Topic: W.M. Keck Observatory

Newfound alien planet 'best candidate to support liquid water'

A planet recently discovered orbiting a nearby star is located in the star's 'habitable zone,' meaning that it could support life as we know it.  

Mysterious invisible galaxy may be composed of dark matter

Though telescopes can't spot the dwarf galaxy, scientists detected its presence through the tiny distortions its gravity causes to light that passes it by.

Dwarf galaxies: breakthrough in bid to find 'fossils' of early universe

A team of astronomers reports that it has detected the most distant dwarf galaxy yet discovered orbiting an enormous elliptical galaxy some 10 billion light-years away.

Extrasolar planet: 18 new huge alien planets discovered

Extrasolar planet discoveries have boosted by 50 percent the number of known planets orbiting massive stars. Extrasolar planets are those outside of our solar system.

Kepler-10b: NASA discovers smallest planet outside our solar system

The planet Kepler-10b, spotted by NASA's planet-hunting space telescope, is just 1.4 times larger than Earth.

Universe might hold three times more stars than previously thought

A new study suggests that a specific kind of galaxy might hold 10 times more red dwarf stars than estimated. That would triple projections for the number of stars in the observable universe, with implications for explanations of how stars and galaxies form and evolve.

Gliese 581g: 'Goldilocks' planet might not exist after all

Gliese 581g, a newly discovered, first-of-its-kind planet thought to exist in its star's habitable zone, might just be 'noise,' astronomers say.

New telescopes could revolutionize astronomy, but at what price?

The case for adding new ground-based telescopes is compelling, astronomy experts say. But they cost $700 million to $1 billion apiece just to build.

Comet Lulin arrives tonight - break out your telescopes

Look for comet Lulin -- it won't be back for a million years

The pros are turning major amounts of telescope glass on comet Lulin; the rest of us can see it through binoculars