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 ...

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.

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Astronomers have captured the most dramatic view yet of a planet losing its atmosphere, watching the ultra-hot gas giant WASP ...

In a discovery that's fit for a movie, Northwestern University astronomers have directly imaged a Tatooine-like exoplanet, orbiting two suns. While obtaining an image of a planet beyond our solar ...

In the cold, dark outskirts of planetary systems far beyond the reach of the known planets, mysterious gas giants and planetary masses silently orbit their stars — sometimes thousands of astronomical ...

In theory, a planet may be able to orbit a binary star system in a figure of eight, but it may not be particularly stable, explain our readers ...