This summer, exoplanet science—the study of planets orbiting stars beyond our sun—took a big step forward. Reports of helium gas escaping from the atmosphere of LHS 1140b propelled this exoplanet from ...

It’s a dizzyingly busy time for scientists searching for life on distant planets. To date, astronomers have cataloged more ...

Astronomers have identified a clue hidden in the light of certain stars that's already led them to discover seven new alien planets, with more expected to come. To be clear, these alien planets likely ...

In 1995, a pair of scientists discovered a planet outside our solar system orbiting a solar-type star. Since that finding—which won the scientists a portion of the 2019 Nobel Prize in ...

Discovering Venus-like conditions beyond our Solar System could reveal why some rocky worlds remain havens for life while others become scorching greenhouse infernos. Before solving that mystery, ...

This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. The Milky Way galaxy has more than 400 billion stars in it. Over the last few decades, ...

A new model simulates a rocky planet without life, giving astronomers a baseline to judge whether gases in an exoplanet's ...

Astronomers have narrowed down the cosmic search for life, identifying fewer than 50 rocky planets among thousands of known exoplanets that may have the right conditions to support life. Using new ...

On planet Earth, our 'secondary atmosphere' has been with us for billions of years and its chemical balance reflects the ...