Habitability
What Would Happen to Earth if a Rogue Star Came Too Close?
Stars are gravitationally fastened to their galaxies and move in concert with their surroundings. But sometimes, something breaks the bond.…
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…
Do Red Dwarfs or Sunlike Stars Have More Earth-Sized Worlds?
Earth is our only example of a habitable planet, so it makes sense to search for Earth-size worlds when we're…
Venus has Clouds of Concentrated Sulfuric Acid, but Life Could Still Survive
A new study has found that some of the building blocks of organic molecules could survive in Venus clouds, suggesting…
Earth Might Have Formed in Just a Few Million Years
Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago. That simplistic statement is common, and it's a good starting point for understanding…
Did Life Need Plate Tectonics to Emerge?
It's widely accepted that Earth's plate tectonics are a key factor in life's emergence. Plate tectonics allows heat to move…
Is it Time for a New Definition of “Habitable?”
Things tend to move from the simple to the complex when you're trying to understand something new. This is the…
A New Place to Search for Habitable Planets: “The Soot Line.”
The habitable zone is the region around a star where planets can maintain liquid water on their surface. It's axiomatic…
Venus is Like an Exoplanet that’s Right Next Door
We're lucky to have a neighbour like Venus, even though it's totally inhospitable, wildly different from the other rocky planets,…
Binary Dwarf Stars Found Orbiting Each Other Every 20 Hours. They Were Once Almost Touching
A team of astrophysicists has discovered a binary pair of ultra-cool dwarfs so close together that they look like a…