Potentially habitable Earth-size planet discovered 40 light-years away

Dubbed Gliese 12 b, the planet takes 12.8 days to orbit a star that is 27% of the sun's size. The planet is about the size of Venus, so slightly smaller than Earth, and may be temperate enough to support life, the researchers said.

In search for alien life, purple may be the new green

Purple bacteria is one of the primary contenders for life that could dominate a variety of Earth-like planets orbiting different stars, and would produce a distinctive "light fingerprint," Cornell scientists report.

The LIFE telescope passed its first test, detecting biosignatures on Earth

The vast majority of exoplanets are uninhabitable. For the few that may be habitable, we can only determine if they are by examining their atmospheres. LIFE, the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets, can help.

Discovery Alert: A 'Super-Earth' in the Habitable Zone

 A “super-Earth” ripe for further investigation orbits a small, reddish star that is, by astronomical standards, fairly close to us – only 137 light-years away. 

Entropy Could Be The Secret to Alien Worlds Being Habitable

Scientist Luigi Petraccone, University of Naples in Italy, in his paper that examines something called "planetary entropy production" lookes at how scientists select planets that could be habitable. 

Webb Discovers Methane, Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere of K2-18 b

A new investigation with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope into K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, has revealed the presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide.

Exoplanet 31 light years away could be habitable

Astronomers have discovered a rocky exoplanet about a few dozen light years away from Earth with conditions that could make it habitable.

Astronomers discover two 'super-Earths' orbiting nearby star

The astronomers underlined that the star, these planets are orbiting is the second-coolest star found to host planets after TRAPPIST-1. They added that their finding is the second-most favorable habitable-zone terrestrial planet known so far.

'Super-Earth' That Could Be an Ocean-Covered Water World

It's called TOI-1452b, and measurements of its size and mass suggest a density profile consistent with a global liquid ocean. An exoplanet is just 100 light-years from Earth

New class of habitable exoplanets

The researchers have identified a new class of habitable planets, dubbed 'Hycean' planets - hot, ocean-covered planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres - which are more numerous and observable than Earth-like planets.

Radioactive elements may be key to exoplanet habitability

As it turns out, organic material, liquid water, sunlight and a large moon might not be enough to ensure an exoplanet’s habitability. It also may depend on whether enough radioactive elements are present in the planet’s core.

There Are 6 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Milky Way

An Earth-like world is one that’s rocky and that orbits a Sun-like, or G-Type, star. The Milky Way has 400 billion stars, with 7 % of them being G-type, meaning that less than six billion stars may have Earth-like planets in our Galaxy.

New Approach to Finding Extraterrestrial Life

A new study argues that our best chances of using atmospheres to find evidence of life is to broaden our search from focusing on planets like our own to include those with a hydrogen atmosphere.

Earth-size, habitable-zone planet found

A reanalysis of data from NASA's Kepler space telescope has revealed an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star's habitable zone, the area around a star where a rocky planet could support liquid water.

Astronomy student discovers 17 new planets

US astronomy student Michelle Kunimoto has discovered 17 new planets, including a potentially habitable, Earth-sized world, by combing through data gathered by NASA.