A dune field on Mars, as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

But the universe also hosts worlds that break away from this familiar image. Some planets drift alone through space without a ...

Planets orbiting stars beyond the solar system come in all shapes and sizes but mostly fit into a few categories: large and hot gas giants, super-Earths that are slightly larger than our planet, ...

The upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory should be able to spot the glint of water on habitable planets, and maybe more ...

While long-fabled technologies like Smell-O-Vision are still a long way off from ever being a reality, astronomers can still technically smell stuff deep in space without actually having to get a ...

Investor excitement around the SpaceX IPO is colliding with peak Elon Musk futurism after a new social media post featuring his musings about light-speed travel and exploring alien worlds. In a social ...

When/if alien life ever cruises toward Earth in big spaceships, we’re probably not just going to see it; we’re going to hear it via narrow radio signals. If an extraterrestrial civilization wanted to ...

A rocky world orbiting within its star’s habitable zone may be surrounded by a helium-rich atmosphere, providing the strongest evidence yet that planets with Earth-like conditions could support life ...

The picture-perfect launch of NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could push forward the space agency’s ultimate search for life ...