Did it rain on ancient Mars? A new study suggests that heavy precipitation - rain or snow - helped form rivers that fed into lakes billions of years ago.
To search for alien life - even exotic life beyond our imagination - a new study suggests looking for "patterns of energy" instead of just organic molecules.
The Curiosity rover has found deposits of carbonates on Mars. It's evidence for an ancient carbon cycle and could explain what happened to Mars' atmosphere.
New observations by the Webb Space Telescope have reignited the debate about possible life on K2-18b, a potentially habitable exoplanet 124 light-years away.
Astronomers have discovered a Tatooine world that orbits 2 brown dwarfs (failed stars). But strangely, the planet orbits the brown dwarfs at a 90 degree angle.
Could there be microbial life on Titan? New research suggests that despite being rich in organics, Titan might only be able to support a few pounds of microbes.
The Aguas Zarcas mudball meteorites, which landed in Costa Rica in 2019, were stronger than expected. A new study shows that not all mudballs are weak.
NASA's Perseverance rover has found silica-rich rocks, including - for the 1st time - quartz. It's compelling evidence of ancient hydrothermal activity on Mars.
The Hubble Space Telescope's 20-year study of Uranus has yielded new insights about the enigmatic ice giant's atmosphere and how it might compare to exoplanets.
Researchers using the ALMA observatory have found that protoplanetary disks - the birthplaces of new planets - vary in size much more than previously thought.
Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. He studied English, writing, art and computer/publication design in high school and college. He later started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was later renamed Planetaria. He also later started the blog Fermi Paradoxica, about the search for life elsewhere in the universe.
While interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science and SETI. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis with Universe Today. He has also written for SpaceFlight Insider and AmericaSpace and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly. He also did some supplementary writing for the iOS app Exoplanet.
He has been writing for EarthSky since 2018, and also assists with proofing and social media.
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