Tagged: alien planet

UNSW Australia astronomers have discovered the closest potentially habitable planet found outside our solar system so far, orbiting a star just 14 light years away. The planet, more than four times the mass of the Earth, is one of three that the team detected around...

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A possible alien planet discovered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope is the most Earth-like world yet detected beyond our solar system, scientists say. With a radius that is just 1.5 times that of Earth, the potential planet is what a so-called...

A newfound alien planet is one for the record books. The alien planet Kepler-421b — which crosses the face of, or transits, its host star from Earth’s perspective — takes 704 Earth days to complete one orbit, and thus has the longest year known for...

A newly discovered alien planet may be one of the top contenders to support life beyond Earth, researchers say. The newfound world, a “super Earth” called Gliese 163c, lies at the edge of its star’s habitable zone — that just-right range of distances where liquid...

A potentially habitable alien planet — one that scientists say is the best candidate yet to harbor water, and possibly even life, on its surface — has been found around a nearby star. The planet is located in the habitable zone of its host star,...

Astronomers have discovered what appears to be the oldest known alien world that could be capable of supporting life, and it’s just a stone’s throw away from Earth. The newfound exoplanet candidate Kapteyn b, which lies a mere 13 light-years away, is about 11.5 billion...

Astronomers have discovered an alien planet right in our solar system’s backyard, but residents of Earth shouldn’t get their hopes up for an exploration mission anytime soon. The newfound world is much too far away for probes to visit using current technology, experts say. Researchers...

The Hubble Space Telescope recently discovered a star surrounded by a huge dust structure that stretches about 150 billion miles across. Scientists suspect that a giant planet is also embedded inside of the debris, and so the structure could shed insights into how planets are...

Astronomers have discovered a potential “rogue” alien planet wandering alone just 100 light-years from Earth, suggesting that such starless worlds may be extremely common across the galaxy. The free-floating object, called CFBDSIR2149, is likely a gas giant planet four to seven times more massive than...

A planet circling a star in the constellation Cancer might have an atmosphere similar to Earth’s, but with dayside temperatures hot enough to melt titanium, a new study suggests. The planet is called 55 Cancri e, and it lies about 41 light-years from the sun....