Searching for technologically advanced civilizations inhabiting distant exoplanets is the astrobiological equivalent of swinging for the fences. While much of the search of extraterrestrial life is now focused on microbes and chemical biosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres that would likely be byproducts of life, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (or SETI) takes a very different approach. …
Have We Photographed Our Nearest Planetary System?
https://videopress.com/v/FRkiDN2V?posterUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fmanyworlds.space%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2Fproxima_centauri_c_manysmallrocks.png&preloadContent=metadata Artist impression of Proxima Centauri c. Press "HD" on the player for the best image quality (E. Tasker). The discovery of Proxima Centauri b in 2016 caused a flood excitement. We had found an extrasolar planet around our nearest star, making this the closest possible world outside of our solar system! But despite its …
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Does Proxima Centauri Create an Environment Too Horrifying for Life?
In 2016, the La Silla Observatory in Chile spotted evidence of possibly the most eagerly anticipated exoplanet in the Galaxy. It was a world orbiting the nearest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri, making this our closest possible exoplanet neighbour. Moreover, the planet might even be rocky and temperate. Proxima Centauri b had been …
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Water Worlds, Aquaplanets and Habitability
The more exoplanet scientists learn about the billions and billions of celestial bodies out there, the more the question of unusual planets -- those with characteristics quite different from those in our solar system -- has come into play. Hot Jupiters, super-Earths, planets orbiting much smaller red dwarf stars -- they are all grist …
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Proxima b Is Surely Not "Earth-like." But It’s A Research Magnet And Just May Be Habitable.
It is often discussed within the community of exoplanet scientists that a danger lies in the description of intriguing exoplanets as "Earth-like." Nothing discovered so far warrants the designation, which is pretty nebulous anyway. Size and the planet's distance from a host star are usually what earn it the title "Earth-like," with its inescapable expectation …
Proxima b Is Surely Not "Earth-like." But It's A Research Magnet And Just May Be Habitable.
It is often discussed within the community of exoplanet scientists that a danger lies in the description of intriguing exoplanets as "Earth-like." Nothing discovered so far warrants the designation, which is pretty nebulous anyway. Size and the planet's distance from a host star are usually what earn it the title "Earth-like," with its inescapable expectation …
Found: Our Nearest Exoplanet Neighbor
No exoplanet can possibly be closer to us than the one just detected around our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought and long-imagined planet is larger than Earth, but small enough to be rocky as opposed to a gas or ice giant. Making things even more exciting, the planet was detected inside the habitable …
Earth: A Prematurely Inhabited Planet?
The study of the formation and logic of the universe (cosmology) and the study of exoplanets and their conduciveness to life do not seem to intersect much. Scientists in one field focus on the deep physics of the cosmos while the others search for the billions upon billions of planets out there and seek to …
Earth: A Prematurely Inhabited Planet?
The study of the formation and logic of the universe (cosmology) and the study of exoplanets and their conduciveness to life do not seem to intersect much. Scientists in one field focus on the deep physics of the cosmos while the others search for the billions upon billions of planets out there and seek to …
The Pale Red Dot Campaign
Astronomers have been trying for decades to find a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our sun and so a natural and tempting target. Claims of an exoplanet discovery have been made before, but so far none have held up. Now, in a novel and very public way, a group of European astronomers …
Many Worlds 
