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Summary List Placement Jupiter and Saturn are about to line up perfectly in the night sky — the two planets will get so close on December 21 that they seem to touch.  The last time they looked this close from Earth's vantage point was nearly 800 years ago, on March 4, 1226. An astronomical event in which celestial bodies align is called a conjunction....

Astronomers photographed two planets orbiting a sun-like star for the first time ever. Because the planets are so far from their star — much further than any planet in our solar system — they come through clearly in the image. Future telescopes could study this young star and its planets in more detail to learn about how systems like ours form. Visit Business Insider's...

A new space telescope launched into Earth orbit Wednesday morning. The CHaracterizing ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) was originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday, but the launch sequence was interrupted just 1 hour and 25 minutes before liftoff. The telescope is expected to take an unprecedented look at planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. CHEOPS will try to determine whether exoplanets are made of...