Our universe just got a lot weirder. From planets with rings larger than the Sun to alien worlds where it rains molten iron or glows magenta, NASA’s latest exoplanet discoveries are challenging ...

Astronomers have finally peered past the clouds on the exoplanet GJ 1214b, a mini-Neptune planet around a star about 40 light-years away. Mini-Neptunes, like a shrunken down version of the ...

Astronomers have finally peered past the clouds on the exoplanet GJ 1214b, a mini-Neptune planet around a star about 40 light-years away. Mini-Neptunes, like a shrunken down version of the ...

On GJ 1214b, this huge temperature swing indicates that the planet's atmosphere can't be just light hydrogen molecules; instead, there has to be something else like water or methane.

Dr Michael Roman made the observations about the atmospheric conditions on the planet GJ 1214b.

The planet is known as Gliese 1214b or just GJ 1214b for short. It orbits a star called Gliese 1214, about 48 light-years from Earth.

While studying GJ 1214b, researchers tracked the planet through nearly its entire orbit over the course of about 40 hours, according to NASA. The planet's year takes only 1.6 Earth days.

It looks like GJ 1214b might have an atmosphere that's made mostly out of water." That pushes this planet into "a category of its own in a way that was never certain before," says Kreidberg.

She says astronomers have zeroed in on GJ 1214b in particular because it's the single-most accessible planet like this to observe. It orbits a small yet bright star that's relatively nearby, just ...