atmospheric chemistry
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…
Another Hycean Planet Found? TOI-270 d
Hycean planets may be able to host life even though they're outside what scientists consider the regular habitable zone. Their…
If Exoplanets Have Lightning, it’ll Complicate the Search for Life
Discovering exoplanets is almost routine now. We've found over 5,500 exoplanets, and the next step is to study their atmospheres…
Is K2-18b Covered in Oceans of Water or Oceans of Lava?
In the search for potentially life-supporting exoplanets, liquid water is the key indicator. Life on Earth requires liquid water, and…
Wow. JWST Just Found Methane in an Exoplanet Atmosphere
If there's one chemical that causes excitement in the search for biosignatures on other worlds, it's methane. It's not a…
We Could Find Extraterrestrial Civilizations by Their Air Pollution
Upcoming telescopes will give us more power to search for biosignatures on all the exoplanets we've found. Much of the…
Stellar Flares May Not Condemn a Planet’s Habitability
Red dwarf stars are the most common kind of star in our neighbourhood, and probably in the Milky Way. Because…