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.
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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52
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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391
The hunt for potentially habitable rocky planets in our galaxy has been the holy grail of exoplanet studies for decades. While the discovery of more than 5,900 exoplanets in more than 4,400 planetary systems has been a remarkable ...
Astronomy
Jul 17, 2025
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51
Stars and planets are naturally associated with one another. While some planets have gone rogue and are drifting through space, the vast majority are in solar systems, where they're gravitationally bound and orbit their stars ...
Astronomy
Jul 17, 2025
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42
For the first time, international researchers have pinpointed the moment when planets began to form around a star beyond the sun. Using the ALMA telescope, in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, and ...
Astronomy
Jul 16, 2025
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121
The search for habitable exoplanets is a key priority and sits at the pinnacle of exoplanet science. The science community stated that clearly in the 2020 Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 (Astro2020). That survey ...
Planetary Sciences
Jul 16, 2025
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36
Macquarie University astronomers have tracked an extreme planet's orbital decay, confirming it is spiraling toward its star in a cosmic death dance that could end in three possible ways.
Astronomy
Jul 15, 2025
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50
