Astronomers Find and Confirm 44 New Extrasolar Planets
An international team of astronomers has confirmed the existence of 44 new extrasolar planets. The planets were first spotted by the astronomers through data gathered from Campaign #10 of NASA’s Kepler K2 mission. According to NASA’s Kepler and K2 webpage, campaign #10 ran from July 6, 2016, to September 20, 2016. To verify their findings, […]
Pre-Solar System Dust Found in the Atmosphere
A research team led by the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology say they have discovered the remains of the formation of the solar system in some interstellar dust. The dust particles, which were gathered in Earth’s atmosphere by NASA aircraft, are thought to have been cast off from […]
First Extragalactic Planets Found
No doubt you’ve heard about extrasolar or exoplanets; planets that were discovered orbiting a star outside of our own solar system. Nearly 3,000 of these planets have been confirmed so far, with many more candidate planets waiting to be verified. However, these planets have all been discovered within our own Milky Way galaxy. An astrophysics […]
Kepler Discovers More Exoplanets / Scientists Classify Types of Planets
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 […]
Dark Matter Imaged; Shoe-String Theory; Metal in Mars Atmosphere
Dark Matter Filaments of Cosmic Web Imaged Two Canadian researchers say that they have constructed a composite image of dark matter filaments that make up what cosmologists call the cosmic web. Scientists have been finding evidence that our universe may be anything but random and that everything is actually organized and connected to each other […]
Is the Universe Connected By a Cosmic Web?
Some people think that the universe is just a hodge-podge of various celestial objects, such as planets, stars and galaxies. But over the years, scientists have found more evidence that the universe may be anything but random, and is actually more organized and interconnected—like an enormous spider web. Our place in the web Let’s start […]
Is Planet 9 Causing Our Solar System to Wobble?
A new study from researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggests that Planet 9, the huge and so far unseen planet said to be lurking in the far reaches of the solar system, might be causing our group of planets to wobble a little and giving an impression that the sun is slightly tilted. […]
One Third of the World’s Population Unable to See Milky Way
Among my fondest memories of being a kid back in the 1960’s was taking a week or so of summer vacation to visit relatives at my grandfather’s farm in Herman, PA (about 65 km northeast of Pittsburgh). During my stay I would spend evenings lying on the freshly cut grass of my grandpa’s back yard, just looking up into […]
Laser Cloaking Device; New Device Spots Exoplanets; Malaria Older Than We Thought
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 […]
Most Brilliant Supernova; Protein Hunts/Kills Cancer Cells; ETI in Old Star Clusters?
Supernova: 50 Times Brighter than Milky Way Astronomers have been observing a fascinating cosmic event taking place some 3.8 billion light years from Earth. Its the most luminous supernova in the universe. Scientists say that its to be the most powerful supernova ever seen. They say the object at the center of this celestial wonder, […]