Planets are usually defined by the star they orbit. Take away the star, and a planet becomes almost impossible to find. This is because almost every method astronomers use to detect planets depends on ...

In Apple TV’s Pluribus, a faint radio signal from deep space reshapes humanity, and the source, astronomers learn, is Kepler-22b, a world that exists far beyond our solar system. During episode 8, ...

(via minutephysics) This video is about the interesting and often-misunderstood story of the asteroids, and how they lost their planet-hood status; more recently than you may think!

(via PBS Space Time) There are lots of reasons to search for planets around other stars—exoplanets. A big one is to find other places in the universe that might harbor life. We only know of one such ...

Researchers may have discovered a gas giant orbiting the star Alpha Centauri A, and it appears to be in the star's habitable zone. Reading time 3 minutes Exoplanet hunters have had an eye on Alpha ...

Just 4.3 light years from Earth lies a star called Alpha Centauri A, which is famous for being the nearest star that resembles our own Sun. In the popular Avatar movies, this star's system is home to ...

Astronomers do not have a photo of Kepler-22b, but they used the so-called 'transit method' to detect it from 640 light-years away. Credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech illustration In Apple TV’s ...