Exoplanets TOP STORY
Hubble Uncovers Evidence of Farthest Planet Forming 
© NASA
NASA's Hubble Uncovers Evidence of Farthest Planet Forming From its Star
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found compelling evidence of a planet forming 7.5 billion miles away from its star, a finding that may challenge current theories about planet formation.
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Exoplanets
Sunny Super-Earth?
© NAOJ
Sunny Super-Earth?
A research team led by Akihiko Fukui of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Norio Narita and Kenji Kuroda (the University of Tokyo) observed the atmosphere of super-Earth "GJ3470b" in Cancer for the first time in the world using two telescopes at OAO (Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, NAOJ). This super-Earth is an exoplanet, having only about 14 times the mass of our home planet, and it is the second lightest one among already-surveyed exoplanets. The observational data revealed that this planet is highly likely to NOT be covered by thick clouds.
Exoplanets
Astronomers Gear up to Discover Earth-like Planets
As part of an international team of exoplanets hunters, astronomers at the University of Arizona are developing a technique to detect faint dust clouds around other stars, many of which might hide Earth-like planets.
Exoplanets
Small Telescope Reveals Big Exoplanet Find
Using two small telescopes reported to be "no more powerful than high-end digital cameras", University of Louisville doctoral student Karen Collins led a team that discovered a new exoplanet.
Exoplanets
The Possible Lightest Exoplanet To Date?
A team of astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope has imaged a faint object moving near a bright star. With an estimated mass of four to five times that of Jupiter, it would be the least massive planet to be directly observed outside the Solar System. The discovery is an important contribution to our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
Exoplanets
Kepler Delivers More Data for Exoplanet Hunters
On May 28 NASA's Kepler mission delivered new data to the NASA Exoplanet Archive for Exoplanet hunters to dig into. At the same, NASA Ames Research Center's Michele Johnson sat down with Michael Haas, Kepler science office director, for an interview to find out more.
Exoplanets
Direct Imaging of "Tatooine"
Fig. 1. 2MASS0103(AB)b in November 2012, with NACO in L' band. The green arrow shows the position of the companion in 2002. The light-blue circle identifies the expected position of the companion if it had been a background source.
Exoplanets
Project 1640 Sees Exoplanets 128 Light Years Away 
Researchers have conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant solar system with a new telescope imaging system that sifts through the blinding light of stars.
Exoplanets
The Birth of a Giant Planet?
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have obtained what is likely the first direct observation of a forming planet still embedded in a thick disc of gas and dust. If confirmed, this discovery will greatly improve our understanding of how planets form and allow astronomers to test the current theories against an observable target.
Exoplanets
Kepler Finds a Really Tiny Planet
An international team of astronomers has used nearly three years of high precision data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft to make the first observations of a planet outside our solar system that's smaller than Mercury, the smallest planet orbiting our sun.
Exoplanets
Exoplanets Detection, Atmospheres and Habitability Lecture
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 techniques from ground- and space-based observations.
Exoplanets
Earth-like Planets Are Right Next Door
Using publicly available data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have found that six percent of red dwarf stars have habitable, Earth-sized planets. Since red dwarfs are the most common stars in our galaxy, the closest Earth-like planet could be just 13 light-years away.
Exoplanets
Are Super-Earths Actually Mini-Neptunes?
In the last two decades astronomers have found hundreds of planets in orbit around other stars. One type of these so-called 'exoplanets' is the super-Earths that are thought to have a high proportion of rock but at the same time are significantly bigger than our own world.
Exoplanets
Stars Can Be Late Parents
Using the unique capabilities of ESA's Herschel space observatory, astronomers have accurately 'weighed' a star's disc, finding it still has enough mass to spawn 50 Jupiter-sized planets, several million years after most other stars have already given birth.
Exoplanets
Rogue Planetary Orbit for Fomalhaut B
Newly released NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of a vast debris disk encircling the nearby star Fomalhaut and a mysterious planet circling it may provide forensic evidence of a titanic planetary disruption in the system.
Exoplanets
Earth-Size Planets Are Common in Our Galaxy
An analysis of the first three years of data from NASA's Kepler mission, which already has discovered thousands of potential exoplanets, contains good news for those searching for habitable worlds outside our solar system
More top stories from February.
Exoplanets Mission Reports
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Project 1640 Sees Exoplanets 128 Light Years Away
Exoplanets Detection, Atmospheres and Habitability Lecture
Hubble Captures Dramatic Changes on a Faraway Planet
JPL Proposes FINESSE Mission for Exoplanets Atmosphere Detection
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Calendar
- 19 Jun: Subcommittee on Space Hearing NASA Authorization Act of 2013
- 19 Jun: Subcommittee on Space Hearing - NASA Authorization Act of 2013
- 19 Jun: Robotics Vehicle and Graphics Simulation Industry Day
- 19 Jun: STA Lunch WIth Sen. Bill Nelson
- 19 Jun: Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering
- 20 Jun: NASA Applied Sciences Advisory Committee Meeting
- 23 Jun: 2013 Space Cryogenics Workshop
- 23 Jun: Gordon Conference on Origins of Solar Systems
- 24 Jun: Crossing the boundaries in Planetary Atmospheres from Earth to Exoplanets
- 25 Jun: Summer Course: Molecules in Space
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