Habitability

The LIFE Telescope Passed its First Test: It Detected Biosignatures on Earth.

We know that there are thousands of exoplanets out there, with many millions more waiting to be discovered. But the…

2 weeks ago

Dying Stars Could Have Completely New Habitable Zones

Aging stars that become red giants increase their luminosity and can wreak havoc on planets that were once in the…

1 month ago

Is the Habitable Zone Really Habitable?

The water that life knows and needs, the water that makes a world habitable, the water that acts as the…

2 months ago

The Galactic Habitable Zone

Our planet sits in the Habitable Zone of our Sun, the special place where water can be liquid on the…

2 months ago

Astronomers Test an Exoplanet Instrument on Jupiter

The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has a high-resolution spectrograph called  ESPRESSO, designed specifically to detecting and characterize…

2 months ago

17 Known Exoplanets Could Have Oceans of Liquid Water

The search for life is tied to the search for liquid water. That's why astronomers are so keen on detecting…

3 months ago

Earth’s Past and Future Habitability Depends on Our Protection from Space Weather

A bewildering number of factors and variables led up to the planet we occupy today, where life finds a way…

4 months ago

Enceladus has All the Raw Materials for Life

Saturn's ocean moon, Enceladus, is attracting increasing attention in the search for life in our Solar System. Most of what…

4 months ago

White Dwarfs Could Support Life. So Where are All Their Planets?

Astronomers have found plenty of white dwarf stars surrounded by debris disks. Those disks are the remains of planets destroyed…

5 months ago

What’s the Best Way to Find Planets in the Habitable Zone?

Despite the fact that we've discovered thousands of them, exoplanets are hard to find. And some types are harder to…

5 months ago