Astronomers have created a catalogue of 1,822 nearby stars around which the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission might spot planets receiving Earth-like levels of starlight. This is a crucial step in humanity’s search for an Earth-like, potentially habitable exoplanet.
Over 70 per cent of our planet is covered in water, and we tend to think that’s a lot. A new study suggests that our world is special in this regard, and that most habitable planets are dominated by oceans that consume over 90 per cent their surface area. That…
In a few years, powerful new telescopes will usher in a search for habitable worlds outside our solar system. And TRAPPIST-1 — a dim, tepid star just a smidge larger than Jupiter — is one of the first places we’ll look. It’s only 40 light years away, and it’s home…