In our solar system, Earth is one of but eight planets – nine, if you really want to count Pluto – and the only one remotely hospitable to life. And as technology advances, astronomers only expect to ...

Astronomers might be close to confirming the presence of an Earth-like atmosphere on an exoplanet for the first time, if more detailed analyses verify preliminary observations from the James Webb ...

Detecting exoplanets at all is difficult—they typically emit much less than 1% of a host star's brightness. Eclipse mapping requires measuring small fractions of that total as a planet circles behind ...

The team of astronomers behind the find suggested it could help us better understand planet and moon formation in our solar system and beyond the Milky Way. The team was able to make the first-ever ...

In a significant leap forward in the quest for extraterrestrial life, NASA recently announced the detection of oxygen in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. This revolutionary discovery will be the ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (NASA/CNN NEWSOURCE/WKRC) - Astronomers have announced a groundbreaking discovery that could change our understanding of the universe. A planet, similar in size to Earth, has been ...

Just decades after the first exoplanets were identified, our database of the distant worlds—monitored by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute—has breached a new threshold. Now, astronomers have ...

Recently, an exoplanet just a short 15 light-years from Earth was discovered, setting the scientific community abuzz. This newly found celestial body boasts a unique gravitational pull, a feature that ...

With the discovery of ever more exoplanets—over 6,000 now—scientists, of course, want to know if they are habitable for life. (At least, life as we know it.) But assessing habitability is a difficult ...

NASA is celebrating a big milestone after the 6,000th exoplanet discovery was confirmed this week. Exoplanets are worlds outside our solar system. Just over three decades ago, the first exoplanets ...

"It was just a matter of time before we found them." Thirty years ago, on Oct. 6, 1995, the very first exoplanet to be discovered around a sun-like star was revealed. Called 51 Pegasi b, it was a ...