Close up of the Cheyava Falls rock on Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The find has excited scientists, but other explanations are possible.
Hunting for life on other worlds isn’t easy.
Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
It’s hard to look for something you’ve never seen before – and that might not even exist. But you have to start somewhere.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Perseverance rover has arrived at what’s thought to be an ancient shoreline on Mars.
Perseverance rover taking a selfie on Mars.
Nasa
There’s anxiety among space scientists following Nasa’s decision to rethink sample return mission from Mars.
Life-affirming molecules can form in space.
Yves Almecija/CNRS
Perhaps life is more common in the universe that we think.
Wikipedia
When scientists observed planets revolved around the Sun, they posited we were now like other planets. And if other planets were like Earth, then they most likely also had inhabitants.
Earth’s North Sea coastline, including the Stacks of Duncansby in Caithness.
David Rothery
The Solar System could be awash with oceans, not on the surface but hidden inside the most surprising bodies
Europa seen in true colour (left) and false colour (right).
NASA
Only about 12kg of oxygen is produced per second on Europa, which is on the lower side of previous estimates from about 5kg to 1,100 kg per second.
A still from footage showing Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
US Department of Defense/US Navy
Several scientific projects are aiming to investigate UFO sightings.
Nasa
Previous searches for extraterrestrial life have included only the radio band above 600 MHz, leaving lower frequencies virtually unexplored.
Earth and Moon as seen by the Galileo spacecraft from a distance of 6 million km away.
NASA
Control experiments are critical in informing the search for alien life.
The exoplanet K2-18b might host a water ocean.
Credits: Illustration: NASA, CSA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI), Science: N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)
The results are intriguing, but analysing the atmospheres of exoplanets is no easy task.
NASA / CSA / ESA / J. Olmsted (STScI) / Science: N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected key carbon-bearing molecules on the potential ocean world K2-18b, including tantalising hints of a substance produced by tiny plankton on Earth.
UFOs usually have non-extraterrestrial origins, but many have urged the government to be more transparent about UFO data.
Westend61/Westend61 via Getty Images
Whistleblower allegations that the government possesses UFOs may not be backed up by public physical evidence, but some argue that listening for extraterrestrial life is the first phase of contact.
Photos claiming to be UFO evidence are often doctored or otherwise ambiguous.
Ray Massey/The Image Bank via Getty Images
While UFO videos might seem compelling, they’re rarely backed up with evidence. A sociologist explains why claims of alien life gain traction through both social and mass media every few years.
Anybody out there?
Triff/Shutterstock
There is a very large scientific leap from observing a fireball to claiming it as an alien spaceship.
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Phosphorus is the most elusive element crucial for life as we know it – and we now have the first evidence there’s some available in the oceans of Enceladus.
Ice particles, with just a trace of phosphates, venting from near Enceladus’s south pole, as imaged by Cassini in 2010.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Five out of the six essential elements required for life on Earth were known to exist on Enceladus. Now the sixth and final one has been found too.
zhengzaishuru/Shutterstock
To date, we have not heard from any aliens. Nor have we seen any – but here are the fascinating projects working to change that.
Artist impression of WASP b and its star.
NASA, ESA, CSA, and J. Olmsted (STScI)
The James Webb space telescope is making the headlines again – this time completing its first chemical inventory of a distant, exotic world.