Planets, Super-earth | featured news

Astronomers on Monday announced the discovery of 50 new planets circling stars beyond the sun, including one “super-Earth” that is the right distance from its star to possibly have water. “If we are really, really lucky, this planet could be a habitat” like Earth, said Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.

Clouds may make a world orbiting a nearby star suitable for life, reports an international astronomer team.

The atmosphere of a relatively nearby extrasolar planet - just three times bigger than Earth - has been measured in a pioneering experiment.

Astronomers announced this week they found a water-rich and relatively nearby planet that's similar in size to Earth.