Earth 2.0? Proxima b More Earth-Like Than Previously Thought
The closest known extrasolar planet may also be one of the most Earth-like worlds ever discovered. Situated only 4.2 light years away in orbit around the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the terrestrial planet Proxima b, which was first discovered back in August 2016, could be a genuine Earth 2.0. Previous studies had suggested that this neighboring world was around … Continue reading
Astronomers Discover ‘One-in-a-Million’ Super-Earth
Astronomers have identified a distant exoplanet with a size and orbit comparable to that of the Earth. The planet, which is situated around 24,000 light years away, appears to have a mass somewhere between that of the Earth and Neptune and orbits its parent star – which is a mere 10% of the mass of the Sun – at a … Continue reading
Black Hole Discovered Just 1,000 Light Years Away from Earth, ‘VISIBLE’ to the Naked Eye
Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have identified the closest black hole to our solar system yet discovered and, as it turns out, it’s been hiding in plain sight and is actually visible to the naked eye (kind of). The black hole in question is 1,000 light-years from Earth in the Telescopium constellation and forms part of a triple system, … Continue reading
Astronomers Detect Mystery Radio Burst in Our Own Galaxy
For the first time, astronomers have picked up a fast radio burst within the confines of the Milky Way. Fast radio bursts, which last mere milliseconds yet generate as much energy as the Sun does in an entire day, have remained something of an enigma since their discovery back in 2007. Previous examples of these enigmatic phenomena have all been … Continue reading
‘Super Earths’ May Harbor Life After All, According to New Study
“Seager also remarked that we will likely find signs of extraterrestrial life in the next 15 years, and that “we stand on a great threshold in the human history of space exploration.” via sputniknews: Arguing that mankind stands on “a great threshold in the human history of space exploration”, the lead author of the new study claims that signs of … Continue reading
Comet SWAN (C/2020 F8) Rapidly Brightening, Now Visible With Naked Eye
Comet SWAN (C/2020 F8) is brightening rapidly. “I just came in from observing it with the naked eye,” reports John Drummond of Gisborne, New Zealand. “It seems to have increased in brightness dramatically since I last saw it a few nights ago.” Indeed, multiple observers have now pegged the comet at magnitude +5.5, just within the range of naked-eye visibility. … Continue reading
NASA Announces Kepler Telescope Discovery of Earth-Size Exoplanet in Habitable Zone
Scientists taking a second look at old observations from the Kepler Space Telescope discovered a planet in a distant solar system the same size as Earth at a distance from its host star suggesting the planet could support water, NASA said in a press release on Wednesday. “Out of all the exoplanets found by Kepler, this distant world – located … Continue reading
Collision With an Ice Planet May Have Given Uranus its Tilt and its Moons
Our solar system has some very odd planets and odd placements of planets. For example gas giants like Jupiter have been found to be more often be closer to the parent star where as Jupiter does not fit that trait. Then we have the unusual tilt of Uranus for which we continue to find the answer to. via IFL Science: … Continue reading
Unusually Bright Comet May Soon Light Up Our Skies In An Impressive Display
Given the on going pandemic, if this was to get bright enought to be seen with the naked eye (unaided by optical instrument), it will surely be of an apocalyptic vibe! By Stephen Luntz IFLScieince In Medieval times comets were thought to foretell plagues, wars, and the deaths of kings, so a pandemic should be just the time for one … Continue reading
Emergence of Life in Other Parts of the Universe Could Be Inevitable, Study Suggests
Professor Tomonori Totani from the Department of Astronomy combined biological and cosmological models to answer one of the most existential questions – how did life begin? His research was published in Scientific Reports. The most basic component that all living things have in common is ribonucleic acid, or RNA. Professor Totani looked at how life’s building block could spontaneously form … Continue reading
