New Super-Earth Discovered 39 Light-Years From Earth(01 of12)
Open Image ModalIn April 2017 researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics CfA announced the discovery of a new super-Earth designated LHS 1140b orbiting the habitable zone of a small red dwarf star LHS 1140 about 39 light-years away Its 42 light-years from our sun to the nearest star Proxima Centauri This is an artist impression of the star LHS 1140 and the possible super-Earth planet which shows early indications of habitability (credit:M Weiss / CfA)
Seven Earth-Sized Planets Around One Star(02 of12)
Open Image ModalClosest Exoplanet To Earth -- August 2016(03 of12)
Open Image ModalOn Aug. 24, 2016, the European Southern Observatory announced the confirmation of the closest exoplanet to Earth. This illustration shows Proxima b, which orbits its parent star Proxima Centauri, the closest sun to Earth's sun. Proxima b lies within its sun's habitable zone, strongly suggesting the planet has liquid water on its surface. (credit:PHL UPR Arecibo ESO)
Proxima b Exoplanet Orbits Red Dwarf Star(04 of12)
Open Image ModalArtist's impression of exoplanet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the planet and Proxima Centauri. (credit:ESOM Kornmesser)
Illustration of Proxima b Surface Features(05 of12)
Open Image ModalArtist impression shows a view of the surface of planet Proxima b, orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. The double star Alpha Centauri can also be seen to the upper right of Proxima Centauri. (credit:ESOM Kornmesser)
Super-Earth Exoplanet 55 Cancri e(06 of12)
Open Image ModalIn March 2016, NASA announced the discovery of a lava-loaded super-Earth called 55 Cancri e -- twice the size of our own planet but eight times as dense. It's so close to its star that a year lasts only 18 hours. Just 40 light-years away, 55 Cancri e may also be tidally locked to its sun the way the moon is to Earth. This artist's impression shows 55 Cancri e orbiting its parent star. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Planet(07 of12)
Open Image ModalThis Dec. 5, 2011, NASA illustration shows Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. For the first time, NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed a planet to orbit in a star's habitable zone, the region around a star where liquid water, a requirement for life on Earth, could persist. The planet is 2.4 times the size of Earth, making it the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone. Clouds could exist in this Earth's atmosphere, as the artist's interpretive illustration depicts. (credit:Ames/JPL-Caltech/NASA via Getty Images)
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Planet(08 of12)
Open Image ModalIn this Dec. 5, 2011, NASA illustration, a diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first 'habitable zone' planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth. The diagram displays an artist's rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. Kepler-22b has a yearly orbit of 289 days. The planet is the smallest known to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a sun-like star and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth. (credit:Ames/JPL-Caltech/NASA via Getty Images)
Extrasolar Planet HD 209458 b, Osiris(09 of12)
Open Image ModalArtist's conception released by NASA of extrasolar planet HD 209458 b, also known as Osiris, orbiting its star in the constellation Pegasus, some 150 light-years from Earth's solar system. Scientists have used an infrared spectrum -- the first ever obtained for an extrasolar planet -- to analyze Osiris' atmosphere, which is said to contain dust but no water. The planet's surface temperature is more than 700 Celsius (1330 Fahrenheit). (credit:Getty)
Planet & Its Parent Star(10 of12)
Open Image ModalPicture released on Oct. 4, 2006, by the European Space Agency shows an artist's impression of a Jupiter-sized planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits. When the planet transits the star, the star's apparent brightness drops by a few percent for a short period. Through this technique, astronomers can use the Hubble Space Telescope to search for planets across the galaxy by measuring periodic changes in a star's luminosity. (credit:AFP PHOTO NASA/ESA/K. SAHU (STScI) / Getty)
Hot Jupiter(11 of12)
Open Image ModalPicture released on Oct. 4, 2006, by the European Space Agency shows an artist's impression of a unique type of exoplanet discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope. This image presents a purely speculative view of what a 'hot Jupiter' (word dedicated to planets so close to their stars with such short orbital periods) might look like. A seam of stars at the center of the Milky Way has shown astronomers that an entirely new class of planets closely orbiting distant suns is waiting to be explored. An international team of astronomers, using a camera aboard NASA's Hubble telescope, delved into a zone of the Milky Way known as the 'galactic bulge,' thus called because it is rich in stars and in the gas and dust which go to make up stars and planets. The finding opens up a new area of investigation for space scientists probing extrasolar planets - planets that orbit stars other than our own. (credit:AFP PHOTO NASA/ESA/K. SAHU (STScI) / Getty)
Iceball Exoplanet(12 of12)
Open Image ModalThis artist's concept depicts an iceball exoplanet designated OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, discovered with a technique called microlensing. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)