Welcome back to Cosmos in a Pod! I’m your host, Amitesh, and today we’re asking: Are we alone in the universe? Our search for life beyond Earth takes us to exoplanets—planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.

Highlights:

• What Are Exoplanets? Planets orbiting other stars, ranging from giant gas worlds to rocky, Earth-like planets.
• Discovery Milestones: Over 5,000 exoplanets found since 1992, thanks to missions like Kepler and TESS.
• Habitable Worlds: Focus on planets in the “habitable zone” where liquid water might exist, like Proxima Centauri b and TRAPPIST-1.
• Detection Methods: Transit and radial velocity techniques reveal size, mass, and atmospheres.
• Life’s Possibilities: Biosignatures like oxygen and methane hint at potential alien life, but it might not look anything like life on Earth.

Looking Ahead: Exoplanets remind us how vast and diverse the universe is. In our next episode, we’ll dive into dark energy and its role in the universe’s expansion.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, share, and leave a review. Until next time, stay curious and keep looking up!