No dust ring required around Proxima Centauri
What is responsible for the excess radio emission from our nearest star, Proxima Centauri? No alien radio stations required!
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to TRAPPIST-1
How likely is it that life could hop from planet to planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system?
Biodiversity or Bust
Scientists (and film producers) have been fascinated by the prospect for ET life for quite some time. Today’s authors create a model that predicts the biodiversity of a planet, and the results may not be what you expect. Check out this bite to see which stars are most likely to host complex life.
How habitable is your galaxy?
How does habitability vary on a galactic scale?
Can we constrain planetary mineralogy of the closest stars?
We can precisely measure chemical abundances for stars. This offers an intriguing possibility that we may, in the near future, start using these measurements to know more about the insides of rocky planets orbiting them.
Extinction events from giant space explosions: a cosmological perspective
Supernovae and Gamma Ray Bursts are expected to wipe out any complex life in the neighborhood. Today’s paper looks at how common these events are in different galaxies over time.