Extrasolar Planets
Establishing a New Habitability Metric for Future Astrobiology Surveys
The search for exoplanets has grown immensely in recent decades thanks to next-generation observatories and instruments. The current census is…
A Possible Exomoon Could be Volcanic, like Jupiter’s Moon Io
In 2012, astronomers detected a gas giant transiting in front of WASP-49A, a G-type star located about 635 light-years from…
Exoplanet Discovered in a Binary System Could Explain Why Red Dwarfs Form Massive Planets
In recent years, the number of known extrasolar planets (aka. exoplanets) has grown exponentially. To date, 5,799 exoplanets have been…
An Earth-like Planet Around a Dead Sun Provides Some Reassurance About the Future of Earth
In about five billion years, our Sun will exit its main sequence phase and transition to its red giant phase.…
Astronomers Have Found a Star with a Hot Jupiter and a Cold Super Jupiter in Orbit
Located in the constellation Ursa Major, roughly 300 light-years from Earth, is the Sun-like star HD 118203 (Liesma). In 2006,…
Elliptical Orbits Could be Essential to the Habitability of Rocky Planets
A seismic shift occurred in astronomy during the Scientific Revolution, beginning with 16th-century polymath Copernicus and his proposal that the…
Habitable Planet’s Orbiting Red Dwarf Suns Could at Risk from Far-Ultraviolet Radiation
The question of whether or not red dwarf stars can support habitable planets has been subject to debate for decades.…
Planetary Habitability Depends on its Star’s Magnetic Field
The extrasolar planet census recently passed a major milestone, with 5500 confirmed candidates in 4,243 solar systems. With so many…
The Ultraviolet Habitable Zone Sets a Time Limit on the Formation of Life
The field of extrasolar planet studies has grown exponentially in the past twenty years. Thanks to missions like Kepler, the…
Do Planets Have the Raw Ingredients for Life? The Answer is in their Stars
Finding planets that already have, or have the ingredients for intelligent life is a real challenge. It is exciting that…