Exoplanet

During a summer of exoplanet discoveries, astronomer Keivan Stassun helps identify new worlds and expand understanding of our own. Read More

Following the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission, Vanderbilt astronomer Keivan Stassun leads the next phase of discovery to find atmospheres like our own. Read More

Keivan Stassun (Vanderbilt University/John Russell) Two international teams of astronomers, aided by Vanderbilt University research, have discovered a diverse pair of exoplanets, which are providing new insights into Earth’s origins and future. The astronomers identified both exoplanets—that is, planets orbiting stars outside our solar system—following an interstellar survey conducted by… Read More

Vanderbilt astronomers will carry out detailed studies of nearby stars orbited by planets with the potential to harbor or sustain life. Read More

Astronomers at Vanderbilt and Ohio State have discovered a planet like Jupiter zipping around its host star every day, boiling at temperatures hotter than most stars with a giant cometary tail. Read More

Astronomers from Vanderbilt, Lehigh and Ohio State universities have discovered a “puffy planet" with the density of Styrofoam that is an excellent test-bed for probing exoplanets for signs of life. Read More

A scientific team led by University of Louisville doctoral student Karen Collins has discovered a hot Saturn-like planet in another solar system 700 light years away. The discovery was made using inexpensive ground-based telescopes, including one specially designed to detect exoplanets and jointly operated by astronomers at Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University. Read More

The smallest exoplanets yet discovered orbit a dwarf star almost identical to Barnard’s star, one of the Sun’s nearest neighbors. The similarity helped the astronomers calculate the size of the distant planets. Read More