Abiotic chemistry in Earth’s atmosphere could have generated biologically important organosulfur molecules as life was ...

Of the seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, one planet in particular has attracted the attention ...

According to a new study, Earth’s atmosphere might have been more important for the origin of life story than we gave it ...

Using the Webb telescope’s powerful Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument, the team detected a ...

What can star variability—changes in a star's brightness over time—teach astronomers about exoplanet habitability? This is ...

Still, science being science, we needed proof—and we got it in 1992, when two astronomers found two planets orbiting a pulsar ...

For decades, the search for alien life has revolved around a narrow ring around stars where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. That “habitable zone” remains important, but astronomers are ...

When astronomers search for planets that could host liquid water on their surface, they start by looking at a star's habitable zone. Water is a key ingredient for life, and on a planet too close to ...

See imaginative exoplanet worlds by St. Ann’s fifth graders at Blakemore Planetarium, Museum of the Southwest, on view ...

What happens when a planet contains immense quantities of water but is far too hot for that water to remain liquid?

A nearby binary star system is bereft of giant planets, but scientists think it may still be a decent place to look for life.