The University of Arizona’s Magellan Adaptive Optics Xtreme instrument, combined with a six-and-a-half meter ground-based telescope, has imaged protoplanets in sharp detail. By capturing images of the ...

Planetary size was determined pre-spacecraft by measuring the planet's angular diameter and its distance from Earth (in AU, later converted to terrestrial units after the AU was accurately measured ...

Astronomers have identified a new exoplanet orbiting Barnard’s star, the closest individual star to our solar system, situated just six light-years away. This newly discovered planet, named Barnard b, ...

Gravitational microlensing is a transient but powerful phenomenon that occurs when a foreground mass – such as a star or a planetary system – temporarily magnifies the light from a more distant ...