TRAPPIST‑1 e Revealed: Peering Inside an Exoplanet's Atmosphere
Join SETI Live host Moiya McTier with Néstor Espinoza (STScI) and Ana Glidden (MIT) for a deep dive into the latest JWST observations of TRAPPIST‑1 e, one of the most tantalizing Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of a nearby star. In this episode, we explore: 🛰 How JWST is peering into TRAPPIST-1 e's atmosphere (or lack thereof). 🔵 Why the planet almost certainly doesn't have a thick hydrogen envelope, ruling out a mini-Neptune-like world. 🪨 The emerging hints of a secondary, heavier atmosphere — or the possibility that it's a bare rock. ⭐️ The challenges posed by stellar activity and their implications for habitability. Get ready for a conversation about exoplanet atmospheres, habitability, and the next steps in characterizing worlds beyond our Solar System. Press release: http://webbtelescope.org/news-2025-109 Papers: Espinoza et al., https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf42e Glidden et al., https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf62e (Recorded live 6 November 2025.)
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Welcome Moiya! A New Host Joins SETI Live
Dr. Moiya McTier is an astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator in New York City who loves planets, galaxy evolution, her cat named Cosmo, and old stories about space. She is also the latest addition to our rotating cast of hosts for SETI Live! Join communications specialist Beth Johnson for an interview to introduce Moiya to the community. So please bring your questions and help us welcome her to the team! (Recorded live 3 November 2025.)
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Comet 3I/ATLAS Perihelion Update
What happens when a visitor from another star system drops by? Join planetary astronomers Franck Marchis and Ariel Graykowski for a special SETI Live all about Comet 3I/ATLAS — only the third known interstellar object ever detected! Astronomers around the world, including citizen scientists in the Unistellar Network, are racing to learn as much as possible about this rare cosmic traveler. 3I/ATLAS is swinging through our neighborhood, reaching perihelion on October 30, 2025, just inside the orbit of Mars — a front-row seat for spacecraft like Lucy and Psyche. While it's currently hidden behind the Sun, it won't stay that way for long. By December 2025, 3I/ATLAS will reappear, ready for a fresh round of observations from Earth and its Lagrange-point observatories. We'll dive into what scientists have discovered so far, how they're studying this interstellar visitor, and what it might reveal about the chemistry and dynamics of other star systems. Don't miss it — interstellar comets don't come around every day! (Recorded live 31 October 2025.)
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This Microbe Breathes Two Ways! The Bacteria That Challenge Biochemistry
Join host Beth Johnson on SETI Live as she talks with Dr. Eric Boyd from the University of Montana about a groundbreaking discovery: microbes that can breathe in two ways at once! These extraordinary bacteria simultaneously perform both aerobic (oxygen-based) and anaerobic (sulfur-based) respiration, challenging everything we thought we knew about cellular life. Discover how this incredible metabolic flexibility reshapes our understanding of life on Earth, inspires biotechnology innovations, and even informs the search for extraterrestrial life. 🔬 Featured Research: Quanta Magazine overview: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cells-that-breathe-two-ways-20250723/ Original study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56418-4 Dr. Boyd's website: http://geoboydology.com/ 💡 Learn how microbes survive extreme environments and why this discovery matters for science and space exploration. (Recorded live 30 October 2025.)
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The Hidden Ocean of Ariel: Tidal Forces and the Case for a Watery Past
Could Uranus's moon Ariel have once harbored a vast, deep ocean beneath its icy crust—perhaps even one that still lingers today? In this episode of SETI Live, host Beth Johnson welcomes Caleb Strom (University of North Dakota) and Alex Pathoff (Planetary Science Institute) to discuss new research revealing evidence that Ariel may have once held a subsurface ocean over 170 kilometers deep. Using geological mapping and tidal‐stress modeling, the team shows how ancient fractures and ridges on Ariel's surface hint at powerful internal forces and a dynamic, watery past. This discovery expands the growing family of "ocean worlds"—planets and moons that may have once supported (or could still support) conditions for life. What does this mean for future exploration of the Uranus system, and what could we learn by going there? 🔗 Press release: https://www.psi.edu/blog/evidence-of-a-past-deep-ocean-on-uranian-moon-ariel/ 📄 Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103525003707 (Recorded live 23 October 2025.)
SETI Live is a weekly production of the SETI Institute and is recorded live on stream with viewers on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Twitch. Guests include astronomers, planetary scientists, cosmologists, and more, working on current scientific research. Founded in 1984, the SETI Institute is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary research and education organization whose mission is to lead humanity's quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the Universe and to share that knowledge with the world.
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