Exoplanets | Astronomy.com

An artist's illustration of 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object detected passing through the solar system, depicted as a long, thin, reddish-brown elongated rock tumbling through space near a bright glowing sun. A diffuse dust or gas trail streams behind it, and the starry black background of deep space surrounds the scene.

Why aren’t free-floating planets captured when they fly past stars?

A dark, curved planet with a warm orange-brown atmospheric glow fills the lower right of the frame, its horizon lit by a small, bright orange star glowing near the center of the image. The black background is scattered with faint white stars, with a soft orange haze surrounding the star.

Astronomers just found the first atmosphere on a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone

A large planet occupies the upper right of the frame, its surface swirling with bright orange, yellow, and deep red clouds on its sunlit side, fading to dark blue-black on its shadowed edge. Below and to the left, a bright white glow from a nearby star washes out part of the lower frame, set against a dark brown sky scattered with faint stars.

JWST reveals Roasted Planet’s extreme heat

Potential signs of life on distant planets sound exciting — but confirmation can take years

Today in the History of Astronomy

April 21, 1994: The discovery of exoplanets

Alien Life, Features

Could this telescope find life on alien worlds?

Exoplanets, Stars

JWST reveals how dust becomes planets

The first commercial space telescope just achieved first light

TOI-6255 b: a planet on the edge of destruction

No signs of technology on exoplanet K2-18 b

Astronomers confirm potentially habitable exoplanet in the solar neighborhood

Exoplanets, Science

Only a small number of planets may harbor life