Using the ALMA telescope in Chile and Einstein’s theory of relativity, scientists observed a young galaxy in the early universe that is invisible in nearly every wavelength.
Scientists and government agencies have been worried about the space junk surrounding Earth for decades. But humanity’s starry ambitions are farther reaching than the space just around Earth.
A disruptive new planet-hunting technology, now under study as part of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, could literally detect and then look for biosignatures from every Earth 2.0 within a thirty-light-year radius of our solar system.
Known as DICER (The Diffractive Interfero Coronagraph Exoplanet Resolver), the key to this NIAC study’s revolutionary means of detecting these planets is that unlike conventional optical space telescopes — which use curved, highly polished mirrors to collect starlight — this mission would employ flat sets of what are known as diffraction gratings.
Who says you need a conventional telescope to find exoplanets? NASA has funded a ‘Phase I’ study for the development of a whole new means of detecting and then teasing spectra from very nearby exoplanetary earths.
Continue reading “NASA Funds Disruptive Space Tech To Detect Very Nearby ExoEarths” »
Data from BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter during Venus gravity assists reveal how a magnetic field protects the Venusian atmosphere.
The acoustically generated force will help astronomers better understand the sun’s photosphere and the causes of space weather.
There’s apparently a dearth of close-orbiting Neptune-size planets in our galaxy, and two observation techniques are starting to explain why.
Astronomers picked up extraterrestrial signals which they previously missed in an area they thought was devoid of potential ET activity. It could be the first hint that humans are not alone in the universe.
Mysterious Signals Detected
A video series looking at concepts for truly huge structures that we might see in the future. We begin with ground-based and Low Orbit structures to help us get up into space and proceed up through artificial habitats and planets to structures which encompass stars and can even move them. Audio-only version for mobile devices available at: https://soundcloud.com/isaac-arthur-148927746/sets/
Scientists’ insatiable search for finding another planet that could support human life has just got a leg up following the discovery of two Earth-like alien worlds. Both the spatial bodies have a mass similar to that of Earth and have been found in the habitable zone of a star so far known as GJ 1002. The star is one of the dwarf stars referred to as M dwarfs, which are stars that have only a fraction of the Sun’s mass and luminosity.
The discovery was made by scientists working at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain. Astrophysicist Vera María Passenger explained to Science Alert that GJ 1,002 was a “dwarf” star with a mass only one-eighth that of the Sun. “It is quite a cool, faint star. This means that its habitability zone is very close to the star.”
Can an early introduction to basic astronomy knowledge help solve the root cause of ignorance and human suffering?
