Posts by

Paul Scott Anderson

How overflowing lakes created valleys on Mars

A new study of ancient Martian valleys shows that at least a quarter of them were created by massive floods from overflowing lakes billions of years ago.

Paul Scott Anderson

October 15, 2021

Ancient Martian lake confirmed in rover images

Images from NASA's Perseverance rover have confirmed that Jezero Crater was once an ancient Martian lake. Moreover, there is also a large delta formed by a river and evidence of flash floods that carried large boulders into the lake.

Paul Scott Anderson

October 12, 2021

Photosynthesis in Venus’ atmosphere?

Photosynthesis in Venus' atmosphere may be possible, according to a new study. The findings support the idea that microbes could exist and even thrive in the more temperate regions of the planet's cloud layers.

Paul Scott Anderson

October 11, 2021

Where are the water worlds? New tool to find out

Where are the water worlds? Since water means life (as we know it), scientists studying exoplanets want to know. A new tool might help find them.

Paul Scott Anderson

Deborah Byrd

October 6, 2021

Super-Earth, mini-Neptune or sub-Neptune?

The exoplanet community hasn't yet converged on the best name for exoplanets that are 1.7 - 3.5 Earth-radii. Super-Earth, mini-Neptune, sub-Neptune?

Deborah Byrd

Paul Scott Anderson

October 6, 2021

Mushballs explain missing ammonia on ice giants

Giant slushy hailstones called mushballs explain missing ammonia in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune. They carry the gas down far too deep to be detected.

Paul Scott Anderson

September 29, 2021

Mars’ small size limited its habitability

Mars was once a wet and habitable world, so what happened to change that? According to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, Mars' small size is likely to blame for why it lost most of its water and atmosphere.

Paul Scott Anderson

September 27, 2021

Martian super volcanoes lasted millions of years

NASA scientists say that there were once thousands of volcanic eruptions on Mars. These explosive blasts, in the northern Arabia Terra region, were "super eruptions," the largest and most powerful kind known. The intense activity continued for about 500 million years, about four billion years ago.

Paul Scott Anderson

September 24, 2021

Futuristic space concrete uses astronauts’ blood

Scientists in the U.K. have developed a kind of "space concrete" using dust and human blood that could be used for future human habitats on Mars or the moon.

Paul Scott Anderson

September 23, 2021

Planets are born in cosmic organic soups

Astronomers have found that planets form in cosmic soups of organic molecules. These soups have different ingredients, leading to a wide diversity of planets.

Paul Scott Anderson

September 18, 2021

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.