Scientists studying the exoplanet WASP-12b have made a startling discovery: the planet is so hot it reflects almost no light, making it appear pitch-black. An international team of astronomers from McGill University, Canada and the University of Exeter, UK measured how much light is reflected by the exoplanet, otherwise known as its ‘albedo,’ in order to better understand the chemical... 

An international team of astronomers has managed to compile the first temperature map of 55 Cancri e, a rocky ‘super-Earth’ exoplanet thought to have twice the diameter of Earth, according to NASA. The first thermal map of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e has been compiled by researchers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope; the map reveals extreme temperature swings from one side of the... 

Size comparison of HAT-P-11b (gray) with Neptune Astronomers have detected water vapor in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, an extrasolar planet, which does not orbit the Sun. The planet is the size of Neptune and about four times the size of Earth. It orbits a star some 130 light years from Earth. HAT-P-11b’s atmosphere was also found to contain copious amounts of hydrogen. Atmospheres are telltales... 

Glowing a dark magenta, the newly discovered exoplanet GJ 504b weighs in with about four times Jupiter’s mass, making it the lowest-mass planet ever directly imaged around a star like the sun. Meet GJ 504b, a cute-looking Jupiter-sized planet, currently the lowest-mass celestial body outside of solar system, which astronomers managed to image directly. Glowing a dark magenta, the newly discovered... 

Next-door neighbour: An artist’s impression of the recently found planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to our own (click on the image to enlarge it) An Earth-sized planet has been found orbiting a star in Alpha Centauri, our nearest neighbouring solar system. The mystery world circling Alpha Centauri B is thought to be much too hot to support... 

Planet Earth viewed from space The search for Earth-like planets has finally borne fruit. Or at least that is what NASA claims, raising hopes among inhabitants of an exhausted Earth of a back-up planet for humanity. ­Space and extra-terrestrial life have always been a source of wild flights of imagination and inspiration for humanity. Now there is a fresh reason to be excited. NASA says it has discovered... 

This artist's impression shows HIP 13044 b, an exoplanet orbiting a star that entered our galaxy, the Milky Way, from another galaxy. European astronomers say they have discovered the first planet that comes from a galaxy outside the Milky Way, according to research released in the United States. A hot, gaseous and fast-spinning planet has been found orbiting a dying star on the edge of the Milky...