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Extrasolar Planet | Extrasolar Planet News, Research and Current Events

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NASA Scientists Detect Spectrum of Planets Orbiting Other Stars
For the first time, scientists at Goddard have obtained a spectrum, or molecular fingerprint, of a planet orbiting another star. Using spectroscopy, scientists were able to identify silicon dust in clouds on a gas-giant planet called HD 209458b. That planet is located 150 light years from Earth.   view more (2007-02-23)

Hazy red sunset on extrasolar planet
A team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to detect, for the first time, strong evidence of hazes in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star. The discovery comes after extensive observations made recently with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).   view more (2007-12-11)

Scientists ponder plant life on extrasolar Earthlike planets
When we think of extrasolar Earth-like planets, the first tendency is to imagine weird creatures like Jar Jar Binks, Chewbacca, and, if those are not bizarre enough, maybe even the pointy-eared Vulcan, Spock, of Star Trek fame.   view more (2007-06-20)

How Special Is The Solar System?
On the evidence to date, our solar system could be fundamentally different from the majority of planetary systems around stars because it formed in a different way. If that is the case, Earth-like planets will be very rare. After examining the properties of the 100 or so known extrasolar planetary... view more (2004-08-03)

Optical vortex could look directly at extrasolar planets
A new optical device might allow astronomers to view extrasolar planets directly without the annoying glare of the parent star.   view more (2005-12-01)

UCF professor finds that hottest measured extrasolar planet is 3700 degrees
"HD 149026b is simply the most exotic, bizarre planet," Harrington said. "It's pretty small, really dense, and now we find that it's extremely hot."   view more (2007-05-10)

Benchmark Survey Shows that Giant Outer Extrasolar Planets Are Rare
Astronomers who used powerful telescopes in Arizona and Chile in a survey for planets around nearby stars have discovered that extrasolar planets more massive than Jupiter are extremely rare in other outer solar systems.   view more (2007-07-12)

NASA predicts nongreen plants on other planets
NASA scientists believe they have found a way to predict the color of plants on planets in other solar systems.   view more (2007-04-11)

Hubble finds first organic molecule on extrasolar planet
The tell-tale signature of the molecule methane in the atmosphere of the Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet HD 189733b has been found with the Hubble Space Telescope. Under the right circumstances methane can play a key role in prebiotic chemistry - the chemical reactions considered necessary to form... view more (2008-03-20)

Models show one nearby star system could host Earth-like planet
The steady discovery of giant planets orbiting stars other than our sun has heightened speculation that there could be Earth-type worlds in nearby planetary systems capable of sustaining life.   view more (2006-07-25)

Largest transiting extrasolar planet found around a distant star
An international team of astronomers with the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey announce today the discovery of TrES-4, a new extrasolar planet in the constellation of Hercules.   view more (2007-08-07)

It`s wet out there
TANTALISING signs of water have been found in the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars. If the discovery is confirmed, it will fuel speculation that the Galaxy is teeming with life. "This would be a historic discovery- the first detection of a prebiotic molecule in an extrasolar planet,"... view more (2002-09-20)

Interstellar Weather Report: Day and Night Temps Measured on an Extrasolar Planet
For the first time, astronomers have measured the day and night temperatures of a planet outside our solar system. The team, which includes Sara Seager of Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, revealed that a giant Jupiter-like gas planet orbiting very close to its star is blisteringly... view more (2006-10-13)

Astronomers discover distant, icy Earth-like planet
An international team of astrophysicists has discovered a new planet five times the size of Earth, the smallest extrasolar planet revealed to date outside of our solar system.   view more (2006-01-27)

Astronomers discover most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet
The world's preeminent planet hunters have discovered the most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet: a possibly rocky world about 7.5 times as massive as the Earth.   view more (2005-06-14)

Hubble finds 16 candidate extrasolar planets far across our Galaxy
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered 16 extrasolar planet candidates that are orbiting a variety of distant stars. In accomplishing this, Hubble looked farther into our Milky Way galaxy than has ever successfully been done before in searching for extrasolar planets.   view more (2006-10-09)

The fine line between stability and instability -- when do gas giants reach the point of no return?
Planetary scientists at UCL have identified the point at which a star causes the atmosphere of an orbiting gas giant to become critically unstable, as reported in this week's Nature (December 6).   view more (2007-12-06)

Extreme Winds Rule Exoplanet's Weather
Supersonic winds more than six times faster than those on Jupiter are blasting through the atmosphere of a Jupiter-sized planet 60 light years away, say scientists who've analyzed results from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.   view more (2007-05-10)

UCF, UCLA astronomers first to measure night and day on extrasolar planet
University of Central Florida Astronomy professor Joseph Harrington and University of California at Los Angeles professor Brad M. Hansen and their team have made the first direct observation of distinct day and night temperatures on a planet orbiting another star.   view more (2006-10-13)

XO-3b: Supersized planet or oasis in the 'brown dwarf desert'?
The latest find from an international planet-hunting team of amateur and professional astronomers is one of the oddest extrasolar planets ever cataloged -- a mammoth orb more than 13 times the mass of Jupiter that orbits its star in less than four days.   view more (2007-05-31)

Massive Transiting Planet with 31-hour Year Found Around Distant Star
An international team of astronomers with the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey today announce the discovery of their third planet, TrES-3.   view more (2007-06-01)

Scientists snap images of first brown dwarf in planetary system
Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered and directly imaged a small brown dwarf star, 50 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting with a planet around a Sun-like star.   view more (2006-09-19)

Scientists Model a Cornucopia of Earth-sized Planets
In the Star Wars movies fictional planets are covered with forests, oceans, deserts, and volcanoes. But new models from a team of MIT, NASA, and Carnegie scientists begin to describe an even wider range of Earth-size planets that astronomers might actually be able to find in the near future.   view more (2007-09-25)

Astronomers discover record 5th planet around nearby star 55 Cancri
A team of American astronomers announced today (Tuesday, Nov. 6) the discovery of a record-breaking fifth planet around the nearby star 55 Cancri, making it the only star aside from the sun known to have five planets.   view more (2007-11-07)

Deep Impact extended mission heads for comet Hartley 2
NASA has given a University of Maryland-led team of scientists the green light to fly the Deep Impact spacecraft to Comet Hartley 2 on a two-part extended mission known as EPOXI. The spacecraft will fly by Earth on New Year's Eve at the beginning of a more than two-and-a-half-year journey to... view more (2007-12-19)

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