Exoplanet atmospheres
Astronomers Have Found the Perfect Exoplanet to Study Another World’s Atmosphere
TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has found a new planet, and the discovery of this sub-Neptune exoplanet has scientists excited…
How To Search the Chemical Makeup of Exoplanet Atmospheres for Hints at Their History
Author’s note – this article was written with Dr. Vincent Kofman, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), working in…
Meteorites Hold Early Atmospheres From Across the Solar System
Since they were formed in the early solar system, many meteorites offer an unadulterated view into what that solar system…
If Astronomers see Isoprene in the Atmosphere of an Alien World, There’s a Good Chance There’s Life There
According to new research from MIT, isoprene is another biosignature we should be on the lookout for on exoplanets!
Astronomers Find a Planet Like Jupiter, but It Doesn’t Have any Clouds
Can you picture Jupiter without any observable clouds or haze? It isn't easy since Jupiter's latitudinal cloud bands and its…
Astronomers Capture a Direct Image of a Brown Dwarf
The field of exoplanet photography is just getting underway, with astronomers around the world striving to capture clear images of…
If a Planet Has a Lot of Methane in its Atmosphere, Life is the Most Likely Cause
The ultra-powerful James Webb Space Telescope will launch soon. Once it's deployed, and in position at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point…
James Webb Will Look for Signs of Life on Planets Orbiting Dead Stars
Can the galaxy's dead stars help us in our search for life? A group of researchers from Cornell University thinks…
A Strange Planet has been Found that’s Smaller than Neptune But 50% More Massive
Astronomers have found another strange exoplanet in a distant solar system. This one's an oddball because its size is intermediate…
Do the TRAPPIST-1 Planets Have Atmospheres?
A new study takes a hard look at the TRAPPIST-1 system to determine if its seven exoplanets could have viable…