We know that there are thousands of exoplanets out there, with many millions more waiting to be discovered. But the vast majority of exoplanets are simply uninhabitable. For the few that may be habitable, we can only determine if they are by examining their atmospheres. LIFE, the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets, can help.
Continue reading “The LIFE Telescope Passed its First Test: It Detected Biosignatures on Earth.”Another Explanation for K2-18b? A Gas-Rich Mini-Neptune with No Habitable Surface
Exoplanet K2-18b is garnering a lot of attention. James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopy shows it has carbon and methane in its atmosphere. Those results, along with other observations, suggest the planet could be a long-hypothesized ‘Hycean World.’ But new research counters that.
Instead, the planet could be a gaseous mini-Neptune.
Continue reading “Another Explanation for K2-18b? A Gas-Rich Mini-Neptune with No Habitable Surface”JWST Takes a Detailed Look at Jupiter’s Moon Ganymede
Nature doesn’t conform to our ideas of neatly-contained categories. Many things in nature blur the lines we try to draw around them. That’s true of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System.
The JWST took a closer look at Ganymede, the moon that’s kind of like a planet, to understand its surface better.
Continue reading “JWST Takes a Detailed Look at Jupiter’s Moon Ganymede”The JWST Just Found Carbon on Europa, Boosting the Moon’s Potential Habitability
Most planets and moons in the Solar System are clearly dead and totally unsuitable for life. Earth is the only exception. But there are a few worlds where there are intriguing possibilities of life.
Chief among them is Jupiter’s moon Europa, and the JWST just discovered carbon there. That makes the moon and its subsurface ocean an even more desirable target in the search for life.
Continue reading “The JWST Just Found Carbon on Europa, Boosting the Moon’s Potential Habitability”Geoengineering is Shockingly Inexpensive
Despite decades of warnings and international climate agreements, global carbon emissions are still rising. Carbon emissions seem like an unstoppable juggernaut as energy-hungry humans keep breeding and pursuing more affluent lifestyles. Reducing emissions won’t be enough to confront the climate crisis; we need additional solutions.
Geoengineering, also called climate engineering, could be the solution we seek. But is it financially feasible?
Continue reading “Geoengineering is Shockingly Inexpensive”JWST Finds a Comet Still Holding Onto Water in the Main Asteroid Belt
Comets are instantly recognizable by their tails of gas and dust. Most comets originate in the far, frozen reaches of our Solar System, and only visit the inner Solar System occasionally. But some are in the Main Asteroid Belt, mixed in with the debris left over after the Solar System formed.
Astronomers just found water vapour coming from one of them.
Continue reading “JWST Finds a Comet Still Holding Onto Water in the Main Asteroid Belt”The IPCC Releases its 2022 Report on Climate Change, in Case you Needed Something Else to Worry About
Since 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed and tasked with advancing knowledge of humanity’s impact on the natural environment. Beginning in 1990, they have issued multiple reports on the natural, political, and economic impacts Climate Change will have, as well as possible options for mitigation and adaptation. On Feb. 27th, the IPCC released the second part of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) – “Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability” – and the outlook isn’t good!
Continue reading “The IPCC Releases its 2022 Report on Climate Change, in Case you Needed Something Else to Worry About”If a Planet Has a Lot of Methane in its Atmosphere, Life is the Most Likely Cause
The ultra-powerful James Webb Space Telescope will launch soon. Once it’s deployed, and in position at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2, it’ll begin work. One of its jobs is to examine the atmospheres of exoplanets and look for biosignatures. It should be simple, right? Just scan the atmosphere until you find oxygen, then close your laptop and head to the pub: Fanfare, confetti, Nobel prize.
Of course, Universe Today readers know it’s more complicated than that. Much more complicated.
In fact, the presence of oxygen is not necessarily reliable. It’s methane that can send a stronger signal indicating the presence of life.
Continue reading “If a Planet Has a Lot of Methane in its Atmosphere, Life is the Most Likely Cause”Scientists Think They Know What Caused the Deadliest Mass Extinction in the History of the Earth
Humanity can have a love/hate relationship with itself, but there’s no denying that we’re the pinnacle of evolution on Earth as things stand now. But it took an awfully long time for evolution to produce beings such as we. Several times, life had to drag itself back from near annihilation.
The largest extinction setback was the Permian-Triassic extinction, also called the “Great Dying,” some 252 million years ago. Up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species went extinct.
What happened?
Continue reading “Scientists Think They Know What Caused the Deadliest Mass Extinction in the History of the Earth”There Could Be Carbon-Rich Exoplanets Made Of Diamonds
Scientists are getting better at understanding exoplanets. We now know that they’re plentiful, and that they can even orbit dead white dwarf stars. Researchers are also getting better at understanding how they form, and what they’re made of.
A new study says that some carbon-rich exoplanets could be made of silica, and even diamonds, under the right circumstances.
Continue reading “There Could Be Carbon-Rich Exoplanets Made Of Diamonds”