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An outstanding, multi-disciplinary goal of modern science is the study of the diversity of potentially Earth-like planets and the search for life in them. This goal requires a bold new generation of space telescopes, but even the most…

Does life exist outside our Solar System? A first step towards searching for life outside our Solar System is detecting life on Earth by using remote sensing applications. One powerful and unambiguous biosignature is the circular…

High resolution, ultraviolet imaging is often unavailable across the sky, even in heavily studied fields such as the Chandra Deep Field - South. The Habitable Worlds Observatory is one of two upcoming missions with the possibility of…

High-resolution spectropolarimetry is a useful astronomical technique, in particular to study stellar magnetic fields. It has been extensively used in the past but mostly in the visible range. Space missions equipped with high-resolution…

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…

Ice-covered ocean worlds possess diverse energy sources and associated mechanisms that are capable of driving significant seismic activity, but to date no measurements of their seismic activity have been obtained. Such investigations could…

Specularly reflected light, or glint, from an ocean surface may provide a useful observational tool for studying extrasolar terrestrial planets. Detection of sea-surface glints would differentiate ocean-bearing terrestrial planets, i.e.…

The search for life outside our solar system is at the forefront of modern astronomy, and telescopes such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) are being designed to identify biosignatures. Molecular oxygen, O$_2$, is considered a…

We present a science case for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) to map the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in emission by targeting ultraviolet emission lines, which trace the 10^4 - 10^6 K gas engaged in the feedback and accretion…

A habitable exoplanet is a world that can maintain stable liquid water on its surface. Techniques and approaches to characterizing such worlds are essential, as performing a census of Earth-like planets that may or may not have life will…

Numerical simulations of starlight that is reflected by Earth-like exoplanets predict habitability signatures that can be searched for with future telescopes. We explore signatures of water oceans in the flux and polarization spectra of…

Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will be NASA's flagship space telescope of the 2040s, designed to search for life on other planets and to transform broad areas of astrophysics. NASA are seeking international partners, and the UK is…

Polstar is a proposed NASA MIDEX mission that would feature a high resolution UV spectropolarimeter capable of measure all four Stokes parameters onboard a 60cm telescope. The mission would pioneer the field of time-domain UV…

A laboratory experiment is suggested in which conditions similar to those in the plume ejecta from Enceladus and, perhaps, Europa are established. Using infrared spectroscopy and polarimetry, the experiment might identify possible…

In the JWST, Extremely Large Telescopes, and LUVOIR era, we expect to characterize a number of potentially habitable Earth-like exoplanets. However, the characterization of these worlds depends crucially on the accuracy of theoretical…

A primary goal of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is to detect and measure the abundance of biosignature molecules, such as water (H2O) and oxygen (O2), in the atmosphere of Earth analogs. This is expected to require deep…

The World Space Observatory/Ultraviolet (WSO/UV) represents a new mission implementation model for large space missions for astrophysics. The process has been brought up to enable, fully scientific needs driven, a logic to be applied to the…

We present here the current state of a collection of promising ultraviolet technologies in preparation for the Habitable Worlds Observatory. Working with experts representing a significant number of groups working in the ultraviolet, we…

The characterization of nearby rocky exoplanets will become feasible with the next generation of telescopes, such as the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the mission concept Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). Using an improved model…

The study of planets beyond the solar system and the search for other habitable planets and life is just beginning. Ground-based (radial velocity and transits) and space-based surveys (transits and astrometry) will identify planets spanning…