Planets

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NASA’s TESS probe chalks up its first Earth-sized planet in habitable zone, plus a ‘Tatooine’ planet

by Alan Boyle on January 6, 2020January 7, 2020 at 6:38 amComment

Astronomers report that NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has detected its first Earth-sized planet lying in its parent star’s habitable zone, plus its first planet orbiting two stars.… Read More

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Not so far, far away: How the Star Wars galaxy falls short of the real-life search for planets

by Alan Boyle on December 19, 2019December 20, 2019 at 1:22 pmComment

Over the past 42 years, filmgoers have seen exotic worlds come to life in a succession of Star Wars movies — a series that is now coming to a climax… Read More

News Brief

‘Super-puff’ planets add a cotton candy flavor to the search for alien worlds

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3-D climate modeling could fine-tune the search for faraway signs of alien life

by Alan Boyle on November 12, 2019November 12, 2019 at 7:28 pmComment

Astronomers have identified thousands of stars that have planets, and that number could mushroom even faster when waves of next-generation telescopes come online. But where are the best places to… Read More

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Astronomers spot 20 more moons of Saturn — and want you to help name them

by Alan Boyle on October 7, 2019October 7, 2019 at 4:09 pm1 Comment

Saturn has pulled ahead of Jupiter again in the moon discovery race, thanks to a batch of 20 outer moons that bring the ringed planet’s total tally to 82. The… Read More

Video

TESS probe helps scientists find potentially habitable planet, 31 light-years away

by Alan Boyle on July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 at 8:08 pm1 Comment

Astronomers are sharing a flood of findings from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, including the detection of a potentially habitable super-Earth far beyond our solar system. The planet… Read More

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Breakthrough Watch and ESO kick off the search for more planets at Alpha Centauri

by Alan Boyle on June 10, 2019June 11, 2019 at 8:19 amComment

The European Southern Observatory and the billionaire-backed Breakthrough Watch program say they have achieved first light with a new observing instrument designed to spot super-Earths in Alpha Centauri, the nearest… Read More

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TESS planet-hunters add a ‘sub-Neptune’ world to discovery list, with more to come

by Alan Boyle on January 7, 2019January 7, 2019 at 8:27 pmComment

Less than a year after NASA’s TESS spacecraft was launched, the scientists behind the mission have unveiled their third confirmed planet, a weird alien world that’s between Earth and Neptune… Read More

Artist mixes real photographs and his vision of deep space to create an otherworldly Instagram feed

by Kurt Schlosser on December 15, 2018December 15, 2018 at 9:34 am 2 Comments

Imagine the images on social media when one of our modern space-travel pioneers — whether it’s Bezos or Musk or Branson — actually gets us there. Random pictures of sunsets… Read More

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Exoplanet climate analysis pinpoints best place to live in TRAPPIST-1 star system

by Alan Boyle on November 20, 2018November 20, 2018 at 6:14 pmComment

If you had to pick a place to set up shop amid the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system, 39 light-years from Earth, the fourth rock from that alien… Read More

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Scientists report a super-Earth orbiting Barnard’s Star, a mere 6 light-years away

by Alan Boyle on November 14, 2018January 10, 2019 at 1:12 pm 2 Comments

The astronomical team that found the nearest exoplanet at Proxima Centauri has done it again with the reported detection of a super-Earth orbiting Barnard’s Star, the second-closest star system to… Read More

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Farewell, Kepler: NASA’s planet-hunting probe runs out of gas, but mission goes on

by Alan Boyle on October 30, 2018November 18, 2018 at 1:32 pmComment

NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting telescope now belongs to the ages, with its fuel completely spent and its instruments shut down — but the planet quest continues, thanks to a treasure trove of… Read More

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Hubble Space Telescope boosts evidence for first exomoon seen circling alien planet

by Alan Boyle on October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 at 6:41 amComment

With a lot of help from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers now feel confident enough to publish their evidence for the first moon detected in orbit around a planet beyond… Read More

Search for Planet Nine turns up a way-out dwarf planet that’s called ‘The Goblin’

by Alan Boyle on October 2, 2018October 2, 2018 at 9:59 pmComment

While searching for a hypothetical Planet Nine, astronomers found a distant mini-world that’s been given a spooky nickname: “The Goblin.” The icy object was found at a distance of about… Read More

Video

TESS probe finds first potential planets

by Alan Boyle on September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 at 3:17 pmComment

Astronomers on the team for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission, or TESS, are reporting their first potential planet discoveries, just days after the spacecraft’s first science image was unveiled.… Read More

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NASA unveils first science images from TESS probe’s quest to spot alien planets

by Alan Boyle on September 17, 2018September 17, 2018 at 12:33 pmComment

The first science images from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite focus on a strip of southern sky that includes the two nearest dwarf galaxies and plenty of potential targets in… Read More

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What is a ‘planet’? Historical study revisits the debate over Pluto and other dwarfs

by Alan Boyle on September 8, 2018September 8, 2018 at 10:37 amComment

Twelve years after the International Astronomical Union voted in a definition of planethood that reclassified Pluto, the debate goes on. A newly published study uses the historical record to take… Read More

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It’s prime time for watching Mars – plus a total lunar eclipse that you can see online

by Alan Boyle on July 26, 2018July 27, 2018 at 10:41 amComment

It’s no hoax: Mars is bigger and brighter in the night sky than it’s been at any time since 2003. And you can watch the longest total lunar eclipse of… Read More

NASA’s Kepler probe suspends planet hunt to download data as fuel runs near empty

by Alan Boyle on July 6, 2018July 6, 2018 at 1:03 pmComment

News Brief: NASA has hit the pause button on observations by its most prolific planet-hunting probe, the Kepler space telescope, so that it can download 51 days’ worth science data… Read More

NASA’s Dawn probe snaps close-ups of Ceres’ formerly mysterious white spots

by Alan Boyle on July 3, 2018July 4, 2018 at 7:53 amComment

The once-mysterious bright spots shining on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres are getting their closest close-ups from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, adding to the strangest sights of the solar… Read More

Video

It’s full of stars! NASA’s planet-hunting TESS probe sends back its first test image

by Alan Boyle on May 18, 2018May 18, 2018 at 7:03 pm 4 Comments

One month after its launch, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has sent back an initial test image that shows more than 200,000 stars in the southern sky. TESS’ image was… Read More

Pluto’s champion recounts first mission to icy world – and gears up for the next one

by Alan Boyle on April 30, 2018April 30, 2018 at 3:27 pmComment

It took nine years for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to get to Pluto, and laying the groundwork for that history-making space mission here on Earth took nearly twice as long.… Read More

Video

SpaceX launches NASA’s TESS spacecraft on mission to seek out alien planets

by Alan Boyle on April 18, 2018April 18, 2018 at 4:17 pm1 Comment

SpaceX has launched NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, kicking off a mission aimed at surveying nearly the entire sky for exoplanets. The probe rose into space atop a SpaceX… Read More

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SpaceX and NASA delay launch of TESS planet hunter to check guidance analysis

by Alan Boyle on April 16, 2018April 16, 2018 at 2:13 pmComment

NASA and SpaceX say they’ll take more time to launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey System, or TESS, just to make sure the $337 million mission will be on the right… Read More

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Our solar system has met its match: AI helps scientists find a star’s eighth planet

by Kurt Schlosser on December 14, 2017December 14, 2017 at 2:14 pmComment

We’re not alone. At least when it comes to solar systems with the same number of major planets as ours. NASA today announced details about the recent discovery of an… Read More

Video

Ross 128 redux: Red dwarf sparks interest as a potentially not-so-weird locale for life

by Alan Boyle on November 15, 2017November 15, 2017 at 7:16 pm1 Comment

A red dwarf star that was previously thought to be the source of a weird signal from aliens turns out to have a temperate Earth-sized planet, astronomers reported today. The… Read More

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Help NASA and New Horizons nickname the icy world they’re targeting after Pluto

by Alan Boyle on November 6, 2017November 6, 2017 at 8:01 pmComment

2014 MU69 just won’t cut it, so NASA and the folks behind the New Horizons mission want you to help pick out a cooler nickname for the icy object that’s… Read More

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Newfound dust belts suggest that Proxima Centauri has more than one alien planet

by Alan Boyle on November 3, 2017November 2, 2017 at 9:14 pm1 Comment

Astronomers created a stir last year when they reported that the closest star beyond our own solar system harbors a potentially habitable planet, but now fresh evidence hints that there… Read More

Google Maps expands its interplanetary domain all the way out to Pluto

by Alan Boyle on October 18, 2017October 19, 2017 at 7:22 am1 Comment

If you zoom way, way out on Google Maps, you can now find your way around places like Sputnik Planum, Seville Mons, Aphrodite Terra and Damascus Sulcus. Those are destinations… Read More

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Hours before its doom, NASA’s Cassini probe takes its parting shots at Saturn

by Alan Boyle on September 14, 2017September 15, 2017 at 7:58 amComment

The final pictures from NASA’s 13-year-long Cassini mission at Saturn are flowing in – and they’re good to the last drop. Or even better, good to the last moonset. Raw images,… Read More

NASA’s TESS probe chalks up its first Earth-sized planet in habitable zone, plus a ‘Tatooine’ planet

Not so far, far away: How the Star Wars galaxy falls short of the real-life search for planets

‘Super-puff’ planets add a cotton candy flavor to the search for alien worlds

3-D climate modeling could fine-tune the search for faraway signs of alien life

Astronomers spot 20 more moons of Saturn — and want you to help name them

TESS probe helps scientists find potentially habitable planet, 31 light-years away

Breakthrough Watch and ESO kick off the search for more planets at Alpha Centauri

TESS planet-hunters add a ‘sub-Neptune’ world to discovery list, with more to come

Artist mixes real photographs and his vision of deep space to create an otherworldly Instagram feed

Exoplanet climate analysis pinpoints best place to live in TRAPPIST-1 star system

Scientists report a super-Earth orbiting Barnard’s Star, a mere 6 light-years away

Farewell, Kepler: NASA’s planet-hunting probe runs out of gas, but mission goes on

Hubble Space Telescope boosts evidence for first exomoon seen circling alien planet

Search for Planet Nine turns up a way-out dwarf planet that’s called ‘The Goblin’

TESS probe finds first potential planets

NASA unveils first science images from TESS probe’s quest to spot alien planets

What is a ‘planet’? Historical study revisits the debate over Pluto and other dwarfs

It’s prime time for watching Mars – plus a total lunar eclipse that you can see online

NASA’s Kepler probe suspends planet hunt to download data as fuel runs near empty

NASA’s Dawn probe snaps close-ups of Ceres’ formerly mysterious white spots

It’s full of stars! NASA’s planet-hunting TESS probe sends back its first test image

Pluto’s champion recounts first mission to icy world – and gears up for the next one

SpaceX launches NASA’s TESS spacecraft on mission to seek out alien planets

SpaceX and NASA delay launch of TESS planet hunter to check guidance analysis

Our solar system has met its match: AI helps scientists find a star’s eighth planet

Ross 128 redux: Red dwarf sparks interest as a potentially not-so-weird locale for life

Help NASA and New Horizons nickname the icy world they’re targeting after Pluto

Newfound dust belts suggest that Proxima Centauri has more than one alien planet

Google Maps expands its interplanetary domain all the way out to Pluto

Hours before its doom, NASA’s Cassini probe takes its parting shots at Saturn

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