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Discovery of Extrasolar Planets
Astronomy Picture of the Day: An Extrasolar Planet? - 29/05/1998
Extrasolar Planet in Double Star System Discovered from La Silla - 24/11/1998 Gliese 86 (also known as "HD 13445") is about 35 light-years away in the southern constellation Eridanus (The River)
'Earth-sized planet' in deep space - 14/09/99 astronomers have discovered about 20 planets orbiting some of the nearest stars
Astronomers see shadow of planet cross distant star, proving that extrasolar planets are real - 12/11/99
Transit of a Planet Across HD 209458 - 13/11/99
Extrasolar planet detected - 15/11/99 we now have inferences of some 29 planets orbiting the nearest stars
Light detected from distant planet - 22/11/99
We saw it too, say astronomers - 25/11/99
Astronomers 'see' planet orbiting distant star - 16/12/99
Astronomers find 'planets' in Orion - 22/03/00
Planet hunters find new worlds "smaller than Saturn" - 29/03/00
Eight new 'planets' discovered - 09/05/00 Their detection brings to about 40 the number of known planets outside our Solar System
Astronomers track nearby planet - 04/08/00 orbiting Epsilon Eridani
Discovery of new planets may lead way to alien life - 07/08/00
Nine new planets found - 07/08/00 It brings the total number of planets discovered circling other stars, so-called exoplanets, to 50
Scientists reveal nine new planets - 07/08/00
No light from nearby planet - 17/08/00 orbiting Tau Boo
Mystery of free-floating 'planets' - 05/10/00
Rogue planet find makes astronomers ponder theory - 06/10/00
Southern sky survey finds distant worlds - 11/12/00
Amateurs enlisted in landmark planet search - 22/05/01
Planet hunt pays off - 16/08/01 one planet is orbiting a star called 47 Ursae Majoris a mere 50 light years away
Hunt for 'Earth' in new solar system - 17/08/01
In a first, object near a star caught on camera - 07/01/02 brown dwarf 14 AUs from 15Sge, 58 light-years away in the constellation Sagitta
Planet found circling dying star - 10/01/02
Off-The-Shelf Camera Device To Hunt For Distant Planets - 12/03/02
'Garden hose' stars suggest early universe planets - 27/03/02
Astronomers hail planetary discovery - 20/06/02 This brings the number of known exoplanets - planets outside our own system - to over 100. Included in the new finds is the smallest exoplanet yet, only 40 Earth masses
Exoplanet toll hits 100 as another Jupiter found - 20/06/02
Scientists estimate 30 billion Earths - 01/07/02
Scientists 'weigh' distant world - 05/12/02 one of a pair that orbit Gliese 876
Most distant planet found - 07/01/03 Ogle-TR-56b is a hot Jupiter-class world closely orbiting a star about 5,000 light-years away
Astronomers fight to save mission - 05/11/03
Planet hunters target nearby star - 07/11/03
Dusty disc may mean other Earths - 30/11/03
Hubble probes planet around star - 27/01/04 HD 209458b orbits a yellow, Sun-like star 150 light-years away in Pegasus
Earth-like planet search to start - 01/04/04
'Fifty planets' could have life - 01/04/04
Scientists seek unknown planets - 16/04/04
Lens effect reveals distant world - 16/04/04 The most distant known planet has been detected orbiting a star some 17,000 light-years away
Hubble sees 'planet' around star - 12/05/04
Telescope spies 'youngest' planet - 27/05/04
Hubble discovers 100 new planets - 02/07/04 If confirmed it would almost double the number of planets known to be circling other stars to about 230
Smallest 'Earth-like' planet seen - 25/08/04
Small planets seen by astronomers - 31/08/04
Telescope snaps distant 'planet' - 10/09/04
Mini-planet system seen in growth - 08/02/05
Smallest extra-solar planet found - 14/02/05
Spitzer sees far-off planet light - 24/03/05
Telescopes see 'distant planet' - 04/04/05
Plenty of Earths await discovery - 05/04/05
Planet 'seen' around distant sun - 30/04/05
Lens method finds far-off world - 24/05/05
Smallest extrasolar planet found - 13/06/05
Mysterious planet baffles experts - 18/07/05
Planet's impact forms dust disk - 20/07/05
Possible mini solar system discovered - 30/11/05
Top stars picked in alien search - 19/02/06
Planet hunters find 'super-Earth' - 14/03/06
Planet hunters bask in earthshine - 24/05/06
Mini-planet systems get stranger - 06/06/06
Strange 'twin' new worlds found - 03/08/06 the twin "planemos", each having only about 1% the mass of the Sun, circle each other rather than orbiting a star
Earth-like planets may be common - 07/09/06
Puffy planet poses pretty puzzle - 15/09/06 HAT-P-1 orbits one member of a pair of stars 450 light-years away in the constellation Lacerta. Although its radius is about 1.38 times Jupiter's, its mass is only half Jupiter's
Planets have scientists buzzing - 26/09/06
'Bulge' yields new planet class - 04/10/06 large planets that take less than a day to whiz round their parent stars
'Most distant' weather pictures - 13/10/06
Planet-detector nears its launch - 06/12/06
Mission guide: Corot - 25/12/06
Supersonic gales rage on planets - 11/01/07
NASA closer to discovering life on other planets - 21/02/07
Many planets may have double suns - 29/03/07
Water detected on distant planet - 11/04/07
New 'super-Earth' found in space - 25/04/07
Space telescope spots new planet - 03/05/07
Planet hunters spy distant haul - 29/05/07
Water vapour found on exoplanet - 11/07/07 Planet HD 189733b orbits a star in the constellation of Vulpecula (the Fox), 64 light-years away
Team finds largest exoplanet yet - 07/08/07 TrES-4 is about 70% larger than Jupiter and circles the star GSC02620-00648, which lies about 1,435 light-years away
Planet survives star's expansion - 13/09/07
Reaching for the stars and planets - 31/10/07
Astronomers discover new planet - 07/11/07
Svetlana Berdyugina: Polarimetric studies of extrasolar planets
Telescope spies newborn planet - 03/01/08
Where planets can form, they do - 11/01/08
Planet-hunters set for big bounty - 17/02/08
Scientists spot organic molecule on distant planet - 19/03/08 Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found methane in the atmosphere of a planet called HD 189733b, which is about the size of Jupiter and is 63 light-years from Earth
Astronomers see 'youngest planet' - 02/04/08
Solar System's 'look-alike' found - 06/04/08 OGLE-2006-BLG-109L is more compact than our own system and is about five thousand light-years away
Tiniest extrasolar planet found - 02/06/08 MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb is about 3.3 times the size of Earth
Three super-Earths found around one star - 16/06/08
Astronomers discover clutch of 'super-Earths' - 16/06/08
First Contact - 05/07/08 The discovery of planets around other stars is going through an "inflation era" of rapidly expanding new knowledge
A new era in search for ‘sister Earths’? - 24/07/08 Small, rocky worlds are not only present in the universe, they’re common, outnumbering the large gas giants by as much as a 3-to-1 ratio
New planet discovered by astronomers - 29/07/08 CoRot-Exo-4b is about the same size as Jupiter and forms part of the Monoceros constellation - the Unicorn - about 3,000 light years away
First photo of planet around alien star - 15/09/08
Exoplanet circles 'normal star' - 15/09/08 about 500 light-years away
Telescope detects odd-ball object - 07/10/08 Corot-exo-3b is about the size of Jupiter, but packs more than 20 times the mass. It takes just four days and six hours to orbit its parent star
Solar system's young twin has 2 asteroid belts - 27/10/08 Epsilon Eridani is 10.5 light-years away and has two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring, making it a triple-ring system
Hubble directly observes planet orbiting Fomalhaut - 13/11/08 25 light-years away
Exoplanets finally come into view - 13/11/08
Scientists discover new planet orbiting dangerously close to giant star - 18/11/08 HD 102272 is 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Leo. The planet has a mass that is nearly six times that of Jupiter and orbits at about 0.6 astronomical units. The team includes Alexander Wolszczan, the discoverer of the first planets ever found outside our solar system, who is an Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the director of the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds at Penn State.
Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet - 09/12/08 Jupiter-size extrasolar planet, HD 189733b, is a "hot Jupiter," which is so close to its star that it completes an orbit in only 2.2 days
Predicted Planet Seen - First Since Neptune 162 Years Ago - 09/12/08 the ring of dust surrounding Fomalhaut is off-center and has a sharp inside edge
Water found in hot planet's orbit - 10/12/08 HD 189733b is 63 light-years away and is classed as a hot Jupiter due to its fiery molten centre and heavily gaseous atmosphere
Exoplanet atmospheres detected from Earth for the first time - 14/01/09
Exoplanet Atmospheres Detected from Earth - 14/01/09
Astronomers get a sizzling weather report from a distant planet - 28/01/09
Team finds smallest transiting extrasolar planet ever - 03/02/09
Number of alien worlds quantified - 05/02/09 based on the current figure of 330 known exoplanets, the extrapolations vary from 361 to 38,000 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy
Galaxy has 'billions of Earths' - 15/02/09
Shedding light on exoplanet hunt - 15/04/09
Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Beams Home First Images - 16/04/09
Lightest exoplanet is discovered - 21/04/09
Sun-like star's 'oddball' planet - 29/04/09
Distant world circles tiny star - 01/06/09 The gas giant is 6 times as massive as Jupiter and circles VB 10, 20 light-years away in the constellation Aquila
Hint of planet outside our galaxy - 14/06/09
Odd discovery may help refine theories about how planets form - 17/06/09
NASA telescope passes planet test - 07/08/09
Planet Smash-Up Sends Vaporized Rock, Hot Lava Flying (w/ Video) - 10/08/09
Scientists announce planet bounty - 19/10/09 32 more have been found using a very sensitive instrument on a 3.6m telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla facility in Chile
Discovery of a Retrograde or Highly Tilted Extrasolar Planet - 18/11/09 HAT-P-7b was found in 2008 in the HAT-P-7 planetary system, about 1000 light-years away
Cool find in hunt for exoplanets - 03/12/09
Three new planets found orbiting star similar to Sun - 13/12/09 61 Virginis is just 27.8 light years away
New planet discoveries suggest low-mass planets are common around nearby stars (w/ Video) - 14/12/09
Giant Planet Set for Cataclysmic Show - 28/12/09 binary star system QS Virginis is about 157 light years away
Nasa's Kepler planet-hunter detects five worlds - 04/01/10 one of them has the density of styrofoam
Most earthlike exoplanet started out as a gas giant - 06/01/10
First Earth-like planet spotted outside solar system likely a volcanic wasteland - 06/01/10
Massive Stars: Good Targets for Planet Hunts, Bad Targets for SETI - 06/01/10
Astronomers Capture First Direct Spectrum of an Exoplanet - 13/01/10 that orbits the bright, very young star HR 8799, about 130 light-years away
Astronomers spot second smallest exoplanet - 13/01/10
Exoplanet gas spotted from Earth - 03/02/10
Torn Apart by Its Own Tides, Massive Planet Is on a 'Death March' - 25/02/10
New exoplanet like 'one of ours' - 17/03/10 CoRoT-9b is 1,500 light years away
Turning Planetary Theory Upside Down (w/ Video) - 13/04/10
New robotic telescope in Chile set for planet hunt - 08/06/10
Exoplanet spotted in motion around its 'sun' - 11/06/10 Astronomers have so far spotted some 450 extra-solar planets (exoplanets)
Six new planets discovered - 14/06/10 from 'shrunken-Saturns' to 'bloated hot Jupiters', as well a rare brown dwarf with 60 times the mass of Jupiter
Very Large Telescope detects first superstorm on exoplanet (w/ Video) - 23/06/10
Soil moisture study aims for climate change insights - 23/06/10
Scorched Alien Planet Has a Comet Tail - 15/07/10
Rich exoplanet system discovered - 24/08/10 at least five planets orbit a star called HD 10180, which is much like our own Sun, 127 light years away, in the southern constellation of Hydrus
A distant Earth-like exoplanet 'could have life' - 30/09/10
Earth-sized worlds much more common than giant planets - 28/10/10
'Alien' planet detected circling dying star - 18/11/10
'Super-Earth' atmosphere measured - 02/12/10 GJ 1214b is three times larger than Earth and about seven times heavier, and is the first planet of its kind known to have an atmosphere
Fourth planet found in giant version of our solar system - 08/12/10
First carbon-rich exoplanet discovered - 08/12/10
'Diamond exoplanet' idea boosted by telescope find - 08/12/10
Six exoplanets in close orbit around far-flung star - 02/02/11 2,000 light-years away
NASA finds planets a plenty outside solar system - 02/02/11
Alien life boost after Nasa finds one in two Suns has Earth like planets - 21/02/11
The shocking environment of hot Jupiters - 19/04/11
Corot telescope in exoplanet haul - 14/06/11 Ten new planets outside our Solar System have been spotted by the French-led Corot satellite, bringing the total number of known exoplanets to 561
Alien world is blacker than coal - 11/08/11
Fifty new exoplanets discovered - 12/09/11 HD 85512 b is estimated to be only 3.6 times the mass of the Earth and is located at the edge of the habitable zone
NASA's Kepler telescope finds planet orbiting two suns - 15/09/11 Kepler-16b is 200 light years away
An exoplanet orbiting a double star - 03/10/11 The Kepler satellite has now reported the detection of 1781 candidate exoplanets.
First Earth-sized planets spotted - 20/12/11
Stargazing viewer in planet coup - 18/01/12 Chris Holmes from Peterborough found SPH10066540 by looking through time-lapsed images of stars on Planethunters.org
NASA's Kepler Announces 11 New Planetary Systems - 26/01/12
New "Super Earth" Found at Right Distance for Life - 02/02/12 GJ 667Cc orbits a red dwarf, with binary companion stars, 22 light-years away
Hubble Reveals a New Class of Extrasolar Planet - 21/02/12
Distant 'waterworld' is confirmed - 21/02/12
Gliese 581 g Tops List of 5 Potentially Habitable Exoplanets - 25/07/12
Star is caught devouring planet - 21/08/12
'Tatooine-like' double-star systems can host planets - 29/08/12
More planets could harbour life - 10/09/12
Extreme Life Forms Might be Able to Survive on Eccentric Exoplanets - 11/09/12
First Planets Found Around Sun-Like Stars in a Cluster - 14/09/12
Planet with four suns discovered by volunteers - 15/10/12
Exoplanet around Alpha Centauri is nearest-ever - 17/10/12 Exoplanet count so far: 840
'Super-Earth' exoplanet spotted 42 light-years away - 08/11/12
'Rogue planet' spotted 100 light-years away - 14/11/12 CFBDSIR2149-0403 has a mass between four and seven times that of Jupiter - well short of the mass limit that would make it a likely brown dwarf
Super-Jupiter Found Orbiting Kappa Andromedae - 20/11/12
Tau Ceti's planets nearest around single, Sun-like star - 19/12/12 one of them is in the "habitable zone" where liquid water can exist. The total number of exoplanets found so far is 854
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers 461 New Planet Candidates - 07/01/13 Since the last Kepler catalog, the number of candidates discovered in the Kepler data has increased by 20 percent and now totals 2,740 potential planets orbiting 2,036 stars.
'Exocomet' numbers nearly tripled in new study - 08/01/13
Exoplanets near red dwarfs suggest another Earth nearer - 06/02/13
Exoplanet Kepler 37b is tiniest yet - smaller than Mercury - 20/02/13 Current Exoplanet Archive Holdings: 834 Planets around 650 Stars
New planet seen forming inside gas cloud - 01/03/13
Researchers find closest star system in a century - 11/03/13 The distance to this brown dwarf pair is 6.5 light years
Kepler Discovers its Smallest Habitable Zone Planets - 18/04/13
Hubble reveals variation between hot extrasolar planet atmospheres - 04/07/13
Glass rain may give planet blue hue - 11/07/13
MIT team discovers an exoplanet that orbits its star in 8.5 hours - 19/08/13
Distant planet's clouds are mapped - 01/10/13
Exoplanet tally soars above 1,000 - 22/10/13 The tally now stands at 1,010
Seven-planet solar system found - 24/10/13
Earth-sized 'lava world' discovered - 30/10/13
Most Amazing Exoplanets - 19/11/13
Second Solar System Like Ours Discovered - 27/11/13
Astronomers discover planet that shouldn't be there - 05/12/13
Companion's comets the key to curious exoplanet system? - 18/12/13 Fomalhaut C
Hubble telescope spies clouds on nearby alien planets - 03/01/14
Kepler finds a very wobbly planet - 04/02/14
Kepler telescope bags huge haul of planets - 26/02/14
Odd planet, so far from its star - 13/05/14
Gemini Planet Imager captures best photo ever of an exoplanet - 13/05/14
Herschel observatory's population of trans-Neptunian objects - 10/06/14
Astronomers Confounded By Massive Rocky World - 02/06/14 Kepler-10c weighs 17 times as much as Earth and is more than twice as large
A Brief History Of Gliese 581d and 581g, The Planets That May Not Be - 04/07/14
We will see signs of life on other planets within 20 years, scientists hope - 05/08/14
NASA's Spitzer Telescope Witnesses Asteroid Smashup - 28/08/14
Clear skies reveal water on distant Neptune-sized planet - 24/09/14
Some of our drinking water is older than the sun: study - 29/09/14
Planet formation captured in photo - 06/11/14
'Alien Earth' is among eight new far-off planets - 06/01/15
NASA's Kepler Marks 1,000th Exoplanet Discovery, Uncovers More Small Worlds in Habitable Zones - 06/01/15
Alien planets' boiled bones can become oases for life - 12/02/15
Exoplanets near red dwarfs suggest another Earth nearer - 06/02/15
ESA's CHEOPS satellite to hunt transits of suspected exoplanets - 18/03/15
Hubble Search for Transit of the Earth-mass Exoplanet Alpha Centauri Bb - 26/03/15
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to Earth - 23/07/15
NASA's Spitzer Confirms Closest Rocky Exoplanet - 30/07/15 HD 219134b, which orbits too close to its star to sustain life, is a mere 21 light-years away
Young 'alien Jupiter' planet discovered - 14/08/15
What makes a planet habitable? - 17/08/15
‘Hot Jupiter’ exoplanets may have formed very rapidly - 18/09/15
Astronomers say real-life 'death star' destroying faraway rocky object - 22/10/15
Kepler marks 1,000th exoplanet discovery, uncovers more small worlds in habitable zones - 08/01/16
Most eccentric planet ever known flashes astronomers with reflected light - 18/03/16
Planets stripped bare by host stars - 11/04/16