Features

The new search for distant planets

At 200 exoplanets and counting, astronomers are much closer to discovering worlds that might resemble our own.

Online extra: Everything you need to know about exoplanets

Astronomers have found more than 200 planet candidates circling stars other than the Sun. Here’s the scoop on the currently known planets.

How do you make a giant exoplanet?

Scientists endlessly debate theories of how giant planets form, but only observations will settle the question.

Online extra: Growing exoplanets

Computer models help astronomers understand how planets form.

Planets without suns

Isolated giant planets, unbound to any star, may be the Milky Way’s most common worlds.

Atlas of extrasolar planets

The worlds beyond our solar system show a rich diversity no one suspected.

Where is life hiding?

Location holds the key to finding extraterrestrial life.

The most important cosmologist you’ve never heard of

Henry Tye transforms cosmology as inflation’s unsung hero. His latest pursuit: Where did our universe come from?

The sharpest image

Put away your eyeglasses. Tele Vue’s DioptRx lenses correct astigmatism.

Shooting through the light

Learn how one astroimager succeeds in a light-polluted sky.

Online extra: Urban astroimaging delights

One astroimager proves you can attain striking astroimages despite living under a light-polluted sky.

Head of the glass

Ease of use and terrific optics place the Stellarvue SV4 high on any observer’s want list.

Online extra: October 2006 book reviews

One astroimager proves you can attain striking astroimages despite living under a light-polluted sky.

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