The race is on to find the giant planet that several teams of astronomers are convinced orbits far out beyond Pluto, but is nonetheless still part of our solar system. Proving the existence of what has become known as Planet X, or Planet 9, would be a discovery for the textbooks and would inevitably change …
Found: Our Nearest Exoplanet Neighbor
No exoplanet can possibly be closer to us than the one just detected around our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought and long-imagined planet is larger than Earth, but small enough to be rocky as opposed to a gas or ice giant. Making things even more exciting, the planet was detected inside the habitable …
Found: Our Nearest Exoplanet Neighbor
No exoplanet can possibly be closer to us than the one just detected around our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought and long-imagined planet is larger than Earth, but small enough to be rocky as opposed to a gas or ice giant. Making things even more exciting, the planet was detected inside the habitable …
Earth: A Prematurely Inhabited Planet?
The study of the formation and logic of the universe (cosmology) and the study of exoplanets and their conduciveness to life do not seem to intersect much. Scientists in one field focus on the deep physics of the cosmos while the others search for the billions upon billions of planets out there and seek to …
Earth: A Prematurely Inhabited Planet?
The study of the formation and logic of the universe (cosmology) and the study of exoplanets and their conduciveness to life do not seem to intersect much. Scientists in one field focus on the deep physics of the cosmos while the others search for the billions upon billions of planets out there and seek to …
The Ever More Puzzling, And Intriguing, "Tabby’s Star."
Substantial, sun-like stars are not supposed to dim. They start with gravity and pressure induced nuclear reactions, and then they burn brighter and brighter until they either explode (go supernova) or burn all their fuel and become small, enormously dense, and not very bright "white dwarfs." Of course, the transit technique of searching for exoplanets …
Continue reading "The Ever More Puzzling, And Intriguing, "Tabby’s Star.""
The Ever More Puzzling, And Intriguing, "Tabby's Star."
Substantial, sun-like stars are not supposed to dim. They start with gravity and pressure induced nuclear reactions, and then they burn brighter and brighter until they either explode (go supernova) or burn all their fuel and become small, enormously dense, and not very bright "white dwarfs." Of course, the transit technique of searching for exoplanets …
Continue reading "The Ever More Puzzling, And Intriguing, "Tabby's Star.""
Coming to Terms With Biosignatures
The search for life beyond our solar system has focused largely on the detection of an ever-increasing number of exoplanets, determinations of whether the planets are in a habitable zone, and what the atmospheres of those planets might look like. It is a sign of how far the field has progressed that scientists are now …
Coming to Terms With Biosignatures
The search for life beyond our solar system has focused largely on the detection of an ever-increasing number of exoplanets, determinations of whether the planets are in a habitable zone, and what the atmospheres of those planets might look like. It is a sign of how far the field has progressed that scientists are now …
Rocky, Close and Potentially Habitable Planets Around a Dwarf Star
Forty light-years away is no small distance. But an announcement of the discovery of two planets at that separation that have been determined to be rocky and Earth-sized adds a significant new twist to the ever-growing collection of relatively close-by exoplanets that just might be habitable. The two planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system orbit what …
Continue reading "Rocky, Close and Potentially Habitable Planets Around a Dwarf Star"
Many Worlds 