Which Planets Are the Most Like Earth?

June 8, 2026

Scientists score how Earth-like a planet is — but the highest scorers might still be furnaces. Here's what 'most Earth-like' really means.

June 8, 2026

How Do We Find Planets We Can’t Even See?

We almost never see exoplanets directly. Here are the two clever tricks scientists use to find hidden planets — the tiny dip and the wobble.

GJ 1061 b: A World 12 Light-Years From Earth
GJ 1061 b is a rocky world almost exactly Earth's size, circling a cool red star just 12 light-years away. Scientists found it by watching the star wobble — and what they learned is pretty amazing.
What Is TOI-5788 b? A Super-Earth
TOI-5788 b is a super-Earth more than three times heavier than our planet, orbiting so close to its star that its surface reaches scorching temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Scientists discovered it in 2026, and it's already raising big questions about what rocky worlds can look like.
Inside L 98-59: A Family of 5 Planets
About 35 light-years away, a small cool star called L 98-59 has five planets packed tightly around it. One of them, L 98-59 d, is giving scientists real clues about what it might be made of — and there is still so much more to discover.
TOI-697 b: A Planet We Cannot See Directly
TOI-697 b is a planet so far away that no telescope can photograph it — yet scientists still figured out its size, mass, and temperature just by watching starlight. Find out how two clever tricks turn tiny signals into big discoveries!
Is Kepler-1636 b in the Goldilocks Zone?
Kepler-1636 b is a faraway planet sitting in the Goldilocks Zone — the region around a star where liquid water might exist. Scientists think it could be a mysterious world bigger than Earth, but there's still so much we don't know about it.