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Habitable Planets
One big goal of science is to find an inhabited, Earth-like planet. But if we find an Earth-like world, will we even recognize it?
Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger spoke with Big Think about how "the colors of life" could leave detectable traces on distant planets.
Finding alien Earths requires seeing Earth-sized planets at Earth-like distances from Sun-like stars. A new discovery completes the roadmap.
In the search for life in the Universe, the ultimate goal is to find an inhabited planet beyond Earth. How will we know when we've made it?
At the end of July, hundreds of scientists convened to plan NASA's upcoming astrophysics flagship mission. Will the US allow it to happen?
Even from a single pixel, multiwavelength data taken over time can reveal clouds, icecaps, oceans, continents, and even signs of life.
Life may have arisen far earlier — and more rapidly — than previously thought.
Could life be widespread throughout the cosmos, in the subsurface oceans of ice-covered worlds? NASA's Europa Clipper mission investigates.
Newborn stars are surrounded only by a featureless disk. Debris disks persist for hundreds of millions of years. So when do planets form?
There are plenty of life-friendly stellar systems in the Universe today. But at some point in the far future, life's final extinction will occur.
Life became a possibility in the Universe as soon as the raw ingredients were present. But living, inhabited worlds required a bit more.
Fire was crucial to the evolution of human technology. That's why alien species stuck in the "oxygen bottleneck" may be forever primitive.
Astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets — very few of which resemble Earth.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is a treasure trove of possibilities and questions. Observations by JWST have just begun.
Within the next few decades, we may well have hard evidence for the existence of alien life on worlds light-years distant from Earth.
Scientists may have detected the somewhat smelly chemical dimethyl sulfide on a planet 120 light-years from Earth.
Each of our three nearest stars might have an Earth-like planet in orbit around it. Here's what we'll learn when we finally observe it.
The space telescope's findings challenge the notion of a galaxy brimming with life.
Exoplanet LP 791-18d is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.
Back in 1990, we hadn't discovered a single planet outside of our Solar System. Here are 10 facts that would've surprised every astronomer.
They're the most common type of exoplanet known today, and many astronomers have called them "super-habitable." None of that is true.
This oddball system of three stars might be our best chance at finding nearby life in the Universe.
Eternal twilight.
Red dwarf stars were supposed to be inhospitable. But TOI-700, now with at least two potentially habitable worlds, is quite the exception.
Most exoplanets have been found around single stars via the transit method. But binary star systems might contain even more of them.
NASA is creating a planet habitability index, and Earth may not be at the top. With our current data, ranking habitability is guesswork.
Unless you have a critical mass of heavy elements when your star first forms, planets, including rocky ones, are practically impossible.
A new study of Martian dust gives insights into the ancient Martian climate. The findings hint at a wetter world.
Some astrobiologists believe life is rare, while others believe it is common in the Universe. How can we find out which view is correct?