Finding 227 planets beyond our solar system was fun, but astronomers were getting a little edgy that all these orbs were duds, biologically speaking. Some were too hot for life and some were too cold; ...

More than 10 years after the discovery of the first extrasolar planet, astronomers have now discovered more than 250 of these planets. Until a few years ago, most of the newly discovered exoplanets ...

The 228th time was a charm. Since 1992, when astronomers discovered the first planet outside our solar system, the hunt has been on for one that orbits its star not too closely and not too distantly, ...

The planetary system around the red dwarf Gliese 581, one of the closest stars to the Sun in the galaxy, has been the subject of several studies aiming to detect the first potentially habitable ...

Planet 581C is so far away that our 'How are you?' is received by them 20 years after we say it. If they reply 'fine thanks', that's another 20 years -- which certainly amounts to a strained ...

The bad news for astronomers is: The light from the planetary system Gliese 581 is boring. The good news for any Gliesians that might live there: The light from the star Gliese 581a is boring.

A rocky alien planet called Gliese 581d may be the first known world beyond Earth capable of supporting life as we know it, a new study suggests. Astronomers performing a new atmospheric-modeling ...

In April, a European team of astronomers announced in Astronomy & Astrophysics the discovery of two possibly habitable Earth-like planets. A&A is now publishing two independent, detailed studies of ...