Signals from Space
EXOPLANETS · FAST RADIO BURSTS · SETI · JWST BIOSIGNATURES
“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” — Arthur C. Clarke
Confirmed ExoplanetsLoading…
Earth-Sized, Habitable ZoneLoading…
Confirmed Oxygen0
Biosignature Candidates1
CONFIRMED WORLDS · LIVE FROM NASA
Querying NASA Exoplanet Archive…
Live · NASA Exoplanet Archive · Caltech/IPAC · Updates weekly
JWST ATMOSPHERIC ANALYSIS
K2-18 b
★ CANDIDATE
124 light-years · Leo · Habitable zone · 8.6× Earth mass
JWST detected dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) in the atmosphere. On Earth, these molecules are produced almost exclusively by marine phytoplankton. The signal strength is thousands of times what we’d expect from abiotic processes.
DETECTED MOLECULES
CH₄ methane
CO₂ carbon dioxide
DMS/DMDS candidate
Status: 3σ significance. 5σ needed for confirmation. Scientists remain cautious — an unknown abiotic process could explain this. Follow-up observations underway.
WASP-39 b
700 light-years · First CO₂ detection in exoplanet atmosphere
Carbon dioxide, water, sulfur dioxide detected. A gas giant — not habitable — but proof JWST can read atmospheric chemistry with precision.
TOI-270 d
73 light-years · Sub-Neptune · Possible ocean world
CH₄ and H₂O detected. Two independent teams got different interpretations of the same data — a cautionary tale for biosignature detection.
Source: JWST · University of Cambridge · Astrophysical Journal Letters 2025
RECENTLY CONFIRMED WORLDS
Loading latest confirmed planets…
Live · NASA Exoplanet Archive · Most recently confirmed exoplanets
THE OXYGEN QUESTION
WHY OXYGEN MATTERS
On Earth, atmospheric oxygen exists because life constantly replenishes it through photosynthesis. Without biology, oxygen reacts away within geological timescales. Detecting it in an exoplanet atmosphere would be a profound signal — though not definitive proof.
THE CURRENT STATE
0
exoplanets with confirmed oxygen
1
biosignature candidate (K2-18b)
WHY IT'S HARD
JWST can detect large molecules in sub-Neptune atmospheres during transits. But oxygen in a thin rocky-planet atmosphere like Earth's — around a star hundreds of light-years away — requires telescope technology we're still building. The next generation of extremely large ground telescopes and NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory (planned 2040s) are the real targets.
Current science consensus · As of March 2026
FAST RADIO BURSTS
Millisecond-duration pulses of radio emission from billions of light-years away. First detected in 2007. Origin: largely unknown. Some come from magnetars. Some repeat on a schedule. Some don’t repeat at all. The CHIME telescope in British Columbia detects several every day.
4,539
total bursts · CHIME Catalog 2
83
confirmed repeating sources
The repeating sources are the most intriguing — FRB 20121102A repeats on a 157-day cycle. No natural magnetar process fully explains the periodicity. The catalog grows every week.
CHIME/FRB Collaboration · Second Catalog · 2026
BREAKTHROUGH LISTEN
The most comprehensive SETI search in history. $100 million, 10-year initiative. Uses Green Bank Telescope, Parkes/Murriyang, and the VLA with real-time AI scanning.
2,623
stars surveyed
0
confirmed technosignatures
No confirmed signals — but the search has covered less than 0.001% of the galaxy. Over 1 petabyte of public data released. The absence of a signal is itself information.
Breakthrough Listen · UC Berkeley SETI Research Center
THE FERMI PARADOX · WHERE IS EVERYBODY?
THE GREAT FILTER
Either something eliminates civilizations before they can signal — or something prevents them from wanting to. We don't know which. Finding life elsewhere would tell us which side of the filter we're on.
THE DARK FOREST
Perhaps intelligent civilizations deliberately hide. In a universe with finite resources, announcing your existence may be dangerous. Advanced civilizations may be silent by choice.
THE ZOO HYPOTHESIS
They know we're here and have chosen not to contact us — watching but not interfering. A kind of cosmic non-interference protocol. We’re either not ready, or not interesting enough.
THE RARE EARTH HYPOTHESIS
Earth's specific conditions — location in galaxy, moon size, plate tectonics, Jupiter's protection — may be extraordinarily rare. Complex life may be vanishingly uncommon even in a universe of billions of planets.
These are not fringe theories — they are active areas of scientific inquiry
ACTIVE INSTRUMENTS IN THE SEARCH
🔭
JWST
Space · L2 orbit
Atmospheric biosignatures
📡
CHIME
British Columbia, Canada
Fast radio burst detection
📡
Allen Telescope Array
Hat Creek, California
42 antennas · SETI Institute
📡
Green Bank Telescope
West Virginia
100m dish · Breakthrough Listen
📡
FAST
Guizhou, China
500m dish · Largest in world
📡
VLA / COSMIC
Socorro, New Mexico
Real-time AI technosignature scan
Major instruments currently active in the search for life and unexplained signals
“The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” — Carl Sagan, Contact