Alien Planets

Astronomers may be interpreting James Webb Space Telescope's measurements of exoplanet atmospheres wrong, a new study suggests.

Jupiter-size worlds in stellar nurseries could be snatched from orbit around their home stars in 'planetary heists,' becoming what scientists have nicknamed 'BEASTies.'

We haven't found life on Mars yet, but one researcher believes we might be able to detect evidence of it on planets outside of the solar system within the next quarter of a century.

The find could boost the search for alien life.

The 3D modeling of a planet's orbit around a star in a binary star system is raising new questions about how both gas giant planets and binary stars form.

The James Webb Space Telescope has found a strange exoplanet shrouded in clouds made of sand-like silicate grains.

Astronomers have discovered two super-Earths orbiting an ultracool dwarf star 100 light-years away, and one of the planets could support the existence of liquid water, a vital ingredient of life.

The James Webb Space Telescope took its first direct image of a planet orbiting a distant star, proving its potential to revolutionize exoplanet research.

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, ushering in a new era of research of worlds outside our solar system.

A potentially habitable water-rich world just 100 light-years away from Earth could be one of the best places to search for life.

Exoplanet images might be contaminated by the light from their neighbors, a new study suggests, but scientists are learning how to remove the effects of these photobombers.

Despite astronomy's success in detecting worlds outside the solar system, there is a troubling gap in the exoplanet catalog. New research may show why Neptune-sized exoplanets are tough to locate.

Astronomers are looking for clouds made of vaporized gems and metals on faraway exoplanets.

Scientists using a powerful telescope array spotted gas and a possible young exoplanet in a cloud of gas and dust surrounding a distant star.

But could these giant, rocky planets actually sustain the conditions for life? Or is life limited to smaller planets like our own?

Low mass and dim red dwarf stars account for 75% of stars in the Milky Way and astronomers are attempting to discover planets that orbit them.

A new hypothesis proposes that a large fraction of dark matter may be bound up inside tight balls the size of Neptune — so-called dark matter planets.

A new technique could help astronomers detect exoplanets that orbit exotic binary star systems called cataclysmic variables.

Scientists searching for signs of extraterrestrial technology should keep an eye out for city lights on exoplanets, a new study suggests.

Scientists who study exoplanets explain how the James Webb Space Telescope will study exoplanet atmospheres.