The Keck Planet Finder instrument on the Keck 1 Telescope in Hawaii has achieved 1st light. It will search for habitable Earth-sized planets around other stars.
Scientists say they have confirmed an ancient ocean on Mars. The study uses new topographical maps that reveal traces of the shoreline that once existed.
Life on Mars may have initially thrived early on, but then ultimately caused its own extinction, a new study from researchers in the U.S. and France says.
Researchers say that early Mars likely had a thick hydrogen atmosphere that allowed water to exist for millions of years, even before Earth had oceans.
A new study uses solar occultation data from NASA's Cassini mission to better understand the composition, formation and other secrets of Saturn's rings.
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.