Of the over 5,000 known planets outside our solar system, one of the most dramatic is 55 Cancri e. Affectionately known as the “hell planet,” it orbits so close to its star that it reaches temperatures of 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit and its surface is tho…
Astronomers will soon have a new tool for hunting exoplanets, as the W. M. Keck Observatory’s Keck Planet Finder (KPF) instrument recently took its first observations. KPF’s “first light” observations captured data from Jupiter, demonstrating how the i…
Researchers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered two rocky exoplanets in a system in our cosmic backyard, located just 33 light-years from Earth. These are some of the closest rocky planets discovered to date, orbit…
The study of exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, has exploded in the last decade. Thanks to missions like the Kepler Space Telescope and CHEOPS, we’ve discovered a trove of thousands of exoplanets — and the next phase in our understanding …
In the last decade, we’ve become remarkably good at identifying exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. In fact, we recently passed an impressive milestone of over 5,000 confirmed exoplanets discovered. However, most of these detections tell u…
When the James Webb Space Telescope begins science operations this summer, it will be used to investigate a wide variety of astronomical objects, from supermassive black holes to distant galaxies. One of Webb’s big scientific goals is to learn more abo…