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.
How can identifying land on exoplanets help scientists better understand whether an exoplanet could harbor life? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how identifying ...
Planetary Sciences
Jul 31, 2025
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A new paper led by a York University professor and published today in Nature Astronomy introduces a simple theoretical framework to describe the evolution of the coupled interior–atmosphere system of hot rocky exoplanets ...
Astronomy
Jul 29, 2025
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An international team led by the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Montreal published the first results today from the NIRPS spectrograph installed on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) 3.6-meter telescope in La Silla, ...
Astronomy
Jul 29, 2025
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A large sub-Neptune-sized planet revolving around a red dwarf star 124 light years away has been the topic of debate among several scientists in recent months.
Astronomers have characterized the atmosphere of a young (20 Myr old) transiting exoplanet and found it to be unusually clear and puffy. By analyzing the planet's atmospheric features, they were able to precisely measure ...
Astrobiology
Jul 22, 2025
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A team led by UdeM researchers confirms a fifth potentially habitable planet around L 98-59, a red dwarf 35 light-years away.
Planetary Sciences
Jul 22, 2025
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Magnetic fields play an important—if sometimes underappreciated—part in planetary systems. Without a strong magnetic field, planets can end up as a barren wasteland like Mars, or they could indirectly affect massive storms, ...
Astronomy
Jul 21, 2025
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Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new exoplanet orbiting a nearby star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-2431 b, is comparable in size to Earth ...
Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disk ...
Astronomy
Jul 21, 2025
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145
Astronomers have discovered the earliest seeds of rocky planets forming in the gas around a baby sun-like star, providing a precious peek into the dawn of our own solar system.
Astronomy
Jul 20, 2025
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