Exoplanets: Latest News About Alien Worlds

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

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NASA's New Planet Hunter Just Found Its 1st Alien World — an Evaporating 'Super-Earth'

September 19, 2018 | Article

NASA's TESS spacecraft has detected its first alien world — a "super-Earth" that is likely evaporating under the heat from its star, a new study reports.
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NASA's New Planet-Hunter TESS Beams 'First Light' Image to Earth

September 19, 2018 | Article

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which launched in April to search for alien worlds orbiting stars relatively close to the sun, has beamed home its first science image.
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Does 'The Predator' Live Up to the Original? (Film Review)

September 14, 2018 | Article

"The Predator" is an absolutely wild action film that provides a great theater experience. But does it live up to the original?
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2018 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics: A Conversation with Ewine van Dishoeck

September 13, 2018 | Article

Ewine van Dishoeck, the 2018 Kavli Prize laureate, discusses her personal and professional journey into the field of astrochemistry.
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Newfound Alien World May Bridge Rare Gap in Planet Types

September 12, 2018 | Article

A student who began her master's degree in May partnered with an international team of researchers to discover a special cosmic neighbor twice the size of Earth.
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Morning, Kepler! NASA's Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Wakes Up Again

September 05, 2018 | Article

NASA's low-on-fuel Kepler space telescope, which has discovered more than 2,650 alien planets to date, has awoken from yet another slumber and begun making science observations again, agency officials announced today (Sept. 5).
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Children's Artwork Flying to Space Aboard European Exoplanet Satellite (Photos)

August 28, 2018 | Article

Two plaques etched with nearly 3,000 pieces of children's artwork have been attached to Europe's new CHEOPS exoplanet satellite.
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Happy Birthday, Spitzer! NASA Telescope Marks 15 Years in Space

August 25, 2018 | Article

The Spitzer Space Telescope launched into orbit around the sun on Aug. 25, 2003, kicking off a long and diverse mission that has produced groundbreaking finds in a number of different fields.
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NASA's Prolific Planet-Hunting Kepler Space Telescope Goes Back to Sleep

August 24, 2018 | Article

The most accomplished planet-hunting instrument of all time has shut its eagle-sharp eyes once again.
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Baby Exoplanet Weighed for First Time

August 22, 2018 | Article

Astronomers have measured the mass of a very young alien planet for the first time, using the European Space Agency's Gaia and Hipparcos star-mapping spacecraft.
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