Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

NEWS ABOUT: exoplanet

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Switch to grid view »

Planet-Hunting Kepler Craft Has Big Setback

Malfunction threatens ability to look for Earth-like bodies

(Newser) - It seems like NASA is announcing the discovery of a new Earth-like planet every few weeks—like so , and so , and so —but those days might be over for a long while. Not that there aren't more discoveries to make, it's just that the spacecraft responsible for... More »

Kepler Finds Most Earth-Like Planet Yet

Introducing Kepler 62f, about 1.2K light years away

(Newser) - The Kepler telescope is certainly earning its keep. It has found even more Earth-like planets, NASA announced today, and one is being described as the most Earth-like yet. The news of Kepler-62f comes as part of the discovery of three exoplanets that could possibly support life, explains Space.com . Kepler-62f... More »

Scientists Spot Smallest Planet Ever Seen

Exoplanet Kepler-37b is the size of our moon

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the smallest known planet, just a third of the size of the Earth. Mercury, the smallest in our solar system, is two-fifths Earth's size, the AP notes; the new discovery, Kepler-37b, is a far-off exoplanet. "This research shows for the first time that other stellar... More »

Earth-Like Planet Spotted

KOI 172.02 orbits star like our sun

(Newser) - Less than two weeks after astronomers predicted they would find an Earth-like planet some time in 2013, the feat may have already been accomplished. Scientists this week announced at the 221st meeting of American Astronomical Society that the Kepler telescope has found a "super-Earth" whose radius is 1.5... More »

Prediction: We'll Discover 1st 'Earth Twin' in 2013

With 50B planets in Milky Way, astronomers think big discovery looms

(Newser) - With more than 800 exoplanets identified since 1995, many astronomers are predicting that 2013 will be the year that the first truly Earth-like planet is spotted, reports Space . Scientists have gotten ever closer to finding an alien Earth in recent years, identifying several in the right temperature range and others... More »

New 'Super-Earth' Spotted

It's seven times the size of our planet, and just 42 light years away

(Newser) - Scientists have found another planet to add to the growing list of potential homes for life. Researchers recently spotted three new planets circling around HD 40307, just 42 light years from Earth, the BBC reports, and one of them is just far enough from the star that it could harbor... More »

Planet Spotted in Solar System Next-Door

But Earth-sized Alpha Centauri planet is too hot for life

(Newser) - Excited astronomers have spotted an Earth-sized planet as close as it is possible to find one outside our solar system. The rocky planet discovered by a European team circles one of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system, the sun's nearest neighbor at just 4.4 light years... More »

Giant Star Caught Devouring Planet

A similar fate awaits Earth, scientists say

(Newser) - Astronomers observing the Perseus constellation have caught a glimpse of the fate that awaits our own planet: digestion inside a giant star. Unusual amounts of lithium were detected inside the elderly red giant BD+48 740, and a surviving planet has shifted to a strange elliptical orbit, leading researchers to conclude... More »

Scientists: 'Holy Grail' World Could Support Life

Hello, Gliese 667Cc

(Newser) - Researchers poring over old European Southern Observatory data have found a world so potentially similar to Earth that one researcher called it a "Holy Grail" discovery, the Telegraph reports. Gliese 667Cc orbits a red dwarf 22 light years away, and likely has temperatures extremely similar to those on Earth,... More »

New 'Water World' Confirmed

GJ 1214b water world may yield 'hot ice’ or ‘superfluid water'

(Newser) - A hot and steamy water world 40 light years away has been identified as the first known member of a whole new class of planets. Researchers using the Hubble space telescope have confirmed that planet GJ 1214b, first spotted in 2009 , contains a much higher proportion of water than any... More »

'Super Earth' Spotted, Might Support Life

GG 667Cc orbits star 22 light years away

(Newser) - A planet in a triple-star system a relatively close 22 light years away is the best candidate yet for supporting life, researchers say. The rocky planet, GJ 667Cc, is around 4.5 times the size of Earth and orbits in the middle of the "Goldilocks zone" where water can... More »

Scientists Find 11 New Planetary Systems

Triples number of known multiplanetary star systems

(Newser) - The Kepler space telescope has discovered a whopping 11 new planetary systems that are home to 26 planets—thus tripling the number of stars that have more than one planet that passes in front of them and doubling the number of exoplanets confirmed by the Kepler mission. "Prior to... More »

Space Telescope Spots Earth-Sized Worlds

Kepler discoveries are smallest exoplanets yet found

(Newser) - For the first time, scientists have discovered planets roughly the size of ours outside our solar system. Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f are the smallest exoplanets yet found, Discovery reports. Because they're so close to the star they orbit, they don't appear habitable, but the finding is "next major... More »

Newfound 'Super-Earth' Might Support Life

It's one of 50 new exoplanets found by European telescope

(Newser) - A telescope at the European Southern Observatory has spotted 50 new exoplanets—and one of them is a so-called "super-Earth" that might just be habitable, Live Science reports. The telescope actually found 16 super-Earths—potentially rocky worlds sporting more mass than our beloved home world—but one designated HD... More »

Mysterious Exoplanet Darker Than Coal

Jupiter-sized planet reflects less than 1% of light

(Newser) - The mysterious exoplanet TrES-2b is a gas giant the size of Jupiter, but it reflects less than 1% of the light that hits it—making it darker than coal and one of the stranger objects astronomers have yet found, reports Discovery . "TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic... More »

Scientists ID 'Habitable' Exoplanet

New model suggests Gliese 581D a likely candidate for life

(Newser) - A new computer climate model has turned up the strongest evidence yet that a planet in the Gliese system is capable of sustaining life, the Telegraph reports. Researchers believe Gliese 581d, which orbits a red dwarf 20 light years away, not only exists in the "Goldilocks zone" where water... More »

Astronomers Searching 86 Planets for Aliens

SETI project collecting data on planets likeliest to harbor life

(Newser) - American astronomers are searching for signs of alien life on 86 possible Earth-like planets deemed the likeliest to harbor life. The massive Green Bank radio telescope in rural West Virginia will home in on each of the 86—chosen from 1,235 possible planets located by NASA's Kepler telescope—... More »

In the Stars, Astronomers Find Music

By measuring minute changes in light, researchers can 'hear' the stars

(Newser) - The ancients believed in the "music of the spheres"—that the planets and stars moved through the heavens in harmonic ratios. Today's astronomers are also "listening" to the stars, using the powerful Kepler telescope to measure their internal vibrations, a technique they call "astroseismology." So... More »

NASA Finds Smallest Planet Outside Our Solar System

But Kepler-10b is too hot for human habitation

(Newser) - The Kepler space telescope has discovered a rocky planet that’s just 1.4 times the size of Earth orbiting a distant star—making it the smallest planet NASA has ever discovered outside of our solar system, and the only rocky one, NASA announced today. The bad news: The planet,... More »

Alien Planet Discovered in Milky Way

HIP 13044B and its star originated in different galaxy

(Newser) - As planets go, HIP 13044B is one hell of a survivor. Astronomers say the planet—the first one originating from another galaxy ever found in the Milky Way—is part of a solar system that once belonged to a dwarf galaxy that was cannibalized by our own. The planet has... More »

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Timelines   |   POPSUGAR Tech   |   Business Insider   |   HuffPost Entertainment   |   NewsOne