exoplanet

This is the first time the technique has been used to decipher the presence of an exoplanet in the complex dynamics of a binary system.

It is the only known "Super-Earth" exoplanet-worlds that have masses between Earth and Neptune-with a confirmed atmosphere.

The smallest known exoplanet is Corot-7b, which has a diameter less than twice that of Earth.

The largest exoplanet ever discovered is also one of the strangest and theoretically should not even exist, scientists say.

No doubt our modeling of exoplanet atmospheres is simplistic.

In fact, scientists typically call an exoplanet with a mass that's up to 10 times greater than Earth a super-Earth.

Because the newfound exoplanet orbits so close to its star, it's gravitationally locked to the smaller body.

Detecting a magnetic field surrounding an Earth-like exoplanet would prove a promising sign for finding extraterrestrial life.

Nevertheless, exoplanet surveys are providing real data to a field long starved of them.

Other space observatories can use transits to discover details about any atmosphere that might enshroud an exoplanet.

The science of exoplanet atmospheres is in its infancy.

Geoff Marcy, an exoplanet expert from the University of California, Berkeley, said that was an exceptional increase.

The exoplanet, COROT-7b, was discovered in February by the COROT space telescope launched by the French and European space agencies.

"This represents the smallest photometric signal we have ever detected from an exoplanet, " Kipping said.

"If they had called me or someone else in exoplanet astronomy, " Seager says, "we would have advised them to just put an Earth there. "

Meanwhile, the very darkness of the new exoplanet suggests perhaps a catchier moniker for TrES-2b, Kipping said.

Located 54 light-years away, the exoplanet is yet another member of the super-Earth club [source: NASA].

This will greatly catalyze exoplanet research.

An exoplanet is a planetary body that sits outside our solar system and orbits another star that is not our sun.

The exoplanet's atmosphere condenses out minerals such as enstatite, corundum, spinel, and wollastonite.

This is looking more and more like a golden age of exoplanet discovery.

It orbits a red dwarf star about 28, 000 light-years away, making it the most distant exoplanet currently known.

"That's the right way to do it, " said exoplanet expert Daniel Fabrycky of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Before 1991, scientists hadn't discovered a single exoplanet.

For exoplanet hunting that is not quite good enough.

The youngest exoplanet yet discovered is less than 1 million years old and orbits Coku Tau 4, a star 420 light-years away.

"Golden Age" of Exoplanet Discovery

With an estimated temperature of just 50K, OGLE-2005-BLG-390L b is the chilliest exoplanet yet discovered. (Artist's concept)