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Latest news and comment

This illustration depicts the Sun-like star TOI-791 and two giant planets

Discovery of planets lighter than candy floss

An international collaboration led by the University of Oxford has discovered two of the lowest-density giant planets ever detected: rare 'super-puff' planets with densities lower than candy floss.
25 June 2026
ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal

Strange winds reveal strongest hints yet of magnetic activity in exoplanets

Physicists at the University of Oxford have contributed to a new study which has found the strongest evidence yet that some planets outside our Solar System may be magnetic.
2 June 2026
An artist’s impression of L 98-59 d

Scientists reveal a new class of molten planet

A study led by the University of Oxford has identified a new type of planet beyond our Solar System – one that stores large amounts of sulphur deep within a permanent ocean of magma.
16 March 2026
Professor Suzanne Aigrain

Professor Aigrain awarded RAS lectureship

Professor Suzanne Aigrain has been awarded the George Darwin Lectureship by the Royal Astronomical Society.
9 January 2026
Professor Patrick Irwin

Professor Irwin recognised by EGU

Professor Patrick Irwin has been awarded the David Bates Medal by the European Geosciences Union for 2026.
25 November 2025
A new study has constrained the Enceladus’ global conductive heat flow by studying its seasonal temperature variations at its north pole (yellow).

Saturn’s icy moon may host a stable ocean fit for life

New findings from NASA’s Cassini mission show that Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons and a top contender for extra-terrestrial life, is losing heat from both poles – indicating that it has the long-term stability required for life to develop.
10 November 2025
A family picture of the Oxford Space Instrumentation laboratory’s thermal imagers.

Oxford instrument lined up for ESA Mars mission

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced its preliminary selection of payloads for its future Mars exploration mission and the results include an Oxford Physics-led instrument named BEBOP.
9 October 2025
Dr Sophia Vaughan

Dr Vaughan awarded RAS thesis prize

Dr Sophia Vaughan has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's Michael Penston Thesis Prize following her DPhil at the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics.
3 July 2025
Duncan Lyster

Meet...Duncan Lyster

We work among extraordinary people doing extraordinary things; get to know some of them by reading these quick-fire interviews.
4 March 2025
The image shows the new planet, HD 20794 d, and its elliptical orbit around a sun-like star around 20 light years away

Researchers confirm existence of exoplanet in ‘habitable zone’

An international team has confirmed the discovery of a super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of a nearby Sun-like star. The planet was originally detected two years ago by Oxford University scientist Dr Michael Cretignier.
28 January 2025
Image of Saturn and Jupiter

Citizen science reveals insight into Jupiter

Citizen science reveals that Jupiter’s colourful clouds are not made of ammonia ice
6 January 2025
Professor Ray Pierrehumbert

Professor Pierrehumbert awarded Cassini Medal

Professor Raymond Pierrehumbert has been awarded the European Geosciences Union Jean Dominique Cassini Medal, the EGU’s highest award for recognition of achievement in the planetary sciences.
21 November 2024
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