Garik Israelian is a spectroscopist, studying the spectrum emitted by a star to figure out what it's made of and how it might behave. It's a rare and accessible look at this discipline, which may be coming close to finding a planet...

This video explores the similarities between Saturn and newly forming star systems, highlighting the relevance of studying Saturn's rings and its moon Titan for understanding planetary formation. It also discusses the detection of over...

Scheduled to launch in the mid-2020s, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will function as Hubble’s wide-eyed cousin. While just as sensitive as Hubble's cameras, WFIRST's 300-megapixel Wide Field...

Citizen scientists using the NASA-sponsored website DiskDetective.org have logged 1 million classifications of potential debris disks and disks surrounding young stellar objects (YSO). This data will help provide a crucial set...

A new NASA-sponsored website, DiskDetective.org, lets the public discover embryonic planetary systems hidden among data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.

The site is led and funded by NASA and...

LEADIN:

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is set to take off from Cape Canaveral next week (April 16 2018 ) in search of new worlds that aren't in our solar sys
tem.
...

LEADIN:

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is set to take off from Cape Canaveral next week (April 16 2018 ) in search of new worlds that aren't in our solar sys
tem.
...

1. Animation showing planet Fomalhaut b orbiting star Fomalhaut and dust belt

2. Graphic showing planet Fomalha
ut b
3. Wide of podium at news
conference
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ed...

English/Nat

A new grouping of planets, perhaps like the solar system may be forming around a distant
star.
At a news conference by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration...

1. Mute animation of the star 55-Cancri, showing close in planets in orbit and the Jupiter-like planet orbiting further out

2. Mid shot of NASA bri
efing
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Paul Butler, Astronomer,...

LEADIN:

Mercury has begun a relatively rare move across the sun.The solar-planetary ballet got underway just after 7 a.m. on the east coast with the smallest planet appearing as a tiny black dot on the face of the sun. The transit will last for...

1. Wide view of Kepler panellists

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jack Lissauer, Planetary Scientist, Kepler Sci
ence:
"Not only is Kepler-11 telling us about planetary systems of a type...

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus055098Mercury has begun a relatively rare move across the sun.The solar-planetary ballet got underway just after 7 a.m. on the east coast with the smallest planet appearing as a tiny black dot on...

Natural Sound

For the first time, an astronomer has sighted and photographed what may be a planet outside our solar sy
stem.
The object, named TMR-1C, was found within a star-forming region in the...

RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP Clients Only

LEADIN:

HEADLINE: First photos of distant planets unveiled

CAPTION: Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of four alien planets outside our solar system. Three of them orbit the same distant star, Fomalhaut. The fourth circles a...

A Canadian-American cosmologist and two Swiss scientists won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their work in understanding how the universe has evolved from the Big Bang and the blockbuster discovery of the first known...

LEADIN:

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is set to take off from Cape Canaveral next week (April 16 2018) in search of new worlds that aren't in our solar sys
tem.
...

Mercury has begun a relatively rare move across the sun.The solar-planetary ballet got underway just after 7am on the east coast (1100GMT) with the smallest planet appearing as a tiny black dot on the face of the sun. The transit will...

LEAD IN:

The Nobel Prize for Physics was Tuesday awarded to three scientists for their contribution to understanding of the evolution of the universe.

NASA - Washington, DC August 31, 2004

1. Animation showing a four newly discovered planets circling the nearby star 55 C
ancri
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Geoffrey Marcy, University of California-Berkeley...