Imagine a world where the weather forecast calls for winds blowing at 11,000 miles per hour (18,000 kilometers per hour) and nighttime showers of liquid metal, rubies and sapphires. This is the chaotic reality astronomers have pieced together for WASP-121b, an “ultra-hot Jupiter” that ranks among the most extreme planets known beyond the solar system. […]
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How do you study an invisible exoplanet? Astronomers discover planetary ‘fingerprints’ in the rings around stars
How do you weigh a planet you can’t see from many light-years away? Astronomers may have the answer — and it involves “reading between the rings,” aka the bright beautiful dusty structures that newborn exoplanets create around their young stars. Planets in general are born from the dust, gas and tiny fragments called “planetesimals,” that […]
Read MoreThe most common type of planet in the galaxy may not look anything like Earth on the inside
We have learned a lot about the planets in our own backyard, and for a long time we assumed the rest of the galaxy looked roughly the same. A rocky planet meant a clear-cut structure: a dense metallic core, a silicate mantle, and a thin atmosphere on top. That picture works fine for Earth. But […]
Read MoreNASA exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS reveals its most complete look at the night sky yet
NASA’s exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS, or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, has released its most complete view of the sky over Earth — the map reveals the location of 6,000 potential worlds beyond the solar system. The mix of possible and confirmed extra-solar planets, or exoplanets, were identified by the mission prior to Sept. 2025. That’s the […]
Read MoreHow an exoplanet odd couple survived by traveling in from the cold together
A remote hot Jupiter exoplanet has foregone the typical solitary life that worlds of its kind normally lead, in favor of companionship with another planet — and now, astronomers think they know why. Hot Jupiters are gas giants that orbit exceedingly close to their star. However, they don’t form that close, but are rather assembled […]
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Astronomers pin down the origins of a planetary odd couple
Across the Milky Way galaxy, a planetary odd couple is circling a star some 190 light years from Earth. A normally “lonely” hot Jupiter is sharing space with a mini-Neptune, in a rare and unlikely pairing that’s had astronomers puzzled since the system’s discovery in 2020. Now MIT scientists have caught a glimpse into the […]
Read MoreIs Tatooine the norm? Planets may prefer living with two suns instead of one
Planets may form more easily around pairs of stars than around single stars like the sun, according to new research. Binary star systems, in which two stars orbit each other, are common throughout the Milky Way — and, in fact, even our sun may not have always been alone. For decades, astronomers believed such multi-star […]
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NASA’s TESS spacecraft discovers a weird system of exoplanets unlike anything seen before
Using NASA’s exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets (ASTEP) on the Antarctic Plateau, astronomers have discovered a rare and uniquely weird planetary system. The extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, that swirl around the star TOI-201 have orbits that are changing so rapidly that astronomers can see the changes in […]
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Waves hit different on other planets
On a calm day, a light breeze might barely ripple the surface of a lake on Earth. But on Saturn’s largest moon Titan, a similar mild wind would kick up 10-foot-tall waves. This otherworldly behavior is one prediction from a new wave model developed by scientists at MIT. The model is the first to capture […]
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How do supergiant exoplanets form? James Webb Space Telescope finds a clue
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have investigated an alien planet that could help define the line dividing planets and stars. The curious exoplanet is 29 Cygni b, a gas giant with around 15 times the mass of Jupiter that lies 133 light-years away from Earth. Most planets are thought to form via […]
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Bridging space research and policy
While earning her dual master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics and public policy, Carissma McGee SM ’25 learned to navigate between two seemingly distinct worlds, bridging rigorous technical analysis and policy decisions. As an undergraduate congressional intern and researcher, she saw a persistent gap in space policymaking. Policymakers often lacked technical expertise, while researchers were […]
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These 45 exoplanets may be the best places to search for alien life
Astronomers have narrowed the search for extraterrestrial life from thousands of distant worlds down to just a few dozen promising candidate planets, offering a clearer roadmap for one of science’s biggest questions: Are we alone? In a new study, a team of researchers led by Lisa Kaltenegger of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University […]
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100 new alien worlds: Scientists find hidden haul in data from NASA exoplanet-hunting spacecraft
Astronomers have discovered over 100 new worlds beyond the solar system hiding in data collected by NASA’s exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), and it’s thanks to artificial intelligence. The technique also identified a further 2,000 or so candidate extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, around half of which were hitherto undetected. Considering that there are […]
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Scientists discover mirror of our solar system in 2 exoplanets forming around a star
Astronomers have observed two planets forming around a distant infant star, thus discovering a planetary system that offers us a look at the appearance of the solar system over 4 billion years ago. The infant star in question is named WISPIT 2, and it’s located around 437 light-years away with an estimated age of around […]
Read MoreThe loneliest places in the universe might actually be some of the best places for life
A world, cold and alone, drifting through the inky blackness between star systems. Sounds pretty desolate, right? We’re talking about free-floating planets, those cosmic wanderers that don’t bother with orbiting a sun, just cruising solo through the void. Astronomers reckon there could be a whole bunch of these vagabond rogue planets out there, maybe as […]
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These cotton candy exoplanets hide behind a haze even the James Webb Space Telescope can’t penetrate
An exoplanet so light that it would float on water, were there an ocean large enough, is continuing to frustrate astronomers by concealing its closest secrets with a layer of haze thicker than any ever seen on a planet before. The haze is so thick that not even the vision of the James Webb Space […]
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Why don’t more Tatooine-like exoplanets exist in our Milky Way galaxy? Astronomers might have an answer
It’s one of the most instantly recognizable scenes in cinematic history: Luke Skywalker gazes at a double sunset to the haunting melody of a mournful French horn. And while “Star Wars” may take place in a galaxy far, far away, planets orbiting binary stars actually do exist in the Milky Way. Yet mysteriously, there are […]
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The world’s 1st private space telescope just spotted its 1st star. Here’s what it saw.
The world’s first commercial space telescope has released its first measurements as it begins its journey to help track nearby stars that might host habitable exoplanets. The suitcase-sized satellite, called Mauve, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last November and is the first in a planned fleet of small commercial spacecraft designed to provide […]
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‘Completely bonkers’: Astronomers find evidence of a cataclysmic collision between exoplanets
Astronomers have collected evidence of a violent collision between two planets in a distant star system. The first clues of this cataclysmic event came when a rather boring star began behaving very oddly. The collision seems to resemble the event in our history in which a planetary body slammed into Earth and created the moon. […]
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Astronomers discover a new type of planet that probably smells like rotten eggs
Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to investigate a new type of planet. This molten lava world beyond the solar system likely smells like rotten eggs, and suggests that there is a much wider diversity of worlds beyond our solar system than previously recognized. The extra-solar planet, or exoplanet, is designated L […]
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‘Hot Jupiter’ winds blasting at over 15,000 mph reveal 1st evidence of exoplanets with magnetic fields
Astronomers have discovered the first evidence of magnetic fields around planets beyond the solar system, and they did so by studying the worlds’ high-speed, violent winds. This marks the first direct measurement of exoplanet magnetic field strength, and represents a major step forward in exoplanet research. Because life on Earth was made possible thanks to […]
Read MoreMost exoplanets might be ‘soot factories,’ scientists say: ‘Like you have a natural diesel engine’
Vast clouds of soot that form in the pressure cooker of mysterious mini-Neptune exoplanets may hold the truth about these worlds’ origins. “It’s like you have a natural diesel engine in the deep atmosphere of a planet,” lead author of a study about this research, Jeehyun Yang of the University of Chicago, said in a […]
Read More‘We were astonished’: Millions of exoplanets could be born near active supermassive black holes
A team of scientists is astounded to have discovered that bright and turbulent regions of galaxies — called active galactic nuclei, which are powered by feeding supermassive black hole engines — could be the birthplace of millions of planets. And these regions are brilliant. They often outshine the combined light of every star in their […]
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