New research indicates that life might be able to survive on some of the odder exoplanets discovered so far - from scorching hot worlds with molten surfaces to freezing balls of ice.
Two teams of astronomers using NASA's Kepler space telescope have discovered 41 new transiting planets in 20 star systems. They up the total number by more than 50 percent, to 116 planets in 67 systems.
Astrophysicists at the University of Warwick have identified four white dwarfs surrounded by dust from shattered planetary bodies which once bore striking similarities to the composition of the Earth.
Astronomers using the HARPS planet hunter have discovered more than 50 new exoplanets, including 16 super-Earths, one of which orbits at the edge of the habitable zone of its star.
What do more than a thousand planet candidates and their suns look like? Jason Rowe, of NASA's Kepler science team has produced an image that shows each of the 1,235 potential planets so far discovered transiting its star.
NASA believes it's discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanets - and five of them are in the 'Goldilocks zone' where conditions are considered favorable for life.
Astronomers have discovered a planetary system containing at least five and possibly seven planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180. It makes the system the most similar to our own yet discovered.
NASA's Kepler Mission has identified more than 750 possible extrasolar planets after monitoring more than 156,000 stars. But it's keeping the best data back.
