For an alien world, this gas planet seems almost like kin; it's closer than
any other known exoplanet.
Proxima b fell from the public consciousness and the front page within weeks, just one more among 3,565
other known exoplanets.
Of the more than 300
other known exoplanets, all have been detected indirectly by their effects on their parent stars — either a wobble in induced by the object's orbit or a decrease in detected light from the star as the planet passes in front of it.
These transiting exoplanets are astronomical gold mines in the sense that we can learn a lot more about them than
other known exoplanets.
There are two
other known exoplanets that seem to follow a similar planetary evolution to that of HAT - P - 26b.
Not exact matches
The planet appears to be too hot and violent to support anything like life as we
know it, but now that astronomers
know how to study the atmosphere of one
exoplanet, they are ready to try extending the technique to
other, potentially more inviting worlds.
The travel destinations they depict are further afield:
exoplanets in
other solar systems, about which we
know very little.
This research will contribute to a once - per - decade report on the field of astrophysics, produced by the National Academies, that NASA uses to help chart a course for future missions, some of which could continue the search for planets around
other stars,
known as
exoplanets.
Until then, all the
known exoplanets (planets circling
other stars) were big and gaseous, but this one is probably made of rocky materials — the first world like ours found in an alien solar system.
Over the last quarter century or so, astronomers have confirmed more than 3,600
exoplanets — that's 3,600 - plus worlds in addition to the planets, moons and
other heavenly bodies
known in our own solar system.
That is how 51 Pegasi b —
known as a «hot Jupiter» because of its size and closeness to its star — and hundreds of
other exoplanets have been found.
When it comes to big balls of rock,
exoplanet BD +20594 b might have all
other known worlds beat.
That measurement was surprising because it doesn't match what astronomers
know about
other Neptune - mass
exoplanets.
The high precision of the Kepler space telescope has allowed us to detect planets that are the size of Earth and somewhat smaller, but no previous planets have been found that ar... ▽ More Since the discovery of the first
exoplanet we have
known that
other planetary systems can look quite unlike our own.
All images in science must be interpreted, but the interpretation of future direct images from
exoplanets is guaranteed to be a major controversy since images showing either creatures resembling those we all
know on Earth, or something wildly different, will provoke vigorous doubts by
other scientists and the public!