– January 7, 2026 (London time) – One of the biggest recent surprises in astronomy is the discovery that most stars like the Sun harbor a planet between the size of Earth and Neptune within the orbit ...

In a blow to anyone dreaming that complex life may exist elsewhere in the universe, a new study suggests we're unlikely to find it around many of the most common stars in the galaxy. Earth-like ...

Astronomers have cataloged thousands of exoplanets, and a pattern keeps showing up: Around most stars, the most common planets are bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. They’re often called ...

Scientists have discovered a rogue planet roaming the Milky Way after combining observations from Earth and a space telescope. This rare dual perspective allowed them to weigh the planet and pinpoint ...

Peking University, January 2, 2026: A lucky alignment of space- and ground-based telescopes has enabled researchers to nail down the mass of a rogue planet for the first time. Unlike worlds in our ...

For a decade and a half, astronomers have been on the trail of a galactic mystery. In 2011, a project that surveyed the Milky Way galaxy for exoplanets — which are planets beyond our solar system — ...