Atmosphere
Is K2-18b Covered in Oceans of Water or Oceans of Lava?
In the search for potentially life-supporting exoplanets, liquid water is the key indicator. Life on Earth requires liquid water, and…
A Hot Jupiter With a Comet-Like Tail
About 164 light-years away, a Hot Jupiter orbits its star so closely that it takes fewer than four days to…
Half of this Exoplanet is Covered in Lava
Astronomers working with TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) have discovered a planet that's been left out in the Sun too…
GJ 367b is Another Dead World Orbiting a Red Dwarf
Red dwarf exoplanet habitability is a hot topic in space science. These small dim stars host lots of exoplanets, including…
Millions of Satellites Could Have a Profound Effect on the Earth’s Ionosphere
Hardly a day goes by where a story hits the headlines about our abuse of the Earth’s precious environment be…
ESA’s Ariel Mission is Approved to Begin Construction
We're about to learn a lot more about exoplanets. The ESA has just approved the construction of its Ariel mission,…
Wow. JWST Just Found Methane in an Exoplanet Atmosphere
If there's one chemical that causes excitement in the search for biosignatures on other worlds, it's methane. It's not a…
Take a Plunge Into the Ice Giants
Our Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, have been largely left out of the planetary probe game. While all…
Life Might Be Easiest to Find on Planets that Match an Earlier Earth
We're inching closer and closer to reliably detecting biosignatures on distant planets. Much of the focus is on determining which…
Spaceflight is Polluting the Atmosphere with Metal
Humans can't seem to interact with the environment at all without fouling it in some way. From plastic bags in…