In 2007, a Penn State astronomer led a team that discovered an extrasolar planet around a red giant star. The star is HD 17092, located 300 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Perseus. Earth & Sky interviewed this astronomer.

Queen's Brian May told Earth & Sky, "I think that rock stars could be accused of losing their sense of perspective quite often. And this keeps me with one foot in a different kind of world, where it's necessary to be very humble."

Rock star Brian May is the guitarist for Queen. He's also co-author of a book about the other kind of stars. It's called, "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe."

Is our universe shaped like a sphere, a saddle, or flat? It depends on how you look at it. That will tell us if the universe is open or closed. Read more here.

Do organics fall from space onto planets? In 2007, astronomers discovered what they claim is the largest negatively charged molecule yet found in space.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - the giant outer worlds in our sun's family - all have many moons. Since the late 1990s, astronomers have found that most moons of these outer planets are 'irregular moons,' probably captured from heliocentric orbits. In many cases, the moons orbits are so tilted that they go around their planets backwards.

In 2007, when astronomers measured the mass of the dwarf planet Eris, they found that it's 27% more massive than Pluto. Astronomer Mike Brown, who discovered Eris, said, "We got lucky in that Eris has a moon going around it. And by tracking the orbit of the moon around the dwarf planet, you actually get to weigh how much the dwarf planet weighs."

They call it 'Einstein's dream come true.' In 2004, astronomers reported the discovery of the first known double pulsar system. Both pulsars have masses greater than that of our sun, but are only 20 kilometers across. Their orbital separation is less than the sun's diameter, and they orbit each other in only 2.4 days. This pulsar pair provides confirmation for Einstein's theory of gravity.

Did Earthly life originate on Mars? Robert Hazen, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution, talked to Earth & Sky about where signs of life off Earth are most likely to be found.

Some astronomers believe that the first signs of life on alien worlds might come from the gentle breathing out of plants. Read more about alien plants here.