High Definition Astrometry (0.1 – 1.0 micro-arcseconds) will open a new window into neighboring planetary systems. For the first time, the realm of temperate terrestrial worlds will be explored. This […]
Astronomy & Telescopes
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Detection Limits of Exoplanetary Atmospheres With 2-m Class Telescopes
Transmission spectroscopy is an important technique to probe the atmospheres of exoplanets. With the advent of TESS and, in the future, of PLATO, more and more transiting planets around bright […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Directly Imaging Rocky Planets from the Ground
Over the past three decades instruments on the ground and in space have discovered thousands of planets outside the solar system. These observations have given rise to an astonishingly detailed […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Press Release
The ExoEarth Yield Landscape for Future Direct Imaging Space Telescopes
The expected yield of potentially Earth-like planets is a useful metric for designing future exoplanet-imaging missions. Recent yield studies of direct-imaging missions have focused primarily on yield methods and trade […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Press Release
In The Hunt For Life, Astronomers Identify The Most Promising Stars
NASA’s new Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is designed to ferret out habitable exoplanets, but with hundreds of thousands of sunlike and smaller stars in its camera views, which of […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Press Release
Ground-Based Radial Velocity as Critical Support for Future NASA Earth-Finding Missions
Future space-based direct imaging missions are poised to search for biosignatures in the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets orbiting nearby AFGKM stars. Although these missions could conduct a survey of […]
Posted inAstrobiology (general), Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Missions & Hardware, NASA Astrobiology Program, Policy, Press Release, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans
Report: An Astrobiology Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe
Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. It is an inherently interdisciplinary field that encompasses astronomy, biology, geology, heliophysics, and planetary […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Press Release
Near-Earth Supernova Explosions: Evidence, Implications, and Opportunities
There is now solid experimental evidence of at least one supernova explosion within 100 pc of Earth within the last few million years, from measurements of the short-lived isotope 60Fe […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Enlarging Habitable Zones Around Binary Stars In Hostile Environments
Habitable zones are regions around stars where large bodies of liquid water can be sustained on a planet or satellite. As many stars form in binary systems with non-zero eccentricity, […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Press Release
Astrocomb Opens New Horizons for Planet-Hunting Telescope
The hunt for Earth-like planets, and perhaps extraterrestrial life, just got more precise, thanks to record-setting starlight measurements made possible by a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) “astrocomb.” […]