NASA survey seen as steppingstone for astronomy

Imagine trying to see a firefly next to a distant spotlight, where the beams from the spotlight all but drown out the faint glow from the firefly. Add fog, and both lights are dimmed. Is the glow from the firefly still visible ...

Mars Curiosity celebrates sol 2,000

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover just hit a new milestone: its two-thousandth Martian day, or sol, on the Red Planet. An image mosaic taken by the rover in January offers a preview of what comes next.

Habitable planets around pulsars theoretically possible

It is theoretically possible that habitable planets exist around pulsars. Such planets must have an enormous atmosphere that convert the deadly X-rays and high energy particles of the pulsar into heat. This is the conclusion ...

Spanning disciplines in the search for life beyond Earth

The search for life beyond Earth is riding a surge of creativity and innovation. Following a gold rush of exoplanet discovery over the past two decades, it is time to tackle the next step: determining which of the known exoplanets ...

Two super-Earths around star K2-18

New research using data collected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has revealed that a little-known exoplanet called K2-18b could well be a scaled-up version of Earth.

Mine craft for Mars

If there are habitable conditions on Mars, they may be underground. Scientists from around the world are now testing how to live on other planets by venturing a kilometre beneath the surface in a UK mine. ESA astronaut Matthias ...

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