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Increasing the Odds of the Sweep

Increasing the Odds of the Sweep

Artist's impression of a transiting Jupiter-mass exoplanet around a star slightly more massive than the Sun, such as the one discovered around SWEEPS-04.

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ESO

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There are water worlds, lava planets, egg-shaped worlds, planets with multiple suns, and even planets with no sun at all! What can we learn from this weird, wondrous variety?
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There are water worlds, lava planets, egg-shaped worlds, planets with multiple suns, and even planets with no sun at all! What can we learn from all this weird, wondrous variety?
Video: Exoplanets: Weird, Wondrous Worlds
A team of researchers has devised a way to measure the internal properties of stars—a method that offers more accurate assessments of their orbiting planets.
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Verified by vibration
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This artist's concept shows what a fiery hot star and its close-knit planetary companion might look close up if viewed in visible (left) and infrared light.
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Blinded by the Light
Blinded by the Light
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a visible light view of the outer dust around the young star HD100546. The position of the newly discovered protoplanet is marked with an o...
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NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope view of the dust disc around the young star HD 100546
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope view of the dust disc around the young star HD 100546
This artists impression shows the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9. This is the closest such object to the Solar System.
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Artists impression of the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9
Artists impression of the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will reveal secrets of clouds in the atmospheres of exoplanets – planets beyond our solar system.
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Video: Lifting the Veil on Exoplanet Clouds
There is only one planet we know of so far that is teeming with life–– Earth. If we want to find life on other planets, we start with the ingredients we know at home.
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Planet Janssen, or 55 Cancri e, orbits a star called Copernicus only 41 light years away. 
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55 Cancri e: Skies Sparkle Above a Never-Ending Ocean of Lava
This graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows how astronomers located a hot spot on a distant gas planet named upsilon Andromedae b -- and learned that it was in the wrong place.
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How to Find a Planetary Hot Spot
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Audience: 3rd grade and older This slide shows how far the planets are from their respective stars and how that influences how hot they are.
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This slide shows how far the planets are from their respective stars and how that influences how hot they are.
Comparison of Exoplanets Locations
What does an extremely young planetary system look like? The answer depends on your point of view. This diagram shows how such a system appears when viewed from different directions.
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Observing Young Stars: Hitting the 'Sweet Spot'
Observing Young Stars: Hitting the 'Sweet Spot'
This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun.
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Soaking up the Rays of a Sun-like Star - Artistic Concept
Soaking up the Rays of a Sun-like Star - Artistic Concept
Kepler-11 is a sun-like star around which six planets orbit. At times, two or more planets pass in front of the star at once, as shown in this artist's conception of a simultaneous transit of three...
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Extraordinary New Planetary System
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Exoplanet Caught on the Move
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This artist's illustration shows the atmosphere of a brown dwarf called 2MASSJ22282889-431026, which was observed simultaneously by NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes.
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Anatomy of Brown Dwarf's Atmosphere
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"Einstein's planet," formally known as Kepler-76b, is a "hot Jupiter" that orbits its star every 1.5 days. This artist's conception shows Kepler-76b orbiting its host star, which has been tidally d...
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"Einstein's Planet," Kepler-76b
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This artist's concept depicts in the foreground planet Kepler-62f, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of its star, which is seen peeking out from behind the right edge of the planet.
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This year we celebrate the discovery of 51 Pegasi b in October, 1995. This giant planet is about half the size of Jupiter and orbits its star in about 4 days. '51 Peg’ helped launch a whole new fie...
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The discovery that changed the way we see our universe: 51 Pegasi b
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The habitable zone is the distance from a star where one can have liquid water on the surface of a planet. If a planet is too close to its parent star, it will be too hot and water would have evapo...
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Comparative Life Zones of Stars (with text)
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One of the first exoplanets ever discovered, Gamma Cepehi A b is a comeback story.
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An infographic depicting one of the first exoplanets discovered.
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This artist's concept depicts giant planets circling between belts of dust. Scientists think the star system HD 95086 may have a planetary architecture similar to this.
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Do other planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, also host life forms?
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Researchers using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope have shown that migrating planets stop their inward journey before reaching their stars, as illustrated in this artist's concept.
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Explore Alien Worlds

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This set of travel posters envision a day when the creativity of scientists and engineers will allow us to do things we can only dream of now.
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Strange New Worlds

Explore an interactive gallery of some of the most intriguing and exotic planets discovered so far.
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A planetary tour through time. The ancients debated the existence of planets beyond our own; now we know of thousands.

Historic Timeline

A planetary tour through time. The ancients debated the existence of planets beyond our own; now we know of thousands.
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