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Astronomers may have discovered an alien world where it rains iron, according to a newly published study. The massive exoplanet is exposed to thousands of times the radiation that the Earth receives from the Sun, rendering the surface hot enough to vap… Continue reading Scientists may have identified a world where it rains liquid iron
Astronomers have analyzed the atmosphere of a nearby exoplanet and found that there are plenty of scenarios where it could have liquid water – and by extension, possibly life – on its surface. This new study adds weight to the idea that habitable exopl… Continue reading Analysis of Super-Earth atmosphere reveals potentially-habitable world
Today, after 16 years of exemplary service, NASA will officially deactivate the Spitzer Space Telescope. Operating for over a decade beyond its designed service lifetime, the infrared observatory worked in tandem with the Hubble Space Telescope to reveal previously hidden details of known cosmic objects and helped expand our understanding …read more
Continue reading The Spitzer Space Telescope Ends its Incredible Journey
Join us on Wednesday, January 15 at noon Pacific for the Habitable Exoplanets Hack Chat with Alberto Caballero!
Many of the major scientific achievements of the last 100 years or so have boiled down to problems of picking out a signal from the noise. Think about analyzing the human genome, …read more
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has provided new insights into a rocky exoplanet that may be very similar to the planet Mercury or Earth’s Moon. Orbiting an M-type dwarf star 48.6 light years from Earth in the constellation of Indus, LHS 3844b is 1.3 times the mass of our planet, probably airless, and covered with lava plains resembling the lunar maria.
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Continue Reading NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope sheds light on Moon-like exoplanet
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Continue reading NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope sheds light on Moon-like exoplanet
Earth is – for now – the only place in the universe that we know hosts life, so it makes sense that astronomers focus the search for alien life on worlds that are the most like our own. But just how common are Earth-like planets orbiting at c… Continue reading Virtual universes study suggests habitable Earth-like exoplanets are more common than we thought
Scientists at Cornell University say that life-bearing exoplanets may be detectable by their soft glow. Based on laboratory studies, the team led by Jack O’Malley-James at Cornell’s Carl Sagan Institute believes that a mechanism that protects… Continue reading Life on exoplanets may give off a fluorescent glow
In about five billion years’ time, the Sun will grow into a red giant, probably swallowing the Earth and putting an end to any and all life that’s still kicking then. As this material is shed off, the Sun itself will become a small, dim, whit… Continue reading Astronomers hope to search for radio waves broadcast from dead planets orbiting dead stars
It’s almost a certainty that we’re not alone in the universe, but so far direct evidence has eluded us. While we have some idea about what kinds of signs to look for on other planets, many of these can also be created under natural processes…. Continue reading New NASA mission launch aims to reduce false-positives in search for life
Between exoplanets with ruby clouds and those that are actually just giant diamonds, science fiction has barely prepared us for just how weird alien worlds could be. Now, thanks to new Hubble observations we have another contender in WASP-121b, a planet that’s so intensely hot it’s vaporizing heavy metals and venting them into space. As if that wasn’t enough, the poor planet is also being stretched into an egg shape thanks to the strong gravity of its host star.
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Continue Reading Hubble reveals egg-shaped exoplanet so hot it’s venting vaporized iron into space
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Continue reading Hubble reveals egg-shaped exoplanet so hot it's venting vaporized iron into space