biosignatures

Webb Can Detect Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs, And Maybe Even See Signs of Life

In a recent study accepted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, an international team of researchers led…

2 years ago

If Earth Were an Exoplanet, it Would Still be Tricky to Figure Out if There’s Life Here

How would Earth appear to alien astronomers? What would their observations tell them about Earth if they searched the heavens…

2 years ago

NASA has Built a Collection of Instruments That Will Search for Life Inside Europa and Enceladus

Scientists at NASA JPL and Colorado University have created a new instrument for finding signs of life, called the Ocean…

2 years ago

It’s Not Conclusive, But Methane is Probably the Best Sign of Life on Exoplanets

When the James Webb Space Telescope aims at exoplanet atmospheres, it'll use spectroscopy to identify chemical elements. One of the…

3 years ago

Next Generation Telescopes Could Search for Intelligent Civilizations Directly

We're still in the early days of searching for life elsewhere. The Perseverance rover is on its way to a…

3 years ago

Machine Learning Will be one of the Best Ways to Identify Habitable Exoplanets

A new study has shown how machine learning will aid next-generation telescopes in the search for water on exoplanets.

3 years ago

NASA and HeroX are Crowdsourcing the Search for Life on Mars

NASA and HeroX have launched the Mars Spectrometry Challenge, which will reward a total of $30,000 for new ideas on…

3 years ago

Is That a Fossil on Mars? Non-Biological Deposits can Mimic Organic Structures

There's nothing easy about searching for evidence of life on Mars. Not only do we somehow have to land a…

3 years ago

The Best Evidence for Life on Mars Might be Found on its Moons

The search for Martian life has been ongoing for decades.  Various landers and rovers have searched for biosignatures or other…

3 years ago

Micrometeorites Churn up the Surface of Europa. If you Want to Find Life, You’ll Need to dig Down a Meter or So

According to new research, impact craters caused by micrometeorites are the best place to look for evidence that life exists…

3 years ago