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Exoplanet Research
As Uranus approaches its solstice, its polar caps, rings, and moons come into their best focus ever under JWST's watchful eye. See it now!
Astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets — very few of which resemble Earth.
Light can be turned into heat, which can then be turned into motion, and the effect of that motion can be turned into a big squeeze.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is a treasure trove of possibilities and questions. Observations by JWST have just begun.
"If we find just one other example of biology out there, then life is not an accident."
A true scientific view of if, where, and when extraterrestrial life exists is within our grasp thanks to biosignatures and technosignatures.
The Universe, although violent, is filled with creation events following destructive ones. 1850 light-years away, both types are unfolding.
Between the least massive star and most massive planet lies the mysterious brown dwarf: a class of objects that are neither star nor planet.
With such a vast Universe and raw ingredients that seem to be everywhere, could it really be possible that humanity is truly alone?
Within the next few decades, we may well have hard evidence for the existence of alien life on worlds light-years distant from Earth.
Some fascinating observations of K2-18b have come along with horrendous, speculative communications. There's no evidence for oceans or life.
Finding a tiny planet around bright stars dozens or hundreds of light-years from Earth is extremely difficult.
Scientists may have detected the somewhat smelly chemical dimethyl sulfide on a planet 120 light-years from Earth.
Each of our three nearest stars might have an Earth-like planet in orbit around it. Here's what we'll learn when we finally observe it.
Can two planets stably share the same orbit? Conventional wisdom says no, but a look at Saturn's moons might tell a different story.
We may be the last generation born not knowing if we are alone in the Universe.
The giant impact theory suggests our Moon was formed from proto-Earth getting a Mars-sized strike. An exoplanet system shows it's plausible.
The space telescope's findings challenge the notion of a galaxy brimming with life.
Exoplanet LP 791-18d is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.
A surprising JWST discovery around Fomalhaut has a different, superior explanation: not a great dust cloud, but a mere background object.
Back in 1990, we hadn't discovered a single planet outside of our Solar System. Here are 10 facts that would've surprised every astronomer.
The nearby, bright star Fomalhaut had the first optically imaged planetary candidate. Using JWST's eyes, astronomers found so much more.
They're the most common type of exoplanet known today, and many astronomers have called them "super-habitable." None of that is true.
This oddball system of three stars might be our best chance at finding nearby life in the Universe.
Eternal twilight.
Finding this missing piece of water’s path through the universe offers clues to how it came to be on Earth.
NASA has finally chosen which flagship mission, like Hubble and JWST, will launch in ~2040. Detecting alien life is now a reachable goal.
If life is common in the Universe, then where is everybody? Known as the Fermi Paradox, a new project may help solve the riddle.
Individual space telescopes, like Hubble and JWST, revolutionized our knowledge of the Universe. What if we had an array of them, instead?
It's a radical but plausible idea.