Exoplanets
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…
Saturn-Sized Exoplanet Isn’t Losing Mass Quickly Enough
We have discovered over 5,000 planets around other star systems. Amongst the veritable cosmic menagerie of exoplanets, it seems there…
TRAPPIST-1 Outer Planets Likely Have Water
The TRAPPIST-1 solar system generated a swell of interest when it was observed several years ago. In 2016, astronomers using the Transiting…
Astronomers Try to Directly Observe Epsilon Eridani b. No Luck. Maybe Webb Can Find it?
Back in the year 2000, Epsilon Eridani b was discovered. It is a Jupiter-like exoplanet 10.5 light years away but…
What Deadly Venus Can Tell Us About Life on Other Worlds
Even though Venus and Earth are so-called sister planets, they're as different as heaven and hell. Earth is a natural…
What Can Early Earth Teach Us About the Search for Life?
Earth is the only life-supporting planet we know of, so it's tempting to use it as a standard in the…
Did You Hear Webb Found Life on an Exoplanet? Not so Fast…
The JWST is astronomers' best tool for probing exoplanet atmospheres. Its capable instruments can dissect the light passing through a…
Is the JWST Now an Interplanetary Meteorologist?
The JWST keeps one-upping itself. In the telescope's latest act of outdoing itself, it examined a distant exoplanet to map…
JWST Uses “Interferometry Mode” to Reveal Two Protoplanets Around a Young Star
The JWST is flexing its muscles with its interferometry mode. Researchers used it to study a well-known extrasolar system called…
Measuring Exoplanetary Magnetospheres with the Square Kilometer Array
Life on Earth would not be possible without food, water, light, a breathable atmosphere and surprisingly, a magnetic field. Without…