Release Images
Release No.: 2013-06
For Release: Monday, February 25, 2013 - 7:00am
Future Evidence for Extraterrestrial Life Might Come from Dying Stars
A new study finds that we could detect oxygen in the atmosphere of a habitable planet orbiting a white dwarf (as shown in this artist's illustration) much more easily than for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star. Here the ghostly blue ring is a planetary nebula - hydrogen gas the star ejected as it evolved from a red giant to a white dwarf.
David A. Aguilar (CfA)
