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