Artist’s impression of how an an Earth-like exoplanet might look. Credit: ESO.
A diagram depicting the Habitable Zone (HZ) boundaries, and how the boundaries are affected by star type. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/Chester Harman
Diagram showing GJ 625’s habitable zone in comparison’s to the Sun’s. Credit: IAC
Stellar temperature versus distance from the star compared to Earth for the classic habitable zone (shaded blue) and the volcanic habitable zone extension Credit: R. Ramirez, Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell
This illustration shows the a lower bound for habitability in terms of a planet’s mass. If an object is smaller than 2.7 percent the mass of Earth, its atmosphere will escape before it ever has the chance to develop surface liquid water (Illustration courtesy of Harvard SEAS).
An artist’s illustration of an exoplanet and its moon orbiting a red dwarf star. By NASA/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/D. Aguilar –, Public Domain,
As it turns out, not only is Earth the right distance from the Sun to be habitable, but our planet is in the right mass range, too. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Looking to the future, NASA and other space agencies have high hopes for the field of extra-solar planet research. In the past decade, the number of known exoplanets has reached just shy of 4000, and many more are expected to be found once next-generations telescopes are put into service. And with so many exoplanets to study, research goals have slowly shifted away from the process of discovery and towards characterization.
We've found hundreds of exoplanets in the galaxy. But only a few of them have just the right combination of factors to hold life like Earth's.
The “Goldilocks” zone around a star is where a planet is neither too hot nor too cold to support liquid water. Credit: Petigura/UC Berkeley, Howard/UH-Manoa, Marcy/UC Berkeley.
Exoplanet Kepler 62f would need an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide for water to be in liquid form. Artist’s Illustration: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
Artist’s depiction of a waterworld. A new study suggests that Earth is in a minority when it comes to planets, and that most habitable planets may be greater than 90% ocean. Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)
Artist’s impression of Sirius A (a main-sequence type A star) and Sirius B (white dwarf companion). Credit: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)
Artist’s concept of Earth-like exoplanets, which (according to new research) need to strike the careful balance between water and landmass. Credit: NASA
Artist's rendition of the planned Habitable Worlds Observatory. (Credit: NASA)
Finding signs of life on planets outside our solar system will require a more powerful space telescope than any ever built. NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory will draw on technologies proven by the agency’s Hubble, Webb and upcoming Roman Space Telescopes to peer into the cosmos and find the unique signatures of planets that can support life as well as possibly life itself. Actor John Rhys-Davies narrates this short video about the mission and its objectives. Music credit: “Learning to Fly,” Andre Jesus Oliviera [PRS], Universal Production Music Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Narrator: John Rhys-Davies Animators: Chris Smith (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) Jonathan North (eMITS) Jenny McElligott (eMITS) Producers: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS) Chris Smith (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) Claire Andreoli (NASA/GSFC) Editor: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS) Audio engineer: Jacob Pinter (eMITS) Writers: Claire Andreoli (NASA/GSFC) Chris Smith (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) Yesenia Arroyo (Southeastern Universities Research Association) Pat Brennan (JPL) Scientists: Aki Roberge (NASA/GSFC) Giada Arney (NASA/GSFC) This video can be freely shared and downloaded at While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: visit For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram · Twitter-(Now x) NASA GODDARD · Twitter (Now X)-NASA GODDARD PICS · Facebook: · Flickr AI-generated video summary Quality and accuracy may vary. NASA Goddard outlines a future mission designed to identify Earth-sized planets within their star's habitable zone. By utilizing advanced coronagraph instruments to block starlight, this observatory will analyze atmospheric chemical signatures for potential signs of life, such as water vapor, oxygen, and methane.
4,448 views Mar 30, 2026 Fraser Cain / Universe Today Podcast 🔴 [Interview+] No YT ads. Bonus Part. FREE for everyone / 153686248 👉 interview with Lee Feinberg • The Architect for JWST, Habitable Worlds O... 👉 Coronagraph interview with Vanessa Bailey • How Nancy Grace Roman's Coronagraph Will R... The Habitable Worlds Observatory is our ultimate tool to see an Earth-sized world around a Sun-like star. But what will be the limits of its instruments? What will it realistically be able to see? Finding out the answers in this interview. 🟣 Guest: Celeste Hagee 📜 Analysis for Remote Biosignature Identification on exoEarths (BARBIE) IV: Analyzing CO2 Detections in the Near-IR to Determine the Long-Wavelength Cut-off for the Habitable Worlds Observatory Coronagraph 00:00 Intro 01:43 What could HWO see 06:20 Celeste's research 19:06 Findings 28:16 The quest of confirming extraterrestrial life 35:04 Current obsessions 39:00 Final thoughts 📰 GUIDE TO SPACE NEWSLETTER Read by 70,000 people every Friday. Written by Fraser. No ads. Subscribe for Free: Sign up to my weekly email newsletter: For Free 🎧 PODCASTS Universe Today: Astronomy Cast: 📩 CONTACT FRASER CONTACT FRASER: via Email: ⚖️ LICENSE Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video. AI-generated video summary Quality and accuracy may vary. PhD student Celeste Hagey explains the technical challenges and necessary bandpass constraints for NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory to detect bio signatures. They discuss modeling atmospheric mixtures of carbon dioxide, water, and methane to determine if this future telescope can confirm signs of life.
