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.
What new methods can be employed to help astronomers distinguish the light from an exoplanet and its host star so the former's atmosphere can be better explored? This is what a recent study accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysics ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 29, 2025
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56
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has provided the first direct measurements of the chemical and physical properties of a potential moon-forming disk encircling a large exoplanet. The carbon-rich disk surrounding ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 29, 2025
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58
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered two new exoplanets around a young sun-like star known as TOI-6109. The newfound alien worlds are slightly larger than Neptune and orbit ...
What can exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars teach scientists about planetary formation and evolution? This is what a recent study posted to the arXiv preprint server and submitted to the American Astronomical Society journals ...
Astrobiology
Sep 25, 2025
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40
Exoplanets aren't the only objects floating around other stars—they likely have comets and asteroids as well. Even some of the exoplanets themselves will have "exomoons," at least according to our current understanding of ...
Astronomy
Sep 24, 2025
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29
Florida Tech astrophysicist Howard Chen is offering new insights to help aid NASA's search for life beyond Earth. His latest theoretical work investigates the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, one of the most widely studied exoplanetary ...
Astrobiology
Sep 18, 2025
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56
An exoplanet orbiting a dwarf star 124 light-years from Earth made headlines around the world in April 2025. Researchers at the University of Cambridge reported that planet K2-18b could be a marine world with a deep, global ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 18, 2025
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80
The official number of exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—tracked by NASA has reached 6,000. Confirmed planets are added to the count on a rolling basis by scientists from around the world, so no single planet is ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 17, 2025
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200
An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), including scientists from the National Center of Competence in Research PlanetS, the University of Warwick, and the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 16, 2025
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62
In the search for habitable exoplanets, atmospheric conditions play a key role in determining if a planet can sustain liquid water. Suitable candidates often sit in the "Goldilocks zone," a distance that is neither too close ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 14, 2025
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