exoplanet news stories on Newser

Scientists: 'Holy Grail' World Could Support Life

Kevin Spak — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:18:03 CDT

Researchers poring over old European Southern Observatory data have found a world so potentially similar to Earth that one researcher called it a "Holy Grail" discovery, the Telegraph reports. Gliese 667Cc orbits a red dwarf 22 light years away, and likely has temperatures extremely similar to those on Earth, University...

New 'Water World' Confirmed

Rob Quinn — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:07:27 CST

A hot and steamy water world 40 light years away has been identified as the first known member of a whole new class of planets. Researchers using the Hubble space telescope have confirmed that planet GJ 1214b, first spotted in 2009 , contains a much higher proportion of water than any...

'Super Earth' Spotted, Might Support Life

Rob Quinn — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:03:26 CST

A planet in a triple-star system a relatively close 22 light years away is the best candidate yet for supporting life, researchers say. The rocky planet, GJ 667Cc, is around 4.5 times the size of Earth and orbits in the middle of the "Goldilocks zone" where water can remain...

Scientists Find 11 New Planetary Systems

Matt Cantor — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:17:05 CST

The Kepler space telescope has discovered a whopping 11 new planetary systems that are home to 26 planets—thus tripling the number of stars that have more than one planet that passes in front of them and doubling the number of exoplanets confirmed by the Kepler mission. "Prior to the...

Space Telescope Spots Earth-Sized Worlds

Matt Cantor — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:25:58 CST

For the first time, scientists have discovered planets roughly the size of ours outside our solar system. Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f are the smallest exoplanets yet found, Discovery reports. Because they're so close to the star they orbit, they don't appear habitable, but the finding is "next major milestone to finding...

Newfound 'Super-Earth' Might Support Life

Kevin Spak — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:14:21 CDT

A telescope at the European Southern Observatory has spotted 50 new exoplanets—and one of them is a so-called "super-Earth" that might just be habitable, Live Science reports. The telescope actually found 16 super-Earths—potentially rocky worlds sporting more mass than our beloved home world—but one designated HD 85512...

Mysterious Exoplanet Darker Than Coal

Mark Russell — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:02:47 CDT

The mysterious exoplanet TrES-2b is a gas giant the size of Jupiter, but it reflects less than 1% of the light that hits it—making it darker than coal and one of the stranger objects astronomers have yet found, reports Discovery . "TrES-2b is considerably less reflective than black acrylic paint,...

Scientists ID 'Habitable' Exoplanet

Rob Quinn — Wed, 18 May 2011 05:33:12 CDT

A new computer climate model has turned up the strongest evidence yet that a planet in the Gliese system is capable of sustaining life, the Telegraph reports. Researchers believe Gliese 581d, which orbits a red dwarf 20 light years away, not only exists in the "Goldilocks zone" where water can...

Astronomers Searching 86 Planets for Aliens

Rob Quinn — Sat, 14 May 2011 10:08:05 CDT

American astronomers are searching for signs of alien life on 86 possible Earth-like planets deemed the likeliest to harbor life. The massive Green Bank radio telescope in rural West Virginia will home in on each of the 86—chosen from 1,235 possible planets located by NASA's Kepler telescope—and...