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Tag: exoplanets

A composite image of the planet Venus as seen by the Japanese probe Akatsuki. (Akatsuki Orbiter built by Institute of Space and Astronautical Science/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

Life May Exist Among the Clouds of Venus

April 3, 2018

The search for extraterrestrial life has included examining the possibilities within and outside of the solar system. It has been thought that Mars and a couple of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter may hold the chance of having ET life. It’s also thought by some that a number of Earthlike extrasolar or exoplanets residing […]

This sketch illustrates a family tree of exoplanets. Planets are born out of swirling disks of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks. (NASA/Kepler/Caltech (T. Pyle))

Kepler Discovers More Exoplanets / Scientists Classify Types of Planets

June 22, 2017

NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission recently released what it calls the most comprehensive and detailed catalog of candidate exoplanets. Exoplanets or extrasolar planets are planetary bodies that exist outside of our solar system. The new and final Kepler catalog from data gathered from the spacecraft’s initial patch of sky view within the Cygnus constellation includes 219 […]

Artist impression shows several comets speeding across a vast protoplanetary disc of gas and dust and heading straight for the youthful, central star HD 172555. (NASA, ESA, and A. Feild and G. Bacon (STScI))

Ants Goof Off Too; Milky Way Steals Stars; Astronomers Spot Exocomets

January 16, 2017

Ants Balance Work and Rest to Maintain Colony Ants have a reputation of being dedicated and hardworking creatures. But did you know that like humans, ants also seek to maintain a healthy balance of work and rest? While an ant colony appears to be filled with busy workers, according to new research, there are also […]

A 22W laser used for adaptive optics on the Very Large Telescope in Chile. A suite of similar lasers could be used to alter the shape of a planet's transit for the purpose of broadcasting or cloaking the planet. (ESO/G. Hüdepohl)

Laser Cloaking Device; New Device Spots Exoplanets; Malaria Older Than We Thought

April 1, 2016

Lasers Could Hide Earth from Aliens Scientists have been scanning the skies and conducting numerous studies in a search for extraterrestrial intelligent life or ETI’s. Back in 2010 renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking warned that it might be too dangerous for humans to interact with ETI’s. While we’re looking for signs of intelligent […]

Color image of Martian moon Phobos (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)

Phobos May Shatter; Study: Poles Won’t Flip; Webb Space Telescope

November 25, 2015

Mars May Shatter its Largest Moon Scientists in California have found that the largest moon of Mars, Phobos, is slowly inching closer to Mars. They predict that once the gravity of Mars finally overpowers Phobos, in about 20 to 40 million years, the moon will probably be shredded to bits. The scientists from the University […]

Image of the birth of planetary nebula surounding red giant star L2 Puppis. Astronomers at the ESO used a special optical and imaging device mounted on its Very Large Telescope (ESO/P. Kervella)

Astronomers Image Birth of a Planetary Nebula in Sharp Detail

June 11, 2015

For the first time ever, a team of astronomers have captured stunning pictures of one of the universe’s most impressive sights: the birth of a bipolar ‘planetary nebula.’ The scientists gathered the images of nebula surrounding L2 Puppis using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope or VLT, in the Atacama Desert of northern […]

Pluto Moons Dance in Chaotic Orbit

June 5, 2015

Pluto and its moons seem to be engaged in a kind of chaotic dance routine with each other. After a thorough analysis of data gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA scientists found that Nix and Hydra – two of Pluto’s five known moons – are wobbling and behaving erratically as they orbit the distant […]

An artist's concept of exoplanet 55 Cancri e as it closely orbits its star 55 Cancri A (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Ground-Based Telescope Observes Exoplanet Transiting Bright Star

December 1, 2014

For the first time, an international team of astronomers has used a ground-based telescope to detect and observe the transit of a planet in front of a Sun-like star outside of our own solar system. Until now, only space-based telescopes were capable of detecting the transits of exoplanets as they passed by bright stars. Distortions […]

Giant Jovian Moon Might Have an Ocean and Ice ‘Club Sandwich’

May 2, 2014

Ganymede is Jupiter’s largest moon; in fact it’s the solar system’s biggest moon.  Now members of the Icy Worlds team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) think that the giant moon, which is even larger than the planet Mercury, may have several layers of ice and liquid oceans piled atop each other, much like a […]

Glitch Jeopardizes Planet Hunter’s Mission

May 17, 2013

A malfunction could force an abrupt end to the Kepler Space Telescope’s planet-hunting mission. NASA received the unwelcome news last Sunday after discovering Kepler had malfunctioned and is currently operating in a self-protective “safe-mode” as it also did earlier this month. The US space agency made the news public this past Wednesday. It appears at […]

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