Exoplanet

Perhaps on other planets, diamonds are as common and boring as rocks. Astronomers suggest that some planets might actually be largely made of diamonds, and now a team has calculated how such a planet could form and how it would be structured.

For the first time, astronomers have used a machine learning algorithm – a form of self-teaching AI – to confirm the existence of 50 new exoplanets in data collected by the now retired Kepler space telescope.

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite space telescope has now wrapped up the primary phase of its mission, completing an extensive survey of the starry sky that revealed 66 new exoplanets and thousands more candidates.

Although astronomers have detected over 4,000 planets outside our solar system, most of them appear as points of data. Now, astronomers have captured a very rare sight, with an image of two exoplanets orbiting a star very much like our own.

Astronomers have discovered the intact, exposed core of a gas giant locked in a close orbit around a Sun-like star. The discovery will give astronomers a rare opportunity to probe the heart of an ancient alien world.

Given how big the universe is, chances are tiny that Earth is the only planet with life. But how would we find others? A new NASA grant has been awarded to try and do so by hunting for signs of advanced alien civilizations, or "technosignatures."

A team of international researchers has confirmed the existence of an Earth-like exoplanet only 4.2 light-years from the Sun. The ESPRESSO spectrograph found Proxima b has a mass of 1.17 Earths and orbits in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri.

An international team of astronomers has found what may be the first images of a planet being born. Based on observations by ESO’s VLT, images of AB Aurigae show a "twist" in the surrounding cloud that indicates the presence of a planet being formed.

NASA has officially named its next planet hunter. Previously known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, who has often been referred to as the Mother of Hubble.

Using polarized light, astronomers have detected signs of cloud bands in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf far beyond the solar system. It turns out that these gassy giants have a similar appearance to Jupiter, and the same kind of wild weather.

Life continually outdoes expectations. A new study from MIT has found that E. coli and yeast can survive in an atmosphere made up of 100 percent hydrogen – and that could have fascinating implications for life on other planets.

Researchers have found that an exoplanet 456 light-years from Earth is so hot its atmosphere contains vaporized metals. Situated relatively close to its parent star, MASCARA-2 b is almost twice the size of Jupiter with a temperature of over 3,140 °F.