exoplanets
Scientists Identify Massive Ocean Worlds That May Host Alien Life
A new class of ‘Hycean’ planets may have just expanded the definition of habitability.
29 Habitable Alien Worlds Could Detect Life on Earth, Scientists Estimate
Scientists analyzed how many planets in other solar systems could detect Earth both 5,000 years into the past and 5,000 years into the future.
New Observations Just Drastically Changed What We Know About Venus
Scientists discovered tectonic motion on our sister planet in observations from a spacecraft that died there decades ago.
NASA Is Launching a $10 Billion 'Time Machine'
The James Webb Telescope will peer farther back into the universe's history than ever before and is the "ultimate time machine," scientists say.
Why This Astronomer Thinks We're on the Cusp of Finding Signs of Alien Life
Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell, talks exoplanets, telescopes, and first contact.
Scientists Just Found a New Way to Search for Habitable Exoplanets
Worlds orbiting small red dwarf stars might be less vulnerable to damaging space weather, which could boost the odds that they host life.
Scientists Have Identified 24 Possible 'Superhabitable' Planets
"We are so focused on finding a mirror image of Earth that we may overlook a planet that is even more well suited for life,” said the lead author of a new study.
NASA Needs Your Help Hunting Exoplanets in the Search for Alien Life
At a time when many people are stuck at home, Planet Patrol provides a “community pursuing the common goal of understanding the universe and our place in it,” according to the project leader.
A Weird Chemical on Venus Hints at Possible ‘Presence of Life,’ Study Says
The detection of phosphine is “not robust evidence for life” on Venus, scientists say, but a biological origin for the signature has not been ruled out yet.
This Is the First Image of Planets Orbiting a Sun-Like Star in Deep Space
An international team of astronomers snapped this photo of a young star and its two gigantic planets from a distance of 300 light years.
Scientists Prepare to Search for Aliens Orbiting Dead Stars
“The next intriguing question would be whether life survived the star’s death or started all over again—a second genesis.”
Scientists Thought They Discovered a New Planet, Then It Disappeared
What looked like a Jupiter-sized planet a decade ago was actually the fallout of a cataclysmic space crash.