Cassini captures Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
The Cassini space probe discovered liquid lakes, poisonous gases and the basic elements of life on Saturn’s moon, Titan.
The star TRAPPIST-1 with three of its planets.
ESO/M. Kornmesser/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Despite not being able to see them, we know a fair bit about our exoplanet neighbours.
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Even if alien life is never discovered, all is not lost.
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Hardy lifeforms such as tardigrades can survive almost anything.
Artist’s impression of Proxima Centauri b.
ESO/M. Kornmesser
You may even be able to find other planets around the star closest to our solar system.
KELT-9B is the hottest known planet.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Researchers recently discovered the hottest planet known. But which one is the coldest? And the biggest?
MAX3D
The planet is more similar to Earth than any other – except when it comes to supporting life.
Almost every star has planets – so there are more planets in our galaxy than there are stars.
NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
Plants on other planets are bound to be even weirder than the strangest ones we find on Earth – if they even exist.
An artist’s impression of some of the thousands of exoplanets discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.
NASA/JPL
A Darwin mechanic’s success in the hunt for new exoplanets shows how amateur and professional scientists can work together on new research.
In conversation: Martin Rees.
EPA Images
The Astronomer Royal answers some of the world’s – and the universe’s – biggest questions.
A likely candidate for life: Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
There has been much excitement this week about the possibility of water – and life – on some newly discovered exoplanets. But we can look closer to home for evidence of ET.
An artist’s concept of what it could look like on the surface of one of the exoplanets of TRAPPIST-1.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Several of the newly-discovered exoplanets orbiting a small star appear to be locked in an intricate dance that hints at how such planetary systems can form.
Artist’s impression of what the view might be like from the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
If there’s life on one of the Earth’s seven sisters, chances are it has spread to all of them.
Dave Strom/Flickr
Churchill allowed science to flourish. Without a similar attitude in today’s politics, we may hit a bottleneck for life that leaves a Universe without a single human soul to enjoy it.
Have we really discovered other “Earth-like” planets orbiting around other stars? Understanding what we do and do not know about exoplanets is the key to answering this question.
ESO/L. Calcada/N. Risinger/Reuters
Over the last 20 years, advances in the field of exoplanet discovery have excited the imaginations of scientists and enthusiasts alike. But we’re in position to know yet whether a planet is habitable.
The discovery of the year was the first detection of gravitational waves.
LIGO/T. Pyle
Colliding black holes to exploding spacecraft, 2016 was an incredible year for astrophysics.
Hi Juno, welcome to Jupiter.
NASA/JPL
From the discovery of gravitational waves, to the Pokémon Go phenomenon to the Census debacle, it’s been a big year in science and technology.
Mysterious gas giant is about 1,000 light years away.
Mark Garlick/University of Warwick.
Ruby and sapphire clouds may be hovering over exoplanet HAT-P-7b.
Truth is out there.
macro-vectors
Sonification is a technique for converting data into sound. It could transform the study of distant worlds.
All about the atmosphere.
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Atmospheric changes on exoplanets could hold clues to our own environmental problems.