planets outside of our solar system, […]
A new catalog of 126 worlds beyond the solar system contains a cornucopia of newly discovered planets — some have extreme and exotic natures, but others could potentially support life as we know it. The catalog’s mix of planets is further evidence of the wide and wild variety of worlds beyond our cosmic backyard; it […]
Scientists using a NASA space telescope have discovered a tantalizing world. It’s about the size of Earth, sits remarkably close to our solar system, and could be comfortable for life as we know it. The extrasolar planet, or “exoplanet,” named Gliese 12 b, orbits a small and cool red dwarf star located just around 40 light-years from Earth in […]
A newly discovered exoplanet, with its surface temperature estimated to be remarkably temperate, is suddenly one of the most intriguing objects in our immediate celestial neighborhood. This rocky Venus-sized world transits a red dwarf star, offering astronomers the rare opportunity to study whether such planets can retain their atmospheres and potentially support life. Gliese 12 […]
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that a cotton-candy-like Jupiter-sized planet located around 350 light-years away is shrinking and could be on the way to becoming a “sub-Neptune” or “super-Earth” sized world. As well as being one of the lightest planets ever discovered, the extrasolar planet or “exoplanet” called V1298 Tau b also […]
Astronomers have discovered a new planetary oddball beyond the solar system that is as fluffy and light as cotton candy. The extrasolar planet or “exoplanet” named WASP-193 b is around 1.5 times the width of Jupiter but has just over a tenth of the solar system gas giant’s mass. This makes it the second-lightest planet […]
An exoplanet covered in so many volcanoes that its molten surface radiates a fiery red has been discovered orbiting a star 66 light-years from Earth. That sentence may ring a bell for Star Wars fans, as Obi-Wan Kenobi indeed fought and defeated Anakin Skywalker on the lava planet of Mustafar. But, believe it or not, […]
NASA’s planet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is back in action, searching for worlds beyond the solar system’s limits. TESS came out of “safe mode” on May 3, resuming its search for worlds in other star systems known as extrasolar planets (or exoplanets) as they cross or “transit” the face of their parent stars, causing […]
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered that a scorching hot lava planet, believed to be composed of diamond, grew a second atmosphere — and that was after its star destroyed its first atmosphere. The planet, known as 55 Cancri e, is located around 41 light-years from the solar system and has […]
Located 163 light-years from Earth, a Jupiter-sized exoplanet named WASP-69b offers astrophysicists a window into the dynamic processes that shape planets across the galaxy. The star it orbits is baking and stripping away the planet’s atmosphere, and that escaped atmosphere is being sculpted by the star into a vast, cometlike tail at least 350,000 miles […]