How did early Earth’s hydrogen and oxygen come from?
Molecular oxygen (O2) is essential for respiration on today's Earth, but the early atmosphere was almost devoid of oxygen until the Great Oxidation Event.
How...
Was Venus ever habitable? New UChicago study casts doubt
A new study from the University of Chicago argues there is little chance the planet Venus was ever habitable.
Scientists discover a hot Neptune that shouldn’t exist
1800 light-years away, an unlikely survivor orbits an aged star.
This rare planet is called a hot Neptune, and it’s one of only a small...
Could ‘terminator zones’ on far off planets harbor life?
Extraterrestrial life has the potential to exist on distant exoplanets inside special areas called “terminator zones”.
Scientists discover remnants of relict glacier near the equator on Mars
If there is still water ice preserved at shallow depths at a low latitude on Mars, there would be implications for science and human...
How water gets to planets like Earth
Understanding the history of water in the universe is critical to understanding how planets like Earth come to be.
Planets might protect their water until their star settles down
Creating rocky planets is a messy, dangerous, hot business.
Planetesimals accrete together, which creates heat and pressure on the newborn world. The nearby adolescent star...
NASA study reveals map of moon’s water near its south pole
A new study using the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has pieced together the first detailed, wide-area map of water distribution on...
Galaxies were different in the early universe, finds study
The earliest stars, which may have formed around 200 million years after the Big Bang, contained few other elements than hydrogen and helium.
Star TOI-700 has two potentially habitable planets, excellent for searching life
NASA recently announced the discovery of a new, Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a nearby star called TOI-700.
We are two of the...