The recent discovery of a potential gas giant circling the nearby star Alpha Centauri A has led to speculation that it may be orbited in turn by a habitable moon that could support life, just like in ...

Beyond our solar system, countless alien worlds of lava, ice, water and noxious gas swirl through the cosmos. Here are some of the strangest exoplanets that scientists have discovered so far. When you ...

R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC) Just 4.3 light years from Earth lies a star called Alpha Centauri A, which is famous for being the nearest star that resembles our own Sun. In the popular Avatar movies, this ...

Many of the planets in Star Trek: TNG are based on real scientific concepts. While some are purely fictional, others—like Earth-like M-class planets—are inspired by what we know about exoplanets. With ...

A Death Star is born. As if regular old star-gobbling black holes weren’t terrifying enough, scientists discovered that certain types swivel around and shoot beams at various objects in the cosmos, ...

Astronomers may have for the first time witnessed a sun-like star devouring a planet, shedding light on the fate that will befall Earth in about four billion years when our dying sun swells to engulf ...

"We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time." Astronomers have seen what appears to ...

These planets are beautiful, mind-blowing, perhaps even a bit scary… But most importantly, they are real! These are real places in the universe. Europe's rearmament an 'extraordinary opportunity' for ...