Hubble remains an indispensable resource for the astronomy and planetary science community as it approaches the end of its fourth decade in operations. The dynamic astronomical landscape, with facilities with […]
Habitable Worlds Observatory
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia Mission, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Masses of Potentially Habitable Planets Characterized by the Habitable Worlds Observatory
Constraints on the masses of exoplanets directly imaged and characterized by the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) are crucial for categorizing these planets and interpreting their spectra.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Searching For Life-As-We-Don’t-Know-It: Mission-relevant Application of Assembly Theory For Exoplanet Life Detection
This white paper introduces a framework for applying Assembly Theory (AT) to planetary atmospheres as a biosignature framework suitable for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO).
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
The Ocean Worlds Science Case For The Pollux Spectropolarimeter
Pollux is a candidate European instrument contribution to the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), designed to advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of cosmic structures in the universe, and […]
![Earth’s spectrum over time (right panel), reproduced from [11]. The biosignature gases present change dramatically from epoch to epoch (left panel), producing significantly different spectra. The simultaneous detection of O2 at 0.8 µm demonstrates the presence of life in the modern Earth spectrum shown in the bottom right panel, but for habitable planets without much evidence of oxygenic biosignatures (e.g. Proterozoic and Archean Earth), coverage beyond 0.8 µm will be key to capture H2O, and CH4 features. -- astro-ph.IM](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/The-Key-to-Unlocking-Exoplanet.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
The Key To Unlocking Exoplanet Biosignatures: A UK-led IR Spectrograph for the Habitable Worlds Observatory Coronagraph
The detection of life on rocky exoplanets in the habitable zones of nearby stars would be a paradigm-shifting advance, and it is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Ultraviolet Observations Of Atmospheric Escape In Exoplanets With The Habitable Worlds Observatory
Among the many recommendations of the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020, we found that a priority area of research is to pave the pathways towards finding and characterizing […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
The Habitable Worlds Observatory In Historical Context
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is humanity’s most ambitious scientific endeavor to explore nearby sun-like stars for the presence of habitable rocky exoplanets and the possible presence of life.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
Early Architecture Concepts for the Habitable Worlds Observatory — System Design, Modeling, and Analysis
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), NASA’s next flagship science mission, follows in the tradition of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and other preceding great observatories. HWO will directly image […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
The Pollux European Instrument Concept For HWO: A High-resolution Spectrograph And Spectropolarimeter From The far-UV To The near-IR
Pollux is a high-resolution spectrograph and spectropolarimeter working from 100 nm to 1.8 microns proposed for HWO by a European consortium. Pollux will allow us to study stellar and (exo)planetary […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
The Power Of Polarimetry For Characterising Exoplanet Atmospheres, Clouds, And Surfaces With NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), planned for launch in the 2040s, represents the next major step in exoplanet characterisation. HWO will, for the first time, enable detailed studies of the […]