Exoplanet systems as a research area investigate the formation, architecture, dynamics, and physical properties of planetary systems orbiting stars other than the Sun, integrating observational, theoretical, and computational approaches. The field encompasses detection techniques (e.g., transits, radial velocities, direct imaging, microlensing), characterization of planetary masses, radii, atmospheres, and orbits, and statistical studies of population demographics as functions of stellar type, metallicity, and environment. It also addresses disk–planet interactions, migration processes, multi-planet dynamics, and stability, with implications for planet formation theories, comparative planetology, and the occurrence and potential habitability of terrestrial and giant planets in diverse stellar contexts.
Like a toddler right before naptime, TRAPPIST-1 is a small yet moody star. This little star, which sits in the constellation Aquarius about 40 light-years from Earth, spits out bursts of energy known as "flares" about six ...
Astronomy
Dec 4, 2025
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Searching for technosignatures—signs of technology on a planet that we can see from afar—remains a difficult task. There are so many different factors to consider, and we only have the technological capabilities to detect ...
Astrobiology
Dec 4, 2025
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48
Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaiʻi have discovered a massive planet and a brown dwarf orbiting distant stars. The discoveries are the first results from OASIS (Observing Accelerators with SCExAO Imaging Survey), ...
Astronomy
Dec 4, 2025
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50
Observations with the instrument SPHERE at ESO's Very Large Telescope have produced an unprecedented gallery of "debris disks" in exoplanetary systems.
Astronomy
Dec 3, 2025
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74
Searching for exomoons—moons that orbit around another planet—was one of the most exciting capabilities expected of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) when it launched in late 2021. So, after four years of operation, why ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 1, 2025
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26
What can star variability—changes in a star's brightness over time—teach astronomers about exoplanet habitability? This is what a recent study accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team ...
Astrobiology
Dec 1, 2025
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34
An international team including astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the National Center of Competence in Research PlanetS has observed giant clouds of helium escaping from the exoplanet WASP-107b. Obtained ...
Astronomy
Dec 1, 2025
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42
Have scientists finally confirmed the existence of the first exomoon? This is what a study released on the preprint server arXiv, and accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, hopes to address. A large international ...
Astronomy
Dec 1, 2025
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41
A planet's habitability is determined by a confluence of many factors. So far, our explorations of potentially habitable worlds beyond our solar system have focused exclusively on their position in the "Goldilocks Zone" of ...
Astrobiology
Nov 29, 2025
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81
In 1995, a pair of scientists discovered a planet outside our solar system orbiting a solar-type star. Since that finding—which won the scientists a portion of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics—researchers have discovered more ...
Astrobiology
Nov 24, 2025
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