Over the past 30 years, thousands of exoplanets have been discovered, revealing detailed demographics of planets outside the Solar System.
rocky exoplanet
Posted inAstrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
The Role Of Inner Disk Edges In Shaping Ultra-short-period Planet Systems Around Late M Dwarfs
Close-in rocky planets are the most common type of exoplanets around late M dwarfs, ranging from more temperate worlds to highly irradiated lava planets with molten surfaces, and many theoretical […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Gemini South Confirms Long-Suspected Link Between the Composition of Exoplanets and Their Host Stars
Almost 320 light-years away in the Libra constellation lies WASP-189b, an exoplanet known as an ultra-hot Jupiter (UHJ). UHJs have temperatures high enough to vaporize rock-forming elements like magnesium (Mg), […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Hot Rocks Survey V: Secondary Eclipse Photometry of GJ 3473 b with JWST/MIRI
JWST is transforming our ability to characterise small exoplanets, from sub-Neptunes to rocky worlds. A key open question is whether highly irradiated rocky planets can retain atmospheres or are stripped […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Atmospheric Supply Of HCN Is Not The Rate Limiting Step For Prebiotic Chemistry Across Rocky Exoplanets
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is crucial for the RNA World hypothesis, forming biomolecules essential for early life.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Conferences and Meetings, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report
Rocky Worlds DDT Data Challenge and Data Challenge Workshop
The Rocky Worlds DDT Core Implementation Team (CIT) will soon launch the Rocky Worlds DDT Data Challenge, aimed at engaging the community in the analysis and interpretation of JWST MIRI […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
TOI-4552 b: A New Ultra-short Period Rocky World Revealed By NIRPS And TESS
A particularly intriguing subclass of rocky exoplanets are the ultra-short period (USP) worlds that orbit their host stars in less than a day. These planets are particularly rare around M […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
TOI-4616 b: A Benchmark Earth-sized Planet Transiting A Nearby M4 Dwarf
Rocky exoplanets are particularly abundant around M-type stars. Their small radii and low luminosities provide favourable conditions for detecting transiting terrestrial planets and probing their atmospheric properties.
![Earth’s spectrum over time (right panel), reproduced from [11]. The biosignature gases present change dramatically from epoch to epoch (left panel), producing significantly different spectra. The simultaneous detection of O2 at 0.8 µm demonstrates the presence of life in the modern Earth spectrum shown in the bottom right panel, but for habitable planets without much evidence of oxygenic biosignatures (e.g. Proterozoic and Archean Earth), coverage beyond 0.8 µm will be key to capture H2O, and CH4 features. -- astro-ph.IM](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/The-Key-to-Unlocking-Exoplanet.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
The Key To Unlocking Exoplanet Biosignatures: A UK-led IR Spectrograph for the Habitable Worlds Observatory Coronagraph
The detection of life on rocky exoplanets in the habitable zones of nearby stars would be a paradigm-shifting advance, and it is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Elevated Eccentricities In The Radius Valley Hint At Water-Rich Mini-Neptunes
While recent planet-formation models broadly reproduce the observed population of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes, as well as the bimodal radius distribution (the “radius valley”), it remains unclear whether all these planets […]