Articles

Franck Marchis

One year ago, Franck Marchis wrote an article about the remarkable discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system. Here's an update.

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares of his latest work.

Jason Davis

Early Earth's atmosphere wasn't a place for humans. Yet the planet had microbial life—something we should keep in mind for exoplanets.

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block brings us stunning images of beautifully chaotic scenes across the universe.

Jason Davis

And it's only 11 light-years away.

Jason Rhodes

Starshade is a proposed flower-shaped spacecraft that can create an artificial eclipse, allowing space telescopes to spot planets orbiting distant stars.

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block brings us more of his stunning images of the universe—this time of cosmic dances through space.

Franck Marchis

Scientists have found seven, Earth-size planets orbiting a star just 40 light years away. Three lie in the habitable zone and could have water on their surfaces.

Adam Block

Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares some of his beautiful photos showcasing interstellar phenomena.

Erika Nesvold

At this year’s Division for Planetary Sciences/European Planetary Science Congress meeting, the Exoplanet Dynamics session was packed full of talks on tightly-packed multi-planet systems and their instabilities.

Emily Lakdawalla

The astronomy world is abuzz today because of ESA's announcement of the first release of data from the Gaia mission. Gaia is a five-year mission that will eventually measure the positions and motions of billions of stars; this first data release includes positions for 1.1 billion of them, and proper motions for 2 million.

Franck Marchis

What began as a tantalizing rumor has just become an astonishing fact. Today a group of thirty-one scientists announced the discovery of a terrestrial exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri. The discovery of this planet, Proxima Centauri b, is a huge breakthrough not just for astronomers but for all of us. Here’s why.

Judy Schmidt

Amateur image processor Judy Schmidt explains the process of creating gorgeous views of the cosmos from infrared data from the WISE telescope.

Anna Scott

Jet streams are found in planetary atmospheres throughout our solar system. But what exactly are they?

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block shares his latest image, this time of a menacing spiral galaxy.

Anna Scott

There are two types of atmospheric waves that are critically important on Earth and other planets: gravity waves and planetary waves.

Jingjing Chen

Until just a few years ago, a plot of mass versus size of other worlds would have looked pretty sparse and uninformative. But thanks to the tireless efforts of exoplanet astronomers, we now know fairly precise masses and radii for hundreds of distant worlds.

Meg Schwamb

Meg Schwamb highlights some of the upcoming space-based missions that will search for planets beyond our solar system.

Adam Block

Adam Block brings us his first images processed in the new year, showcasing the beautiful interplay of light and dark.

Adam Block

Astrophotographer Adam Block shares stunning his images of far-away spiral galaxies.