Extrasolar Planets
Seeding the Milky Way with Life Using Genesis Missions
Claudius Gros, the founder of Project Genesis, makes the case that when it comes to extrasolar planets, the rules of…
Habitable Planets Around Red Dwarf Stars Might not get Enough Photons to Support Plant Life
A new study shows that planets orbiting red dwarf stars may not get enough radiation to support photosynthesis.
Astronomy Cast Ep. 512: Direct Imaging of Exoplanets
Finding planets is old news, we now know of thousands and thousands of the places. But the terrible irony is…
New SPECULOOS Telescope Sees First Light. Soon it’ll be Seeing Habitable Planets Around Ultra-Cool Stars
Our newest planet-hunting telescope is up and running at the ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile. SPECULOOS,…
Now that TESS is Operational, Astronomers Estimate it’ll Find 14,000 Planets. 10 Could Be Earthlike Worlds in a Sunlike Star’s Habitable Zone
How many exoplanets are there? Not that long ago, we didn't know if there were any. Then we detected a…
Astronomers Detect Water in the Atmosphere of a Planet 179 Light-Years Away
Gathering detailed information on exoplanets is extremely difficult. The light from their host star overwhelms the light from the exoplanet,…
We Could Build a Powerful Laser and Let Any Civilizations Within 20,000 Light-Years Know We’re Here. Although… Should We?
A powerful laser is just the thing to announce our presence as a technological species in this arm of the…
A Red Dwarf Blasts off a Superflare. Any Life on its Planets Would Have a Very Bad Day
Astronomers observed a red dwarf superflare much more powerful than anything our Sun can produce. Bad news for any habitable-zone…
Surprising Discovery. Four Giant Planets Found Around a Very Young Star
What exactly is a "normal" solar system? If we thought we had some idea in the past, we definitely don't…
First Exomoon Found! A Neptune-Sized Moon Orbiting a Jupiter-Sized Planet
A pair of astronomers combing through data from the Kepler spacecraft have discovered the first exomoon. The moon is in…