Rocky Road: Planet hunting gets closer to Earth
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Astronomers have discovered the three lightest planets known outside the solar system, moving researchers closer to the goal of finding extrasolar planets that resemble Earth.
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With a new spacecraft bound for Mercury, that tiny planet&nbsp;near the heart of the solar system, researchers are hoping to solve a slew of riddles about the small world.
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An asteroid with a wild orbit is about to zoom by our planet. Plus: Solving the mystery of the Pioneer anomaly could take decades.... A biologist finds a chunk of space shuttle Columbia. By Amit Asaravala.
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DENVER, Colo. -- The next spacecraft destined for&nbsp;Mars is rapidly coming together&nbsp;here on Earth -- an interplanetary probe that carries the most powerful instruments ever sent to the red planet.
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The Milky Way is a vast, diverse neighborhood. If you're hoping to find Earthlike planets that may harbor life, you'll need to narrow the search. Stars are a good place to start, because the dusty discs around stars spawn young planets.
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These are heady times for planet hunters. During the past decade, astronomers have uncovered at least 125 confirmed planets in 98 solar systems in our corner of the Milky Way.
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A tiny telescope has spotted a giant planet circling a faraway star, using a technique that could open a new phase of planetary discovery, scientists said.
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Astronomers are claiming to have found a &quot;super-Earth&quot; orbiting a star some 50 light years away. They say the finding could significantly boost the hunt for worlds beyond our Solar System.
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PARIS -- If you have planetary vision, want to be on the cutting edge and don't get bored easily, the European Space Agency may be looking for you.
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The collisions that spawn planets are bigger and take place over longer periods of time than previously thought, say astronomers who studied nearly 300 stars with NASA&#39;s Spitzer Space Telescope.
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British researchers detect water in atmosphere of planet that circles star far beyond our solar system.
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A new class of planets has been found orbiting stars besides our sun, in a possible giant leap forward in the search for Earth-like planets that might harbor life, scientists said on Tuesday.
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Comment is free: Johnjoe McFadden: The location of a newly discovered planet is good news in the search for extraterrestrials.
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A âsuper Earthâ planet has been discovered in a star system 50 light years away. It is the smallest world to be found outside our Solar System, and probably the first rocky planet found so far, astronomers revealed on Wednesday.
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A team of astronomers announced last week the discovery of some of the smallest planets yet detected beyond our solar system. The two newly discovered planets represent a new class of extrasolar planets, and
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Future space explorers might bring back more than just pictures from their excursions -- they could mine the planets for profit. By Mark Baard.
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BOSTON American scientists say they have discovered two of the smallest planets ever detected outside our solar system - a sign, they said, that they are on the right track in the quest to find Earth-like planets that could potentially support life.