By Pierre Celerier PARIS (AFP) – A planet relatively close to Earth could be the first ever detected with a potentially life-sustaining liquid ocean outside our Solar System, according to scientists using the James Webb space telescope. More than 5,000 planets have been discovered outside of the Solar System so far, but only a handful are in what is called the “Goldilocks zone” — neither too hot or too cold — that could host liquid […]
Tag: Exoplanet
‘Like a mirror’: Astronomers identify most reflective exoplanet
By Daniel Lawler Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A scorching hot world where metal clouds rain drops of titanium is the most reflective planet ever observed outside of our Solar System, astronomers said on Monday. This strange world, which is more than 260 light years from Earth, reflects 80 percent of the light from its host star, according to new observations from Europe’s exoplanet-probing Cheops space telescope. That makes it the first exoplanet comparably […]
Webb measures temperature of rocky exoplanet for first time
by Juliette Collen Paris, France (AFP) The James Webb Space Telescope has measured the temperature of a rocky exoplanet for the first time, finding that a “cousin” of Earth most likely lacks an atmosphere, researchers said Monday. When the Trappist-1 system was discovered in 2017, astronomers were excited at the prospect that some of its seven rocky planets — which are roughly similar to Earth in size and mass — could be habitable. Just 40 […]
New planet could support life: ESO observatory
PARIS, France (AFP) — A new extrasolar system planet can be added to a handful of fellow exoplanets which could theoretically support life, the European Southern Observatory said Wednesday. The ESO said it had discovered the planet, Ross 128b, orbiting a star within the constellation of Virgo and it is comparatively ‘close’ at just 11 light years outside the Solar System. One light year is equivalent to 9.46 trillion kilometers (5.85 trillion miles). But in […]
NASA discovers 10 new Earth-size exoplanets
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA revealed Monday 10 new rocky, Earth-sized planets that could potentially have liquid water and support life. The Kepler mission team released a survey of 219 potential exoplanets — planets outside of our solar system — that had been detected by the space observatory launched in 2009 to scan the Milky Way galaxy. Ten of the new discoveries were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to Earth’s orbit around […]
Habitable planet found in solar system next door
PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists Wednesday announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the star nearest our Sun, opening up the glittering prospect of a habitable world that may one day be explored by robots. Named Proxima b, the planet is in a “temperate” zone compatible with the presence of liquid water — a key ingredient for life. The findings, based on data collected over 16 years, were reported in the peer-reviewed journal Nature. […]





