Posts by

Paul Scott Anderson

Perseverance rover reveals history of ancient habitable lake

NASA's Perseverance rover has collected 23 samples of rock so far in Jezero Crater on Mars. Analysis shows the ancient lake in the crater was quite habitable.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 29, 2023

The day the solar wind disappeared at Mars

In December 2023, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, scientists discussed a rare "disappearance" of the solar wind at the planet Mars.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 26, 2023

Tiny brown dwarf is smallest found so far

NASA's Webb space telescope has found a tiny brown dwarf that is the smallest free-floating brown dwarf ever seen. Scientists aren't quite sure how it formed.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 22, 2023

The strange case of 2 missing giant exomoons (and maybe others)

Astronomers in Germany say that 2 possible giant exomoons probably don't actually exist. That's disappointing, but there are still some other candidates.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 18, 2023

Watery plumes on Enceladus could hold signs of life

Do the plumes on Enceladus contain evidence of life from the moon's ocean? A new study shows that amino acids could survive and be detectable by spacecraft.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 15, 2023

Does Chiron have rings? Or ring mimics?

A new study suggests that the possible rings around the centaur Chiron in the outer solar system are instead "evolving material" that mimics rings.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 14, 2023

Can haze on water worlds aid in the search for life?

Researchers at Johns Hopkins are simulating haze on water worlds. The haze muddles observations but can also help determine if an exoplanet is habitable.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 11, 2023

Rocky exoplanets can form in the most extreme environments

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has found molecular building blocks of rocky exoplanets in a region previously thought to be too extreme and hostile.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 7, 2023

1st planet-forming disk found in another galaxy

For the first time, astronomers have discovered a planet-forming disk around a young star in another galaxy outside our own Milky Way galaxy.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 5, 2023

What the Chinese Zhurong rover found beneath Mars’ surface

China's Zhurong rover has found polygonal wedges below the surface in Utopia Planitia on Mars. Freeze-thaw cycles of water and ice likely created the polygons.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 3, 2023

Paul Scott Anderson

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.