Alien life could face threats from passing stars and supernovae
Astronomers examined 84 of the closest known stars with potentially habitable exoplanets and found that 3 face possible extinction-level…
Category: Exoplanets
Easy to understand explanations of all the latest research on planets outside of our solar system.
Astronomers simulate hidden minor planets across the Galaxy
Researchers modeled how planets smaller than Earth formed and changed over the first billion years of their existence. They found these…
Exoplanets with weird orbits might be more habitable
Astronomers modeled the ideal climatic and atmospheric conditions for exoplanets and found that planets with non-circular orbits had more…
Could life survive in the plumes of Enceladus?
Researchers showed that simple microorganisms could survive rapid boiling in conditions mimicking the geysers of water shooting out of…
Astronomers discover new rare hot Neptunes
Scientists discovered 2 new examples of medium-sized, closely-orbiting exoplanets whose characteristics shed light on how planetary systems…
How did Saturn’s moon Titan get its haze?
Researchers found that meteoroids ejected from Enceladus could impact Titan’s atmosphere to form its iconic organic haze.
Could planets orbiting dwarf stars have liquid water?
A team of planetary scientists in Japan found Earth-like planets orbiting dwarf stars could still harbor liquid water if they started out…
How to spot colorful life on icy exoplanets
In recent decades, astronomers have discovered more than 5000 planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system, with nearly 9000 more…