Latest VB 10b Stories

Astronomers have discovered a distant "sun" residing in the constellation Aquila, in what they are calling the smallest known star to host a planet, BBC News reported.Scientists used astrometry "” a method based on measuring small changes in a star's position "” to discover the Jupiter-like exoplanet orbiting the star VB 10. Experts say that VB 10 is one-twelfth the mass of the Sun, yet the star is more massive than its planet and has about the same girth. The upcoming edition...

The existence of extrasolar planets has become common knowledge in the past decade. But in the mid-20th Century, the search for worlds orbiting other stars got off to a rocky start. Alan Boss, an astronomer with the Carnegie Institution of Washington, recounts the early days of extrasolar planet-hunting. Astrobiology Magazine -- These days, it is generally accepted within the scientific community that there are planets orbiting nearby stars. In the past decade, more than 130 such extrasolar...