Related papers: The Habitable Worlds Observatory in Historical Con…

Several concepts have been brought forward to determine where terrestrial planets are likely to remain habitable in multi-stellar environments. Isophote-based habitable zones, for instance, rely on insolation geometry to predict…

The planned NASA Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) flagship mission aims to image and spectroscopically characterise 25 Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of their stars. However, one giant planet in the habitable zone can ruin your…

Experience in exploring our own solar system has shown that direct investigation of planetary bodies using space probes invariably yields scientific knowledge not otherwise obtainable. In the case of exoplanets, such direct investigation…

Exoplanet research has shown an incessant growth since the first claim of a hot giant planet around a solar-like star in the mid-1990s. Today, the new facilities are working to spot the first habitable rocky planets around low-mass stars as…

At the dawn of the first discovery of exoplanets orbiting sun-like stars in the mid-1990s, few believed that observations of exoplanet atmospheres would ever be possible. After the 2002 Hubble Space Telescope detection of a transiting…

The discovery of a truly habitable exoplanet would be one of the most important events in the history of science. However, the nature and distribution of habitable environments on exoplanets is currently unconstrained. The exoplanet…

Astrophysics facilities have been of tremendous importance for planetary science. The flagship space observatory Hubble Space Telescope has produced ground-breaking Solar System science, but when launched it did not even have the capability…

Observational cosmology is on the verge of new discoveries that will change the essence of our world-view. The matter concerns origin of initial conditions and physics of dark matter.

The successful construction and operation of highly sensitive gravitational-wave detectors is an achievement to be proud of, but the detection of actual signals is still around the corner. Even so, null results from recent searches have…

One of the key goals of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is to directly image about 25 potentially habitable exoplanets and determine their properties. This challenge will require a large survey of nearby, bright stars -- ~100…

NASA is engaged in planning for a Habitable Worlds Observatory (HabWorlds), a coronagraphic space mission to detect rocky planets in habitable zones and establish their habitability. Surface liquid water is central to the definition of…

This review aims to give a summary of our understanding of galaxy evolution as infered from studies of nearby galaxies; how observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope have contributed significantly to our detailed understanding of…

This article deals with the most recent developments in the field of exoplanetary science connecting the interior of the planets with their habitability. In this issue, I have specified the importance of interior dynamics and briefly…

The satellites of extrasolar planets (exomoons) have been recently proposed as astrobiological targets. Since giant planets in the habitable zone are thought to have migrated there, it is possible that they may have captured a former…

The Kepler Mission is exploring the diversity of planets and planetary systems. Its legacy will be a catalog of discoveries sufficient for computing planet occurrence rates as a function of size, orbital period, star-type, and insolation…

The current progress in the detection of terrestrial type exoplanets has opened a new avenue in the characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres and in the search for biosignatures of life with the upcoming ground-based and space missions.…

The HWO Target Stars and Systems 2025 (TSS25) list is a community-developed catalog of potential stellar targets for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) in its survey to directly image Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone. The TSS25…

In January of 1985, more than 40 years ago, a group of astronomers met with NASA officials to map out the future of NASA space astronomy. Their efforts led to the Great Observatories program, linking four powerful space telescopes to study…

The Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) mission is one of four Decadal Survey Mission Concepts studied by NASA in preparation for the US National Academies' Astro2020 Decadal Survey. This observatory has the major goal of…

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to characterize habitable exoplanets in search of signs of life. However, detectable life may be rare, either because abiogenesis is intrinsically contingent and unlikely, or because biospheres…