Planet

Scientists identify nearby 'super-Earth' as promising candidate in search for alien life - study

NASA plans to launch the Habitable Worlds Observatory in the 2040s, a mission whose goal is “to image Earth-like planets around other sun-like stars,” according to NASA’s website.

TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is shown in this conceptual illustration obtained by Reuters on March 28, 2018.
An artist's concept of a dwarf planet.

Atmosphere detected on celestial body in solar system's far reaches

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McDonough Meteorite: 23-Gram Visitor Older Than Our Planet Blasts Through Family Roof

 TOI-6894b Exoplanet - artist's impression.

Unexpected giant: Saturn-mass planet found orbiting tiny red dwarf


Why the next visits to planets in the solar system will be so important

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune remain the least explored planets in the solar system due to their distance from Earth and harsh conditions.

Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, is seen alongside its moons (illustrative).

How much water did Earth have at its formation? A new study has the answer

By analyzing the chemical components of rocks from the moon, a team of scientists proposed an answer to the long-standing question.

 Earth as seen from space.

Size matters: Life-supporting moons can only be found by smaller planets - study

To understand how this works, we first need to talk about what is a moon, how is it formed and how does it help biological life thrive.

 The Earth and the Moon (Illustrative).

Global wildlife population declines could be worse than we imagined - study

A new Israeli study is especially pessimistic about the current state and future of wildlife populations. 

 A group of meerkats.

Scientists find exoplanet shaped like deformed football, not sphere - study

The planet is designated WASP-103b, and its shape is unlike anything ever seen before.

 Artist impression of planet WASP-103b and its host star.

Rutgers researchers find protein structures linked to origins of life - study

The research sheds new light on the origins of life on Earth and may help in the search for alien life.

 Earth as seen from space.

Young Israeli researcher excited to be part of NASA’s Webb Telescope study team

Applicants from all over the world propose research plans for the telescope during a limited window of use, and only the best applicants get approved to use it.

 DR. ALLONA VAZAN of Astrophysics Research Center of the Open University: What I care about is if there is a process of planets losing mass and how fast they lose it, as well as the types of metals in the atmosphere.

Study: Could downgrading Pluto have been a mistake?

The decision to downgrade the 9th planet may have been rooted in astrology, not science. By Galileo's definition, our solar system may even have 150 planets.

An image of Pluto captured by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015

Iron may be key for development of life on Earth, other planets - study

The importance of iron and the need to access it may have led to changes in evolution, and these trends may be essential for the development of life as we know it.

 Iron, possibly the key to the development of life (illustrative).

A whole new world: TOLIMAN to scan for habitable exoplanets in Alpha Centauri

The TOLIMAN project will see a new space telescope launched in order to closely examine the Alpha Centauri system.

A view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System, is seen in an undated artist's impression released by the European Southern Observatory August 24, 2016.