Space and astronomy news
Combining data from the retired Kepler mission with the Gaia Observatory, a team of scientists have produced new estimates for how many habitable planets could be out there.
The detection of phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere was one of those quintessential moments in space science. It was an unexpected discovery, and when combined with our incomplete understanding of planetary science, and our wistful hopefulness around the discovery of life, the result was a potent mix that lit up internet headlines. As always, some of …
Continue reading “Maybe Volcanoes Could Explain the Phosphine in Venus’ Atmosphere”
The Search for Life can be a lot messier than it sounds. The three words make a nice, tidy title, but what it entails is extraordinarily difficult. How, in this vast galaxy, can we find life and the planets or moons that might host it? We’re barely at the point of either discovering or ruling …
A team of scientists has just published a paper announcing their discovery of a peculiar chemical in the cloudtops of Venus. As far as scientists can tell, this chemical, called phosphine, could only be produced by living processes on a planet like Venus. So the whole internet is jumping on this story. But did they …
Continue reading “Did Scientists Just Find Signs of Life on Venus?”
I remember the Summer of 1997 when a shoebox-sized Mars rover literally broke the Internet. Sojourner – the first rover we sent to another planet – had just landed on Mars in a giant space airbag bouncing along the surface to a safe stop. The Internet was new. And I was a young space enthusiast …
Continue reading “Perseverance and the Quest to Find Life on Mars”
Looking to answer the question of “where are all the aliens,” some scientists have suggested that planets like Earth might actually be very rare.
Exoplanets are often considered potentially habitable if they could have liquid water. But the necessities of biology set the habitability bar a bit higher.
Astronomy is advancing to the point where we can see planets forming around young stars. This was an unthinkable development only a few years ago. In fact, it was only two years ago that astronomers captured the first image of a newly-forming planet. Now there are more and more studies into how planets form, including …
Continue reading “More Pictures of Planet-Forming Disks Around Young Stars”
Searching through archival Kepler data has revealed another exoplanet around Kepler-1649, the most Earth-like exoplanet discovered to date
The Perseverance rover was recently integrated with its wheels and Mars Helicopter, as part of its final preparations before launch this summer.