One million alien visitors from another star system could already be lurking in the solar system. We aren't talking about "little green men" here, however — more "little (and not so little) gray rocks ...

Within a few dozen light years of the Sun, the sky is crowded with stars that could, in principle, host living worlds. I want ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Lasers could be used to propel tiny spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri, scientists suggest. | ...

Interstellar asteroids visiting our solar system from parts unknown used to be the stuff of science fiction. But today, we know of at least two such bodies Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov respectively ...

Astronomers have found nearly 6,000 exoplanets orbiting other stars. But for every confirmed detection, there are countless mere hints, inconclusive observations that could just as well be blips of ...

Reaching Alpha Centauri within a single human lifetime has long sounded like science fiction, yet a new generation of nuclear ...

A giant planet may be orbiting the nearest Sun-like star to Earth, and the discovery is sparking excitement across the astronomy world. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have detected ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. This artist’s concept shows what the gas giant orbiting ...

The recent discovery of a potential gas giant circling the nearby star Alpha Centauri A has led to speculation that it may be orbited in turn by a habitable moon that could support life, just like in ...

The blockbuster film Avatar featured a planet imagined to be circling Alpha Centauri B, the star closest to our sun. Now astronomers have discovered there really might be a system of planets there.

In humanity's search for life outside our Solar System, one of the best places to look is Alpha Centauri, a system containing the three nearest stars beyond the Sun. A new study that has involved ...

These are exciting times for exoplanet research, moving from demography towards detailed characterization. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), successfully launched in December 2021, is projected ...