In astronomy, there is a concept called "degeneracy." It has nothing to do with delinquent people, but instead is used to describe data that could be interpreted multiple ways. In some cases, that ...

The hunt for worlds beyond our solar system has shifted from counting planets to confronting extremes that strain basic physics. In 2025, astronomers did not just add new dots to the map, they ...

As more and more exoplanets are discovered throughout the galaxy, scientists find some that defy explanation—at least for awhile. A new study, published in Nature, describes a process that might ...

This year, the number of NASA-tracked confirmed worlds discovered beyond our solar system surpassed 6,000, and several thousand more await confirmation. The milestone, reached just three decades after ...

The search for life beyond our solar system heated up this year when scientists reported a tantalising signal from an exoplanet of a molecule that is known to be produced exclusively by life on Earth.

SANTA CRUZ — Xi Zhang, a professor of Earth and planetary science at UC Santa Cruz, has discovered that an exoplanet classed as a “super-Jupiter” has substantial differences from our solar system’s ...