Alien planets are far away but extreme lasers on Earth are giving scientists a way to investigate what they're like.

Small, rocky planets can coalesce around a wide variety of stars, suggesting that Earth-like alien worlds may have formed early and often throughout our Milky Way galaxy's history, a new study reveals ...

New SETI research suggests space weather like solar winds could be interfering with alien radio signals, making them harder to detect.

If advanced aliens lived on a planet within a few hundred to a thousand light years away from Earth, then vast numbers of their signals must already have crossed Earth without being noticed, a new ...

Explore the Drake Equation, a formula created to quantify the odds of detecting extraterrestrial life, and the arguments for ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. When will the Milky Way collide with the Andromeda Galaxy?

Our Milky Way's halo of hot gas is warmer to the "south" than the "north" because of an internal combustion engine-like ...

Despite the universe's vastness, containing billions of stars and galaxies, humanity has yet to encounter alien life. Scientists are actively searching for habitable planets and signs of life, but the ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. A panoramic image of the Milky Way over the fromations of ...

Though the Milky Way is generally always visible from Earth, certain times of year are better for stargazers to catch a glimpse of the band of billions of stars. "Milky Way season," when the galaxy's ...