Habitability
Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of a White Dwarf
Most stars will end their lives as white dwarfs. White dwarfs are the remnant cores of once-luminous stars like our…
We Might Know Why Mars Lost its Magnetic Field
Mars is a parched planet ruled by global dust storms. It's also a frigid world, where night-time winter temperatures fall…
An Exoplanet Found Protected by a Magnetosphere
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has spotted the magnetosphere of an exoplanet for the first…
Eggshell Planets Have a Thin Brittle Crust and No Mountains or Tectonics
Planets without plate tectonics are unlikely to be habitable. But currently, we've never seen the surface of an exoplanet to…
Rocky Planets Might Need to be the Right age to Support Life
In a new study, a team of Earth scientists shows how scientists could look for signs of a carbon-silicate cycle…
Rogue Planets Could be Habitable
The search for potentially habitable planets is focused on exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars—for good reason. The only planet we know…
Galactic Panspermia. How far Could Life Spread Naturally in a Galaxy Like the Milky Way?
Can life spread throughout a galaxy like the Milky Way without technological intervention? That question is largely unanswered. A new…
The Elements for Life Depend on Both how and Where a Planet Forms
A new study by a team from Rice University has shown that where a planet forms in its star system…
How Would Rain be Different on an Alien World?
A new study takes a look at possible rainfall patterns on exoplanets, which could help narrow the search for extraterrestrial…
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…