Clik here to view.
A Short Message for Kepler, from Astroengine.com…
The Delta II ignition: Kepler began its mission on Friday at 10:49pm EST (© United Launch Alliance) In the 17th Century, Johannes Kepler defined the laws of planetary motion around our star. Now the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Listening Out for the Magnetospheres of Habitable Exoplanets
Searching for Earth-like exoplanets (© Mark Garlick*) Is there a new way to hunt for habitable Earth-like exoplanets? According to a US Naval Research Laboratory researcher there is an obvious, yet...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Could Extraterrestrial Genes Be Like Ours?
DNA and amino acids. Not just a terrestrial thing? (©CG4TV) This is probably one of the biggest questions that hang over science fiction story lines: Will extraterrestrials have any resemblance to Life...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Is SETI Not An Interstellar Switchboard?
"Monolith" by highdarktemplar on DeviantArt. On reading an article in The Daily Galaxy today, I was interested by what the author had to say. In a nutshell, the article pointed out that it is a big...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Has Kepler Discovered a New Class of Celestial Object?
The strange objects orbiting the two stars could be mangled white dwarfs... but the jury is still out (NASA) The first results from NASA’s Kepler exoplanet hunter are in and a perplexing early result...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Earth is no Longer ‘One of a Kind’
For this special little planet, today has been a very big day. Although we’ve speculated that planets the size of Earth must exist elsewhere in the cosmos, it wasn’t until one of the co-investigators...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Screaming Exoplanets: Detecting Alien Magnetospheres
Exoplanets may reveal their location through radio emissions (NASA) In 2009, I wrote about a fascinating idea: in the hunt for “Earth-like” exoplanets, perhaps we could detect the radio emissions from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When an Astrophysicist Needs a Star Map
Stars of the Northern Hemisphere, Ashland Astronomy Studio Imagine the scene: I’m having a romantic walk on a clear night with my wife along the beach. We see a brief flash of light and Deb says, “Hey,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exoplanet Count Tops 700
An artist's impression of a lone exoplanet transiting its parent star. There are now 700 confirmed alien worlds orbiting other stars (ESO) On Friday, the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia registered more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
About Those ‘Habitable’ Exoplanets (RT America Interview)
On Monday, I appeared on RT America’s live news broadcast to talk exoplanets — particularly the three small (possibly rocky) worlds that orbit the stars Kepler-62 and Kepler-69. It was a lot of fun...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exoplanets Are Sacrificing Moons to Their White Dwarf Overlords
An artist’s impression of a planet, comet and debris field surrounding a white dwarf star (NASA/ESA) As if paying tribute, exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs appear to be throwing their exomoons into hot...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Two Exoplanets Are Whipping-Up a Pretty Protoplanetary Gas Spiral
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Tang et al. Using the awesome power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, astronomers have probed the protoplanetary disk of a young star system —...
View ArticleClik here to view.
TRAPPIST-1: The ‘Habitable’ Star System That’s Probably a Hellhole
Red dwarfs can be angry little stars (NASA/GSFC/S. Wiessinger) There are few places that elicit such vivid thoughts of exotic habitable exoplanets than TRAPPIST-1 — a star system located less than 40...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sorry, Proxima Centauri Is Probably a Hellhole, Too
The surface of Proxima b as imagined in this artist’s impression. Sadly, the reality probably doesn’t include an atmosphere (ESO/M. Kornmesser) The funny thing about habitable zones is that they’re not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s a Trap: Extraterrestrial Ozone May be Hidden at Exoplanets’ Equators
ESO/M. KORNMESSER Fortunately for life on Earth, our planet has an ozone layer. This high-altitude gas performs an invaluable service to biology, acting as a kind of global “sunscreen” that blocks the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exocomets Seen Transiting Kepler’s Stars
ESO/L. Calçada If you thought detecting small planets orbiting stars dozens of light-years distant was impressive, imagine trying to “see” individual comets zoom around their star. Well, astronomers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Proxima Centauri Unleashes ‘Doomsday’ Flare
Proxima b just got roasted. Proxima b weather report: Sunny with the chance of a flare of doom (NASA) Having a bad day? Well, spare a thought for any hypothetical aliens living on Proxima b. Proxima...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Toxic “Habitable” Worlds Could Be Havens for Alien Microbes
Don’t forget your spacesuit: Complex lifeforms, such as humans, would not survive on many of the worlds we thought would be interstellar tropical getaways [Pixabay] Worlds like Earth may be even rarer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Space Telescope Sees a Rocky Exoplanet’s Surface. And It’s Horrible
It’s both too hot and too cold, has no atmosphere, and is no place to take a vacation—but there is an upside. Artist’s impression of LHS 3844b, which is thought to be covered in dark lava rock with no...
View Article
