The solar wind has stripped Mars of its atmosphere, making it a lot less habitable than it once was.
Will Cassini find evidence of microbial life in the plumes from Enceladus? A new study has made it a whole lot easier.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
The chance that Kepler has spotted construction of a Dyson sphere are very low but it could also be the ruins of such a structure.
Is this what we’re seeing around KIC 8462852 - a colossal megastructure built by alien intelligence? Probably not. The reality might be even more interesting.
Kevin Gill/Flickr
There’s a lot of speculation about a star behaving strangely in our galaxy. But even if it’s not evidence of alien intelligence, it’s sure to be an amazing discovery.
Unlike science fiction films featuring grotesque aliens and faraway galaxies, Ridley Scott’s The Martian depicts a sci-fi space mission that could soon be science fact.
20th Century Fox
NASA has set a target date of 2030 for a manned mission to Mars. With no real scientific breakthroughs needed, success depends on developing the proper technology.
The dark streaks on Mars’ hills will be a good place to look for life.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
New research suggests that salty water exists on Mars in the summer months. But that wouldn’t be the first time we hear of water on the red planet. So what’s new and what isn’t?
A frozen lake of water-ice on the floor of a 35 km wide impact crater on Mars.
Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
The Parkes radio telescope is part of the US$100 million search for life elsewhere in the universe, but the investment will also benefit other space research at The Dish.
Were eruptions of pressurised goundwater once commonplace on Mars?
ESA
For centuries, scientists have wondered how water channels on Mars formed. Our model suggests that they were caused by water erupting from subsurface lakes on the ancient planet.
An artist’s impression: MESSENGER flying over a colourful Mercury.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
It was the first probe to find water on Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. Its mission nearly over, MESSENGER is about to crash into the planet it’s been observing.
An artist’s impression of the oldest known system of terrestrial-sized planets, Kepler-444.
Tiago Campante/Peter Devine, University of Birmingham
One of the crucial variables in calculating the likelihood that alien life exists elsewhere in our galaxy is the number of stars that possess planetary systems, and the proportion of those planets that…
Artist’s impression of the planet Kepler 62-f which could lie in the habitable zone of its host star 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.
NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech
More than 1,000 exoplanets have now been discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope, announced NASA this month, and the figure continues to climb. Three of the newly confirmed Kepler planets are thought…
Artist’s impression of an Earth-sized planet in the Kepler 186 system. But what makes one planet more habitable than another?
NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech
When it comes to finding the right kind of planet to target in the search for life elsewhere in the universe, the size of the planet matters. All planets are believed to form by a process of competitive…
A reconstruction of the path and damage caused by the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February 15, 2013.
Flickr/Sandia Labs
Every so often our Earth encounters a large chunk of space debris which reminds us that our solar system still contains plenty of debris that could potentially have an impact on life on Earth. While the…
In the coming years, many planets that could host life will be discovered. But which will we target in the search for life elsewhere?
IAU/L Calçada
In the search for life beyond our solar system, we need to consider the system in which a planet moves, including the other planets and assorted debris that accompany it on its journey through the cosmos…
Artists conception of the a star with two Saturn-mass planets discovered by the Kepler satellite.
NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
In the search for life-sustaining planets we must first choose the right host star. There are many factors that would make a star system too hostile for life to even get started, let alone survive for…
Artist’s impression of a sunset on the planet Gliese 667Cc. While that planet is likely not an ideal target, we will discover planets far more like our own.
ESO/L. Calçada
The criteria for life on other planets is the focus of the 4th Australian Exoplanet Workshop, hosted by the University of Southern Queensland this week. The first in this series on exoplanets looks at…
Square away your personal philosophy now; proof of life beyond earth is coming.
Stargazing image via www.shutterstock.com
Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets and the hunt is on for life beyond Earth. Once biological neighbors are identified, our planet’s philosophies and religions will need to adapt.
The Conversation organised a public question-and-answer session on Reddit in which Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, explained why searching for intelligent life is so important and…