s3e2: Habitats in the Void

Having established that the hunt for life in the galaxy ought to begin with an appropriate star, Emily turns our attention towards suitable planets. But what makes a hospitable home for life? It’s complicated, and it seems whatever way we look at it, we don’t have a lot of candidates to choose from. Emily discusses earth-like rocky planets, ocean worlds, and wonderfully-named Chthonian planets, before letting rip with some wild speculation. I mean, life could be anywhere, right?

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Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.

Some of the things we talk about in this episode:

• The first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b

• The Habitable Zone

• Chthonian planets, Mini Neptunes & Super Earths

• The Habitable Worlds Catalog(ue)

• The Trappist-1 System

• Proxima Centauri b

• LHS 1140 b

• Hycean Worlds

• Dimethyl Sulphide discovery?

• Icy Ocean Planets