Jul 23 2011
Can Planets In Roller Coaster Orbits Be Habitable?
Can a planet in a elliptical orbit be habitable if it spends only part of its time in a "Goldilocks" zone?
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Jul 21 2011
The Beautiful Violence of Exoplanet Aurorae
If you think the auroral displays we have on Earth are impressive, spare a thought for aurorae erupting in the atmospheres of massive gas giant exoplanets orbiting close to their parent stars.
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Jul 18 2011
Do ‘Ultracool’ Brown Dwarfs Surround Us?
Could the discovery of two neighboring brown dwarfs indicate that more of these ultracool "failed stars" are nearby?
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Jun 20 2011
Rocky, Low-Mass World Discovered via Microlensing
Although few exoplanets have been detected using this technique, it's finding worlds that challenge planetary formation models.
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May 24 2011
Kepler’s Insight to Physical Nature of Planetary Systems
Of the170 multiple-planet systems of two or more planets found so far by Kepler, many have remarkably flat orbits.
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May 23 2011
How to Learn a Star’s (and Its Planets’) Age
A star's rotation slows with time, research shows, giving scientists a clock to understand its age.
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May 16 2011
Gliese 581d: An Exoplanet Fit for Humans?
The world -- located 20 light-years from Earth -- might sustain liquid water, but it would be a very alien place to visit.
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May 13 2011
Could Kepler Detect Alien Artifacts?
Could the Kepler planet-hunting space telescope stumble upon an extraterrestrial civilization's attempt at interstellar communication via a giant orbiting billboard?
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May 12 2011
Could Atmospheric Hydrogen Incubate Alien Life?
Life on an exoplanet beyond a star's habitable zone would be pretty chilly, but what if that world had an atmosphere rich in hydrogen? Well, it could make the ideal warm blanket.
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May 11 2011
‘Hot Jupiter’ Puzzle Explained
Why do some exoplanets orbit their star the wrong way? Find out here.
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