habitable planets tagged posts

An artist’s impression of the innumerable Earth-like planets that have yet to be born over the next trillion years in the evolving universe. Credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon (STScI)

Earth came early to the party in the evolving universe. According to a new theoretical study, when our solar system was born 4.6 B years ago only 8% of the potentially habitable planets that will ever form in the universe existed. And, the party won’t be over when the sun burns out in another 6B years. The bulk of those planets – 92% – have yet to be born.

This conclusion is based on an assessment of data collected by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the prolific planet-hunting Kepler space observatory...

Astronomers have created a way to compare and rank exoplanets to help prioritize which of the thousands discovered warrant close inspection in the search for life beyond Earth. The Kepler Space Telescope has enabled astronomers to detect thousands of exoplanets, those beyond our solar system. The James Webb Space Telescope, set for launch in 2018, will be the first able to actually measure the atmospheric composition of a rocky, possibly Earthlike planet far off in space, and so vastly enhance the search for life.

Astronomers detect some planets when the worlds “transit” or pass in front of their host star, thus blocking some of the light. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is scheduled to launch in 2017 and will find many more worlds in this way...

KU Leuven researchers discovered that two out of three possible climates on exoplanets are potentially habitable. Credit: KU Leuven – Ludmila Carone

The quest for potentially habitable planets is often interpreted as the search for an Earth twin. And yet, some rocky planets outside our Solar System may in fact be more promising candidates for further research. Scientists have run 165 climate simulations for exoplanets that permanently face their ‘sun’ with the same side. They discovered that 2 of the 3 possible climates are potentially habitable.

Most exoplanets orbit relatively small and cool stars known as red dwarfs. Only exoplanets that orbit close to their 3star can be warm enough for liquid water...