Studying Exoplanets

SScience

$Three panels, each showing a different view of the binary star system Alpha Centauri. The panel at the left is a Digitized Sky Survey image showing a single bright point source at the center of a black image with small stars scattered throughout. The very center of this bright source is outlined with a vertical box, tilted slightly to the left, with two diagonal lines leading to the second panel. The Hubble Space Telescope image shows two white stars with 4 diffraction spikes each against a black background. The top star is labeled Alpha Cen B and the bottom Alpha Cen A. Alpha Cen A is outlined with a white square with two diagonal lines leading to the third panel at the furthest right, which shows a James Webb Space Telescope image of the star. Within a large white circle there is a blurry red-toned field with an orange star icon and central black circle outlined in white marking the location of Alpha Cen A. A bright orange blob at 9 o’clock in relation to the star is labeled “S1” and circled.$

August 7, 2025

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found strong evidence of a giant planet orbiting a star…

SSpace

This release features an artist's illustration of a Jupiter-sized planet closely orbiting a faint red star. An inset image, showing the star in X-ray light from Chandra, is superimposed on top of the illustration at our upper left corner.

July 17, 2025

A star is unleashing a barrage of X-rays that is causing a closely-orbiting, young planet to wither away an astonishing rate, according…

NASA’s Webb Finds New Evidence for Planet Around Closest Solar Twin

NASA’s Chandra Finds Baby Exoplanet is Shrinking