Astrobiology is a relatively new field of science making its first appearance in 2009. “Astrobiology is the study of the origin, distribution and future of life in the universe.” This means that astrobiologists attempt to figure out where and why the planets exist.

Recent astrobiological discoveries included the finding of Twelve small Kepler transiting planets in the habitable zone. These planets were validated by Astrobiologists Guillermo Torres, and David M. Kipping, (Also Francois Fressin, Douglas A. Caldwell, Joseph D. Twicken, Sarah Ballard, Natalie M. Batalha, Stephen T. Bryson, David R. Ciardi, Christopher E. Henze, Steve B. Howell, Howard T. Isaacson, Jon M. Jenkins, Philip S. Muirhead, Elisabeth R. Newton, Erik A. Petigura, Thomas Barclay, William J. Borucki, Justin R. Crepp, Mark E. Everett, Elliott P. Horch, Andrew W. Howard, Rea Kolbl, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Sean McCauliff, and Elisa V. Quintana.) “These planets are considered in the habitable zone due to their orbital periods ranging from 34 to 207 days.” Eleven out of twelve of the planets show a 99.73% rate of being habitable while the twelfth planet is at 99.2%.

Another discovery is the Dwarf planet that could help show how life spreads through the solar system. On March 26th a planet was announced that lies right out side of Neptune orbit. It is only the second dwarf planet discovered past the Kuiper Belt. This planet shows us that there may be many other planets outside of our known universe.

All in all astrobiology is going to help astronomers learn more about the galaxies adn allow more people to become interested in science.