Star-planet interactions as a research area examine the coupled physical processes between a star and its close-orbiting planets, emphasizing how stellar radiation, winds, and magnetic fields influence planetary atmospheres, magnetospheres, interiors, and orbital evolution, and how planets can in turn affect stellar activity and rotation. This field integrates stellar astrophysics, exoplanet science, plasma physics, and magnetohydrodynamics to study phenomena such as atmospheric escape, induced stellar flares, tidal dissipation, spin-orbit synchronization, and magnetic star-planet coupling. It relies on multiwavelength observations, numerical simulations, and theoretical modeling to constrain planetary habitability, system evolution, and the detectability of exoplanets through their signatures on host stars.
When astronomers discovered a giant planet orbiting a dead star in 2020, they wondered how it survived its star's violent demise. Now, observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may finally explain the planet's ...
Astronomy
20 hours ago
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Within their planetary systems, stars are continuously shaping their orbiting planets through gravity, radiation and magnetic forces. So far, this relationship has appeared to be a one-way street.
Need some good news on a Friday after a long week? The Earth may not be engulfed by the expanding fireball of the dying sun, which has long been assumed to be our home planet's ultimate fate, according to scientists.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 19, 2026
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New research led by a scientist at IPAC—a science and data center for astrophysics and planetary science at Caltech—studying the hot Jupiter CoRoT-2 b has settled on one of the three leading hypotheses explaining why its ...
Astronomy
Jun 17, 2026
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A team of astronomers has found the strongest evidence yet that some planets outside our solar system may be magnetic. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) and the Gemini North telescope, ...
Astronomy
Jun 2, 2026
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Preliminary results of a study presented at the recent European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna indicate that hellish Venus-type planets may be about twice as common as habitable planets that form with oceans.
Planetary Sciences
May 21, 2026
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In December 2023, scientists looking at Mars data stumbled across something completely unexpected—observations of an atmospheric effect never before seen in the Red Planet's atmosphere. Using instruments aboard NASA's MAVEN ...
Planetary Sciences
May 18, 2026
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An international team including the University of Bern (UNIBE) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE), members of the National Center of Competence in Research PlanetS, has succeeded in mapping the climate of rocky exoplanets ...
Astrobiology
Apr 13, 2026
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The criteria for finding an Earth-like planet unofficially comes down to two things: water and the habitable zone. But a phenomenon known as atmospheric escape often "escapes" the minds of many astronomy fans, and it turns ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 30, 2026
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How does a star affect the makeup of its planets? And what does this mean for the habitability of distant worlds? Carnegie's Luke Bouma is exploring a new way to probe this critical question—using naturally occurring space ...
Astrobiology
Mar 30, 2026
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