Saturn’s moon Enceladus has geysers shooting tiny grains of ice into space. These grains could hold traces of life − but researchers need the right tools to tell.
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer and Europa Clipper missions will arrive at Jupiter in the 2030s and provide researchers with unprecedented access to the icy moons orbiting the gas giant.
The TOI-700 star system is home to four planets, including two in its habitable zone that could host liquid water.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
With more than 5,000 known exoplanets, astronomers are shifting their focus from discovering additional distant worlds to identifying which are good candidates for further study.
Scientists think there are 300 million habitable planets in the Milky Way, and some may be home to intelligent life.
Bruno Gilli/ESO
This year, two groups of astronomers plan to send messages containing information about humans and the location of Earth toward parts of space they think may be home to intelligent life.
2022 is set to be humanity’s busiest year in space.
CSA Images via Getty Images
With about 200 orbital launches scheduled and ambitious missions on everything from lunar bases to the search for life in the works, there’s a lot to watch in 2022. An astronomer explains the highlights.
Venus wouldn’t attract much attention if it were outside our solar system. Its skies are filled with sulphuric acid, its land abounds with extinct volcanoes and its surface is mostly red hot lava.
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the solar system and is home to a potentially habitable planet.
Hubble/European Space Agency/WikimediaCommons
Astronomers just measured the largest flare ever from Proxima Centauri, humanity’s closest neighboring star. These flares could be bad news for life trying to develop on a planet orbiting the star.
Purple microbial mats offer clues to how ancient life functioned.
Pieter Visscher
How ancient microbes survived in a world without oxygen has been a mystery. Scientists discovered a living microbial mat that uses arsenic instead of oxygen for photosynthesis and respiration.