Exoplanets | SpaceRef

Exoplanets TOP STORY

TESS Takes Test Image And Swings Past The Moon

TESS Test Image

NASA's next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is one step closer to searching for new worlds after successfully completing a lunar flyby on May 17.

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Exoplanets

Astronomers Photograph Possible Young Planet by Chance

Young Planet

An international team of astronomers headed by Dutch researchers from Leiden University has coincidently found a small companion around the young double star CS Cha.

Exoplanets

Hubble Detects Helium In An Exoplanet Atmosphere For The First Time

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b.

Exoplanets

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Is On Its Way to Orbit

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has launched on the first-of-its-kind mission to find worlds beyond our solar system, including some that could support life.

Exoplanets

SPHERE Reveals Fascinating Zoo of Discs Around Young Stars

The SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile allows astronomers to suppress the brilliant light of nearby stars in order to obtain a better view of the regions surrounding them.

Exoplanets

Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A

Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to uncover a vast, complex dust structure, about 150 billion miles across, enveloping the young star HR 4796A.

Exoplanets

Protoplanetary Disc AS 209 Forms Around A Young Star

Nestled in the young Ophiuchus star-forming region, 410 light-years from the Sun, a fascinating protoplanetary disc named AS 209 is slowly being carved into shape.

Exoplanets

TRAPPIST-1 Planets Are Probably Rich in Water

A new study has found that the seven planets orbiting the nearby ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 are all made mostly of rock, and some could potentially hold more water than Earth.

Exoplanets

A Hot Jupiter With Unusual Winds

The hottest point on a gaseous planet near a distant star isn't where astrophysicists expected it to be - a discovery that challenges scientists' understanding of the many planets of this type found in solar systems outside our own.

Exoplanets

NASA Study Shows Disk Patterns Can Self-Generate

When scientists searching for exoplanets -- worlds located beyond our solar system -- first spotted patterns in disks of dust and gas around young stars, they thought newly formed planets might be the cause.

Exoplanets

Citizen Scientists Discover Five-Planet System

In its search for exoplanets -- planets outside of our solar system -- NASA's Kepler telescope trails behind Earth, measuring the brightness of stars that may potentially host planets.

Exoplanets

Did Our Solar System Form In A Bubble Around A Giant Star?

Despite the many impressive discoveries humans have made about the universe, scientists are still unsure about the birth story of our solar system.

Exoplanets

Artificial Intelligence Used to Discover Eighth Planet Circling Kepler-90

Our solar system now is tied for most number of planets around a single star, with the recent discovery of an eighth planet circling Kepler-90, a Sun-like star 2,545 light years from Earth. The planet was discovered in data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope.

Exoplanets

Extrasolar Planet 55 Cancri e Probably Has An Atmosphere

Twice as big as Earth, the super-Earth 55 Cancri e was thought to have lava flows on its surface.

Exoplanets

Giant Planet Discovery Challenges Planetary Formation Theory

A giant planet -- the existence of which was previously thought extremely unlikely -- has been discovered by an international collaboration of astronomers, with the University of Warwick taking a leading role.

Exoplanets