As the first successful technique used to detect exoplanets orbiting distant stars, the radial velocity method aims to detect a periodic Doppler shift in a stellar spectrum due to the star's motion ...

The first exoplanet discovery in 1995 around a Sun-like star challenged the then-prevailing model of planetary system formation based solely on our solar system, revealing the existence of massive ...

Astronomers have discovered one of the lightest planets ever found and it's orbiting the star right next door to our own, just over four light-years away from Earth. Confirmation of Proxima d is ...

Astronomers using the GRAVITY instrument at the VLT telescopes in Chile have now obtained the first direct confirmation of an exoplanet discovered by radial velocity. As the planet “Beta Pictoris c” ...

Astronomers have used a new technique to confirm a real-life Tatooine, the fictional planet with two suns that was home to Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars.” The planet, Kepler-16b, is about 245 light ...

A purely hypothetical field a few decades ago, exoplanet hunters inhabit one of the most dynamic areas in astronomy today. Each discovery brings new insights. From giant gas planets to so-called super ...