The search for life beyond Earth is a key driver of modern astronomy and planetary science. The U.S. is building multiple major telescopes and planetary probes to advance this search. However, the ...

Gas giants are massive worlds made mostly of hydrogen and helium. They lack solid surfaces, and in our solar system, Jupiter ...

Astronomers have, for the first time, pinned down both the mass and distance of a planet that drifts through the galaxy without a parent star, turning a once purely theoretical class of worlds into a ...

Most planets spend their lives orbiting a star, but some are destined for exile. According to a study published in Science on Jan. 1, 2026, astronomers have successfully measured the mass and distance ...

Astronomers have finally pinned down both the mass and distance of a solitary “rogue” planet, a world that drifts through space without the warmth or light of a parent star. The object, a Saturn-sized ...

An international research team has discovered a new planet so young that it has yet to emerge from the womb of matter where it is forming. This is the youngest protoplanet discovered to date. It's ...

Astrobiologists disagree about whether advanced life is common or rare in our universe. But new research suggests that one thing is pretty certain – if an Earthlike world with significant water is ...

While most planets that we are familiar with stick relatively close to their host star in a predictable orbit, some planets seem to have been knocked out of their orbits, floating through space free ...