People have long dreamed of re-shaping the Martian climate to make it livable for humans. Carl Sagan was the first outside of the realm of science fiction to propose terraforming. In a 1971 paper, Sagan suggested that vaporizing ...
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2019
13
2540
Scientists may need to rethink their estimates for how many planets outside our solar system could host a rich diversity of life.
Astronomy
Jun 10, 2019
30
3815
Since its discovery in 2016, planetary scientists have been excited about TRAPPIST-1, a system where seven Earth-sized rocky planets orbit a cool star. Three of the planets are in the habitable zone, the region of space where ...
Astronomy
Apr 17, 2019
1
415
Excitement about exoplanets skyrocketed when rocky Earth-like planets were discovered orbiting in the habitable zone of some of our closest stars – until hopes for life were dashed by the high levels of radiation bombarding ...
Astronomy
Apr 9, 2019
26
1337
Planetary systems can be harsh environments in their early history. The young worlds orbit suns in stellar nurseries, clusters of stars where violent encounters are commonplace. None of this makes it easy for life to get ...
Astronomy
Mar 6, 2019
5
1804
A team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has found that black soldier fly larvae maximize their eating efficiency by pushing non-eaters out of the way, causing the emergence of a fountain shape made up ...
The Earth formed relatively quickly from the cloud of dust and gas around the Sun, trapping water and gases in the planet's mantle, according to research published Dec. 5 in the journal Nature. Apart from settling Earth's ...
Astronomy
Dec 5, 2018
4
221
Not all stars are like the sun, so not all planetary systems can be studied with the same expectations. New research from a University of Washington-led team of astronomers gives updated climate models for the seven planets ...
Astronomy
Nov 21, 2018
2
213
A new study shows evidence that ancient Mars probably had an ample supply of chemical energy for microbes to thrive underground.
Space Exploration
Sep 24, 2018
6
796
In August of 2016, astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet around Proxima Centauri – the closest star to our solar system. In addition, they confirmed that ...
Astronomy
Sep 17, 2018
15
1953
