Space and astronomy news
Since 1995, astronomers have detected thousands of worlds orbiting nearby stars, sparking a race to find the one that most resembles Earth. The discovery of habitable exoplanets and even extraterrestrial life is often referred to as the Holy Grail of science. So with the gold rush of exoplanet discoveries these days, it’s pretty tempting in …
Saturn has 53 confirmed and named moons, though as many as 150 may exist. This makes it second only to Jupiter in terms of the number of natural satellites it has orbiting it
Artistic representation of the current five known potential habitable worlds. Will this list broaden under a new habitability model? Credit: The Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) When we think of life on other planets, we tend to imagine things (microbes, plant life and yes, humanoids) that exist on the surface. But Earth’s biosphere doesn’t stop at …
Continue reading “Possible Subterranean Life Means More Exoplanets Could Harbor Life”
When we think of exoplanets that may be able to support life, we hone in on the habitable zone. A habitable zone is a region around a star where planets receive enough stellar energy to have liquid surface water. It’s a somewhat crude but helpful first step when examining thousands of exoplanets. However, there’s a …
Continue reading “Habitable Worlds are Found in Safe Places”
I’ve often stated that planets come in a wide range of sizes but rarely do I find myself stating they come in a wide range of shapes too! The discovery of WASP-107b is a case in point since this planet is the size of Jupiter but only a tenth of its mass. But there’s more… …
Continue reading “Astronomers Find a Strange Lopsided Planet”
Venus is often described as a hellscape. The surface temperature breaches the melting point of lead, and though its atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide, it contains enough sulfuric acid to satisfy the comparison with Hades. But conditions throughout Venus’ ample atmosphere aren’t uniform. There are locations where some of life’s building blocks could resist …
Continue reading “Another Building Block of Life Can Handle Venus’ Sulphuric Acid”
When you walk across your lawn or down the street, you move on the surface of a surprisingly layered world. Some of those layers are rock, others are molten. A surprising amount of water is mixed into those layers, as well. It turns out that most planets have more of it “deep down” than we …
Continue reading “There’s More Water Inside Planets Than We Thought”
Watching the Olympics recently and the amazing effort of the hammer throwers was a wonderful demonstration of the radial velocity method that astronomers use to detect exoplanets. As the hammer spins around the athlete, their body and head bobs back and forth as the weight from the hammer tugs upon them. In the same way …
Continue reading “By Watching the Sun, Astronomers are Learning More about Exoplanets”
The term ‘habitable zone’ is a broad definition that serves a purpose in our age of exoplanet discovery. But the more we learn about exoplanets, the more we need a more nuanced definition of habitable. New research shows that vegetation can enlarge the habitable zone on any exoplanets that host plant life.
Universe Today has recently investigated a myriad of scientific disciplines, including impact craters, planetary surfaces, exoplanets, astrobiology, solar physics, comets, planetary atmospheres, planetary geophysics, cosmochemistry, meteorites, radio astronomy, extremophiles, organic chemistry, black holes, cryovolcanism, planetary protection, and dark matter, and what they can teach us about how we got here, where we’re going, and whether …