Habitability
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…
Worlds Bustling With Plantlife Should Shine in a Detectable Wavelength of Infrared
Future historians might look back on this time and call it the 'exoplanet age.' We've found over 5,000 exoplanets, and…
How Life Reshapes the Habitable Zone
Astronomers are very interested in the Habitable Zone of distant stars, which is the orbital radius where liquid water, and…
TESS has Found A Second Earth-Sized World in This System. Exoplanet Science is Maturing
For planet-hunters, finding an Earth-sized exoplanet must be special. NASA estimates there are about 100 billion planets in the Milky…
Are Planets Tidally Locked to Red Dwarfs Habitable? It’s Complicated
Astronomers are keenly interested in red dwarfs and the planets that orbit them. Up to 85% of the stars in…
Could Life Survive on Frigid Exo-Earths? Maybe Under Ice Sheets
Our understanding of habitability relies entirely on the availability of liquid water. All life on Earth needs it, and there's…
Astronomers Have Found Two Temperate Super-Earths Orbiting a Nearby Red Dwarf
A team of astronomers has found two Super-Earths orbiting a red dwarf about 114 light-years away. The star, named LP…
What’s the Best Mix of Oceans to Land for a Habitable Planet?
Earth is about 29% land and 71% oceans. How significant is that mix for habitability? What does it tell us…
Curiosity Arrives in a Salty Region of Mars. Was it Left Over From a Dying Sea?
The Curiosity rover has now reached its primary target on Mount Sharp on Mars, the mountain in the middle of…
Water Worlds Could Have Plumes of Nutrients Carried up From Down Below
Earth's oceans are one huge, uniform electrolyte solution. They contain salt (sodium chloride) and other nutrients like magnesium, sulphate, and…