Webb's Exoplanet Research Sounds Like Sci-Fi—But It's Real

Some exoplanets—like a gas giant with rain made of glass and 5,000-mile-per-hour winds—sound like worlds dreamed up by a science fiction writer. But they’re real. From light-years away, scientists can uncover details about planets orbiting distant stars and even ask whether some exoplanets could support life. Néstor Espinoza, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, explains how NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is revealing new details about exoplanets, especially rocky worlds like Earth.

You can listen to Webb's Exoplanet Research Sounds Like Sci-Fi—But It's Real online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Webb's Exoplanet Research Sounds Like Sci-Fi—But It's Real is an episode from NASA's Curious Universe by Katie Konans.

This episode is 23:43 long.

This episode was published on Sep 3, 2025.

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