In the beginning, when planets were newborn, they glowed like furnaces, vast oceans of molten rock wrapped in heavy blankets ...

Exoplanets are planets outside Earth's solar system. In 1995, a gas giant named 51 Pegasi b, which orbits a star similar to Earth's sun, etched its name in history as the first exoplanet ever ...

On Aug. 24, 2023, more than three decades after the first confirmation of planets beyond our own solar system, scientists announced the discovery of six new exoplanets, stretching that number to 5,502 ...

A new study led by UCLA scientists on how water forms on young exoplanets with hydrogen atmospheres and molten oceans of magma suggests that Earth-like planets may not be as uncommon as once thought ...

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 ...

Since astronomers found the first planets outside our solar system in 1992 and the first planet around a sunlike star in 1995, scientists have sought the telltale glimmers, flickers and wobbles that ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Astronomers have discovered two new exoplanets that are similar to other worlds found in the ...

A new study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, ...

It’s hard to believe that just four decades ago, we had no idea whether planets existed outside our solar system. Scientists discovered the first exoplanet in 1992, and since then our understanding of ...

Scientists have gotten a never-before-seen look at an area around a large exoplanet 625 light-years away where moons like the one orbiting Earth could potentially form. "Moons likely outnumber planets ...

The exoplanet is believed to be one of the farthest known from Earth. This artist's map of the Milky Way shows the location of one of the farthest known exoplanets, lying 13,000 light-years away. Most ...

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. But look beyond our sun's gravitational pull into the ...