EVANSTON, Ill. — Except for the fact that we call it home, for centuries astronomers didn’t have any particular reason to believe that our solar system was anything special in the universe. But, ...

"A few planetary systems happen to be oriented so that the planets [can cross the face of] their home star as seen from Earth. When this occurs, the dimming of the star's light can be detected using ...

A new study by astronomers has found that the temperature on the nightsides of different hot Jupiters -- planets that are similar size in to Jupiter, but orbit other stars -- is surprisingly uniform, ...

Astronomers have discovered more than 130 planets orbiting nearby stars in our galaxy. Although the solar systems they have found are very different from ours, by studying the planets that have been ...

As scientists improve on our ability to detect extrasolar planets and launch new observatories like the Kepler, the collection of exoplanets continues to rise. But, so far, we haven’t been able to say ...

As our ability to study other stars has improved, the signs of planets orbiting them have increased. We can directly observe planet-forming disks and the indications of planets carried by the light of ...

Earth is not alone, and a stunning new animation created using NASA data beautifully illustrates that point. There may be trillions of other planets in our galaxy, the Milky Way (which itself is one ...

Forty-four planets in planetary systems beyond our own have been unveiled in one go, dwarfing the usual number of confirmations from extrasolar surveys, which is typically a dozen or less. The ...

While most planets that we are familiar with stick relatively close to their host star in a predictable orbit, some planets ...

A trove of newly discovered planets orbiting other stars suggests that our solar system may not be the oddball it had begun to seem. Among eight newly identified extrasolar planets, three have large, ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover aerospace, astronomy & hosted The Cosmic Controversy Podcast. How rare are extrasolar earthlike planets around sunlike ...