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star vs planet vs brown dwarf

Starts With A Bang

Red dwarfs aren’t uninhabitable; we’re just impatient

Red dwarfs are the Universe's most common star type. Their flaring now makes potentially Earth-like worlds uninhabitable, but just you wait.

A bright, circular blue and white object is centered against a black background, with a smaller red object to the lower left.

Starts With A Bang

Starts With A Bang podcast #121 – Direct exoplanet imaging

Going back to 1990, we hadn't even found one planet outside of our Solar System. As we close in on 6000, we now see many of them directly.

A dark, rocky planet orbits in space with the sun illuminating its edge, surrounded by stars and distant cosmic clouds.

Starts With A Bang

Starts With A Bang podcast #120 – Exoplanet biosignatures

In the search for life in the Universe, the ultimate goal is to find an inhabited planet beyond Earth. How will we know when we've made it?

A hexagonal telescope with a gold exterior and an open, black interior is shown against a black background, highlighting NASA habitable worlds observatory science.

Starts With A Bang

NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory: the future (or end) of NASA science

At the end of July, hundreds of scientists convened to plan NASA's upcoming astrophysics flagship mission. Will the US allow it to happen?

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