Exoplanets
Research Work Begins on the Habitable Worlds Observatory
NASA are planning on building a telescope to hunt for habitable worlds. The imaginatively named ‘Habitable Worlds Observatory’ is at…
Suppressing Starlight: How to Find Other Earths
One underappreciated aspect of the current flood of exoplanet discoveries is the technical marvels that enable it. Scientists and engineers…
What Impact Does Ozone Have on an Exoplanet?
As we discover more and more exoplanets - and the current total is in excess of 5,200 - we continue…
A New Deep Learning Algorithm Can Find Earth 2.0
How can machine learning help astronomers find Earth-like exoplanets? This is what a recently accepted study to Astronomy & Astrophysics…
Sorry Spock, But “Vulcan” Isn’t a Planet After All
In 2018, astronomers detected an exoplanet around the star 40 Eridani. It's about 16 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.…
A Mini-Neptune in the Habitable Zone in a Binary Star System
Sometimes, it seems like habitable worlds can pop up almost anywhere in the universe. A recent paper from a team…
A New Venus-Sized World Found in the Habitable Zone of its Star
The parade of interesting new exoplanets continues. Today, NASA issued a press release announcing the discovery of a new exoplanet…
Webb Explains a Puffy Planet
I love the concept of a ‘puffy’ planet! The exoplanets discovered that fall into this category are typically the same…
Maybe Ultra-Hot Jupiters Aren’t So Doomed After All
Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) are some of the most fascinating astronomical objects in the cosmos, classified as having orbital periods of…
Could Alien Solar Panels Be Technosignatures?
If alien technological civilizations exist, they almost certainly use solar energy. Along with wind, it's the cleanest, most accessible form…