In August, the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of an Earth sized planet orbiting in the habitable, or Goldilocks Zone, of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. Given its location just 4.22 light years away, the newfound world is as close to Earth as a potentially life-supporting planet could plausibly be, raising interesting philosophical […]
German rocket pioneer Krafft Ehricke supposedly once said “if God had meant mankind to become a spacefaring species he would have given us a Moon.” Based on that sentiment, tomorrow could be a bad day for atheists. Last month, word began to come out that an Earth sized planet has been discovered in the habitable […]
You may recall the Drake Equation, the famous estimate of the total number of potential technologically advanced civilization in the Milky Way, with which we might make radio contact. The right hand side of the equation, courtesy of Wikipedia are : R* = the average rate of star formation in our galaxy fp = the […]
From the ESO: Astronomers using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory have discovered three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth. These worlds have sizes and temperatures similar to those of Venus and Earth and are the best targets found so far for the search for life outside the […]
In the best image of its kind to date, ESO’s ALMA captures a protoplanetary disc around the star TW Hydrae, revealing the telltale signature of rings and gaps that indicate planets are in the process of formation. Press Release From the European Southern Observatory: The star TW Hydrae is a popular target of study for […]
Two new discoveries, one at the farthest boundary of our solar system, and one orbiting a dim star 39 light years add to a remarkable week of planetary news. First up is V774101, a 300-600 mile diameter world discovered orbiting at a distance 3 times further out than Pluto, and 103 times further than Earth […]
Another “Science Friday” courtesy of the European Southern Observatory. From ESO, (link here) “The HARPS instrument at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile has been used to make the most complete census of comets around another star ever created. A French team of astronomers has studied nearly 500 individual comets orbiting the star Beta Pictoris […]
Artists Concept: Image Concept NASA/JPL-Caltech JPL News Story: Astronomers using data from three of NASA’s space telescopes — Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler — have discovered clear skies and steamy water vapor on a gaseous planet outside our solar system. The planet is about the size of Neptune, making it the smallest planet from which molecules […]
Artists Conception : Credit Rob Gizis, CUNY BMCC An astronomer at Penn State University appears to discovered the first ever direct evidence of water ice clouds on another world. That world is WISE J0855-0714, an enigmatic brown dwarf of “failed star” located only 7.3 light years from Earth. The discovery was made using images from […]
Historians may one day look back at the present age with with a sense of envy. In much the same way we can look back at the Renaissance or exploration in the Age of Sail and wonder what it was like to live in an era when the limits of knowledge were being being tested […]
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