Alien Planets

An alien planet that orbits a star other than our sun is referred to as an "exoplanet." Learn more about the types of alien planets, including exoplanets and extrasolar planets, and get the latest news.

Latest Updates

Brown and green Africa against the blue oceans

Imagining early Earth as an exoplanet can help us search for alien life, scientists say

By Elizabeth Howell published

What if we thought of our ancestors as a form of alien life?

Artist concept of an alien planet. Could this be out there waiting for us to explore?

Humans could become a truly interplanetary species within 200 years, physicists claim

By Paul Sutter published

Harness renewable energy to explore the cosmos or risk planetary doom, new physics study argues.

A print-out of data with "Wow!" written in red

Famous 'alien' Wow! signal may have come from distant, sunlike star

By Adam Mann published

An astronomer proposes that the sun-like star 2MASS 19281982-2640123 is the origin of the Wow! Signal

An artist's depiction of a collection of exoplanets.

China is on the hunt for 'Earth 2.0' with proposed space telescope

By Andrew Jones published

China could soon begin its first space-based hunt for exoplanets.

An illustration comparing the TRAPPIST-1 system of exoplanets and the inner solar system.

Rocky alien worlds may need to be young to support life

By Stefanie Waldek published

Scientists suggest that one of the key characteristics of a life-supporting, rocky exoplanet is that it needs to be young enough to generate heat through radioactive decay.

An example of a reconstruction of Earth, using the ring of light around the Sun, projected by the solar gravitational lens. The algorithm that enables this reconstruction can be applied to exoplanets for superior imaging.

Sun's gravitational lens could help find life on exoplanets

By Tereza Pultarova published

Using the sun's gravitational field as a giant magnifying glass could enable astronomers to observe distant exoplanets in a much greater detail than is currently possible.

An artist's impression of comets hurtling towards Beta Pictoris.

Largest treasure trove of exocomets to date found in alien solar system

By Keith Cooper published

Thirty alien comets have been spotted transiting the young star Beta Pictoris, their long tails lighting up the skies of the fledgling planets forming there.

A study of 25 hot Jupiters revealed surprising trends in their atmospheres.

Largest ever Hubble telescope survey reveals what makes some exoplanets hot

By Tereza Pultarova published

An analysis of hundreds of hours of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed what makes some exoplanets incredibly hot.

Vatnajokull glacier in Iceland looks like a scene from another planet.

Alien landscapes: 15 places on Earth that look exoplanetary

By Daisy Dobrijevic published

We explore 15 places on Earth that look quite alien. From ice caves to Martian-red deserts, discover some of the most surreal places Earth has to offer.

An artist's depiction of the hypothesized planet HD 131399 Ab at bottom left with its three stars to the right.

Alien planet with 3 stars is actually a star itself, scientists determine

By Rahul Rao published

Finding alien worlds in distant solar systems is a delicate task.

Artist’s impression of a giant planet forming.

How do planets form? A 'baby Jupiter' hundreds of light-years away offers new clues

By Peter Tuthill, Barnaby Norris published

In new research, we have spotted a hot, Jupiter-like gas giant in the process of forming around a star about 500 light-years from Earth.

An artist's depiction of the planet KELT-20b orbiting its blue-white star.

Hubble Space Telescope spots extreme weather on strange alien worlds

By Rahul Rao published

Since astronomers began finding exoplanets in the 1990s, they've uncovered a lot of hot Jupiters, and now NASA's most venerable telescope is playing meteorologist.

Gaining better knowledge of planets outside the solar system – and searching them for signs of life – is a major goal the research community listed in the report.

'Dead' telescope discovers Jupiter's twin from beyond the grave

By Chelsea Gohd published

NASA's Kepler space telescope has spotted a Jupiter look-alike in a new discovery, even though the instrument stopped operations four years ago.

An artist's depiction of an exoplanet with a methane-rich atmosphere.

NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope will be able to sniff out methane. Here's how to tell if it's a sign of life.

By Stefanie Waldek published

The first whiff that humans catch of life beyond Earth might be methane, but scientists will need to tread carefully before declaring a discovery based on the chemical.

In March 2022, NASA confirmed the discovery of the 5,000th exoplanet.

5,000 exoplanets! NASA confirms big milestone for planetary science

By Elizabeth Howell published

It took 30 years to find so many alien worlds, but the pace of discovery is accelerating.

Researchers identified up to four exoplanet candidates that should instead be classified as small stars using updated measurements from the European Space Agency's space-based Gaia mission.

Mistaken identity: Researchers discover stars masquerading as exoplanets

By Samantha Mathewson published

Astronomers have detected at least three small stars masquerading as exoplanets, new research shows.

This artist's impression shows a close-up view of Proxima d, a planet candidate recently found orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. The planet is believed to be rocky and to have a mass about a quarter that of Earth. Two other planets known to orbit Proxima Centauri are visible in the image, too: Proxima b, a planet with about the same mass as Earth that orbits the star every 11 days and is within the habitable zone, and candidate Proxima c, which is on a five-year orbit around the star.

What would an alien 'Earth' look like around the star next door?

By Chelsea Gohd published

In a new study, researchers predict what an alien "Earth" could really look like, and how it could evolve (if one exists).

Artist’s impression of the white dwarf star WD1054–226 orbited by clouds of planetary debris and a major planet in the habitable zone.

An Earthlike planet may be orbiting in a dead star's 'habitable zone'

By Elizabeth Howell published

Planetary debris, including some objects the size of moons, may hint at a rocky exoplanet within the habitable zone of a dead star, a new study suggests.

White deposits associated with Urvara crater on Ceres suggest cryovolcanic activity.

This crater on dwarf planet Ceres that may hold another icy volcano, scientists say

By Elizabeth Howell published

The finding comes from a fresh analysis of old data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which finished its mission in 2018.

An artist's depiction of a rocky, Earth-size exoplanet. We haven't found any planets exactly as habitable as Earth, but some planets might be even better for life than ours: superhabitable worlds.

Superhabitable planets: Alien worlds that may be more habitable than Earth

By Charles Q. Choi published

Two dozen so-called superhabitable alien worlds may be as good as or better than Earth for life as we know it.