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A group of astronomers from The University of Texas at Austin has found that a telescope idea shelved by NASA a decade ago can solve a problem that no other telescope can.

A team using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered what may be the first intact planet found closely orbiting a white dwarf, the dense leftover of a sun-like star only 40% larger than Earth. Andrew Vanderburg, Andreia Carillo and Caroline Morley were among the astronomers on the team.

A team of astronomers including McDonald Observatory's Bill Cochran have made a detailed study of a young planet slightly smaller than Neptune with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder at The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory.

An international team of astronomers including Stella Offner of The University of Texas at Austin has proposed a new method for the formation of aluminum-26 in star systems that are forming planets.

Astronomer Caroline Morley speculates on the possibility of finding life on other planets in the near future.

Astrophysicist Katherine Freese, astronomer John Kormendy and evolutionary biologist Mark Kirkpatrick of The University of Texas at Austin have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

A compilation from our previous episodes that we hope will help you find some solace right now: in rediscovering life, the people we're closest with and the universe.

So what will the next 50 years bring? Absent a crystal ball, your best bet would be to ask a scientist.

Bill Cochran was a part of the research team that detected an exoplanet twice the size of Earth and possibly 12 times as massive, believed to be similar to Neptune. Called G 9-40b, it orbits a small star called a red dwarf about 100 light-years from Earth and completes a full orbit every six Earth days.

A team of astronomers led by Brendan Bowler of The University of Texas at Austin has probed the formation process of giant exoplanets and brown dwarfs, a class of objects that are more massive than giant planets, but not massive enough to ignite nuclear fusion in their cores to shine like true stars.