Alien Planets

When stars about the sun's size swell into red giants and finally dwindle into white dwarfs, their planets may be kicked out of the system or consumed.

Water worlds that each possess thousands of times more water than Earth does may be more common than Earth-like rocky planets in the Milky Way galaxy, a new study finds.

Six months after its unveiling, uncertainty still swirls around the first serious exomoon candidate.

A third world lurks in the two-star Kepler-47 system, and it's bigger than its two previously known siblings, a new study reports.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite spotted the planet, as well as a weird "sub-Neptune" world, circling the star HD 21749, which lies about 53 light-years from Earth.

Planetary scientists are calling on mineral physicists to help them figure out the strange chemistry going on inside super-Earths and mini-Neptunes.

Proxima c is just a candidate world for now.

Wandering objects like 'Oumuamua — the first interstellar body ever observed in our own solar system — likely help seed newborn planetary systems, a new study suggests.

NASA's newest planet-hunting mission just got a list of high-priority targets.

The killer of this alien planet left a significant piece of evidence behind.

New data from the European Southern Observatory shows raging storm clouds of iron and silicates swirling above a distant exoplanet.

NASA's TESS mission has, for the first time, detected a planet orbiting a star with visible starquakes.

Scientists hunting for signs of alien life shouldn't be so quick to dismiss carbon monoxide, a new study suggests.

NASA scientists cooked up an alien atmosphere in their lab to solve the puzzle of "hot Jupiters."

The young star DM Tau, which lies about 470 light-years from Earth, hosts two rings of dust where planet formation is likely occurring, new photos reveal.

The Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite recently passed a crucial review designed to assess the spacecraft's readiness for flight and ability to meet major mission goals.

Many alien planets around stars like our sun are potentially extraordinarily tilted, leading to dramatic swings between extreme winters and summers, a new study finds.

NASA's recently deceased Kepler space telescope launched on March 6, 2009, ushering in a new era of planetary science.

The find is a fitting tribute to Kepler, which has discovered nearly 70 percent of all known exoplanets.