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Earth may have a twin orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors, a new study suggests. University of California, Santa Cruz graduate student Javiera Guedes used computer simulations of planet formation to show that terrestrial planets are likely to have formed around one of the stars in the Alpha Centauri star system, our closest stellar neighbors. Guedes' model showed planets forming around the star Alpha Centauri B (its sister star, Proxima Centauri, is actually our nearest neighbor) in what is called the "habitable zone," or the region around a star where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface. The...

For the first time, astronomers have discovered a planet far, far away that might be similar to Earth. This distant world, which pirouettes around a dim bulb of a star with the unglamorous name Gliese 581, may possibly sport a landscape that would be vaguely familiar to us - a panorama of liquid oceans and drifting continents. If so, there's the chance that it's a home to life - perhaps even advanced life. It's been a dozen years since the first planet around a star other than the Sun was uncovered. Since then, small teams of astronomers have been flushing...

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Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface. The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile. They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life. "We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be...

Munich, April 24: An international team of astronomers from Switzerland, France and Portugal have discovered the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date. The planet has a radius only 50 percent larger than Earth and is very likely to contain liquid water on its surface. The research team used the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) 3.6-m telescope to discover the super-Earth, which has a mass about five times that of the Earth and orbits a red dwarf already known to harbour a Neptune-mass planet. Astronomers believe there is a strong possibility in the presence of a third planet with...

"Some people say that I study darkness, not optics," jokes Grover Swartzlander. But it's a kind of darkness that will allow astronomers to see the light. Swartzlander, an associate professor in The University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences, is developing devices that block out dazzling starlight, allowing astronomers to study planets in nearby solar systems.

8:48 a.m., Feb. 28, 2006--A University of Delaware scientist has received a three-year, $241,000 grant from the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) to study a developing planetary system about 180 light-years from Earth. John E. Gizis, UD assistant professor of physics and astronomy, was awarded the grant through NASA's Origins of Solar Systems program, which supports scientific investigations related to understanding the formation and early evolution of planetary systems, and to provide the fundamental research and analysis necessary to detect and characterize other planetary systems. The research also supports NASA's Vision for Space Exploration program, a long-term plan to...

In January, the American Astronomical Society announced in Washington, D.C. that Gregory W. Henry, a TSU astronomer who was part of a 21-member international research team, aided in the discovery of a new planet. Henry said TSU’s involvement in the discovery of the planet and astronomical studies began with Michael Busby’s, director of Center of Excellence, vision for TSU to have an astronomy research program. “We have only scratched the surface,” Henry said. “People have wondered for years if other worlds exist.”

Astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting a very young star nearly 100 light years away using a relatively small, publicly accessible telescope turbocharged with a new planet-finding instrument. The feat suggests that astronomers have found a way to dramatically accelerate the pace of the hunt for planets outside our solar system. "In the last two decades, astronomers have searched about 3,000 stars for new planets," said Jian Ge, a professor of astronomy at the University of Florida. "Our success with this new instrument shows that we will soon be able to search stars much more quickly and cheaply - perhaps...

  SkyandTelescope.com   "First Exoplanet" Image ConfirmedBy Robert Naeye This infrared image resolves 2M 1207 into a close pair of objects, one of them 100 times brighter than the other. Astronomers infer that their masses are 25 and 5 Jupiter masses, which would make them a brown dwarf and a planet, respectively. Both are glowing with heat left over form their formation. The image was taken with adaptive optics on one of the 8.2-meter VLT reflectors. The objects are separated by 0.78 arcsecond, which corresponds to about 55 astronomical units at the system's 230-light-year distance. Courtesy Gael Chauvin / ESO....

By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer posted: 07:00 am ET 29 January 2002 Chances are you haven't spent a whole lot of time wondering how many Jupiter-like planets exist in our galaxy. But Charley Lineweaver has, because it bears on a more important question: How many potentially habitable planets are there? New calculations by Lineweaver and Daniel Grether, both of the University of New South Wales in Australia, provide an encouraging answer to this question. The researchers expect a flood of Jupiters will be found, perhaps 50 percent more than currently expected. Each such discovery would be significant...