Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe. It asks a lot of "big" questions: How did life originate? Where else might we find life other than on Earth? How do we go about looking for it?

​Astrobiologists study the extremes of life forms as we know them and the evolution of life on Earth. Combining those studies with our ever-growing knowledge of the universe, astrobiologists discern what extraterrestrial life might look like and what conditions need to be present for life to exist. In this way, astrobiology is intrinsically linked with the exploration of space and the discovery of exoplanets.​

Oxford Univ. Press, as part of its "A Very Short Introduction" series, has published a book explaining the basics of Astrobiology, written by David C. Catling, Prof. of Earth and Space Sciences at the Univ. of Washington, 2014. It is also available as an audiobook.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES​

The Color of Plants on Other Worlds
by Nancy Y. Kiang
in Scientific American, 2008.

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Ocean Worlds: The Search for Life
A video by NASA about what characteristics scientists look for in the search for life on other worlds and why.

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Life, Here and Beyond
by Marc Kaufman.
An article about how intertwined astrobiology is with astronomy and space exploration. It was last updated for NASA in October 2022.

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The Habitable Zone
NASA's explanation of the "habitable zone" around a star (video, diagrams, and text).

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NASA
Other Astrobiology learning materials from NASA.