Some of the most promising places to look for extraterrestrials have remained, so far, mostly hidden from astronomers. Now a game-changing instrument called NIRPS (Near-Infrared Planet Searcher) is ...

In the 1990s, astronomers confirmed the first planets orbiting stars beyond our sun. Since then, the tally has risen steadily, and last year it crossed a striking milestone: more than 6,000 known ...

Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets around single stars, but few around binary stars—even though both types of stars are equally common. Physicists can now explain the dearth.

A planet circling at a sharp 90-degree angle to the orbits of its two host stars has now been confirmed. This discovery challenges long-standing ideas about how planets form and orbit in the cosmos.

This is a brilliant question because the notion of an orbit is counterintuitive. We know that massive objects (really, any objects with mass) gravitationally attract other massive objects; Newton's ...

Astronomers are increasingly finding planets that do not simply circle their stars in neat, clockwork ellipses but instead trace out paths that look more like intricate choreography. The latest ...

Right angle Illustration of 2M1510 showing the orbits of the two brown dwarfs (in blue) and that of the planet (in orange). (Courtesy: ESO/L Calçada) The first strong evidence for an exoplanet with an ...

NEW YORK — A new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday. Located about 120 light years away, the exoplanet appears to take an unusual ...

It was almost 100 years ago that Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto. That was the last planet found until 1992, when humans found another one. But this new planet wasn't in our solar system—it was ...