Earth-like Exoplanets

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Artist's concept shows the red-dwarf star, TRAPPIST-1, at the upper left, with two large dots on the face of the disk representing transiting planets; five more planets are shown at varying positions descending toward the lower right as they orbit the star. Artist's concept shows the TRAPPIST-1 planets as they might be seen from Earth using an extremely powerful – and fictional – telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

That Starry Night Sky? It’s Full of Eclipses

5 min read

Our star, the Sun, on occasion joins forces with the Moon to offer us Earthlings a spectacular solar eclipse –…

Article7 months ago
The disk of a bright reddish-orange-white star is just above and to the right of image center. A small black world is passing in front of the star. A closer planet is in the lower-left corner. We see it as an illuminated crescent facing the star. Two reddish-orange stars are off to the right of the central star. All on a black background dotted with more distant stars.

NASA’s Hubble Measures the Size of the Nearest Transiting Earth-Sized Planet

3 min read

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has measured the size of the nearest Earth-sized exoplanet that passes across the face of a…

Article12 months ago

Why NASA’s Roman Mission Will Study Milky Way’s Flickering Lights

6 min read

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide one of the deepest-ever views into the heart of our Milky Way…

Article1 year ago
Distant photo of Earth from space

Is Earth an Oddball?

4 min read

One of the strangest things in the cosmos might be – us. Among the thousands of planets confirmed to be…

Article5 years ago
Illustration of TRAPPIST-1 system from space.

TRAPPIST-1 is Older Than Our Solar System

5 min read

Scientists now have a good estimate for the age of one of the most intriguing planetary systems discovered to date–…

Article7 years ago
Sara Seager hopes to complete the Copernican Revolution by locating a true Earth analog beyond our solar system.

Planet Hunters: On a Quest for Astronomy’s Holy Grail

5 min read

It's fitting that Sara Seager is fascinated by stories of explorers visiting uncharted places. From her groundbreaking work on the…

Article8 years ago