Posts by 

Paul Scott Anderson

Of 4 types of planetary systems, ours is rarest

A new study suggests there are 4 types of planetary systems. The Ordered class, which includes our own solar system, is the rarest.

Nearby Earth-size exoplanet may be habitable

Meet Wolf 1069 b, an Earth-size exoplanet only 31 light-years away that resides in its star's habitable zone. It's an ideal target in the search for alien life.

Saturn’s moon Mimas might have an ocean

A new study suggests that Saturn's moon Mimas may have a subsurface ocean. If so, the "Death Star" moon would join other ocean moons in the outer solar system.

Magnetar slowed down by a volcano-like eruption?

Astronomers say they think they know why a rapidly spinning magnetar slowed down suddenly in 2020. They say a powerful volcano-like eruption is to blame.

AI search for aliens yields 8 potential signals

An international team of scientists says that a sophisticated new AI search for aliens has already found 8 potential 'signals of interest' from 5 nearby stars.

Webb discovers ices in a dark molecular cloud

NASA's Webb discovers ices: The new space telescope has found a wide variety of frozen molecules in a dark molecular cloud 360 light-years away.

Webb observes Chariklo’s rings during occultation

NASA's Webb telescope took its 1st look at tiny asteroid Chariklo's rings, showing they contain water ice. Webb used a stellar occultation to observe the rings.

New Milky Way survey reveals billions of objects

Astronomers at NOIRLab, using the Dark Energy Camera in Chile, have released a new Milky Way survey showing billions of objects in the galactic plane.

Permanently shadowed crater captured by ShadowCam

NASA's ShadowCam instrument on the Danuri lunar orbiter has sent back its 1st image. It shows details inside a permanently shadowed crater on the moon.

Life on Io? An astrobiologist says it’s possible

Could there be microbial life on Io? Jupiter's hostile volcanic moon seems an unlikely home, but astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch says it's not impossible.