Posts by

Paul Scott Anderson

Revealing hidden alien oceans, with chemistry

NASA scientists say that to find hidden alien oceans on distant exoplanets, use chemistry. Ocean worlds will have distinctly different atmospheric compositions from planets that don't have oceans, including a lack of ammonia.

Paul Scott Anderson

November 5, 2021

Exoplanet lost its atmosphere in ancient impact

A young Earth-sized exoplanet lost its atmosphere in a giant impact about 200,000 years ago, leaving behind clues in leftover dust and carbon monoxide gas.

Paul Scott Anderson

November 4, 2021

A new field guide for hot Jupiters

A new field guide for hot Jupiters combines Hubble Space Telescope observations with theoretical models. It should inform ideas about planet formation.

Paul Scott Anderson

Deborah Byrd

October 28, 2021

Asteroid Bennu’s boulder mystery solved

Asteroid Bennu's boulder mystery has now been solved, scientists say. Highly porous rocks explain the abundant large rocks but lack of fine sand-like regolith.

Paul Scott Anderson

October 27, 2021

See 42 of the largest asteroids in new images

Astronomers with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have obtained new and more detailed images of 42 of the largest asteroids in the main asteroid belt.

Paul Scott Anderson

October 24, 2021

Moon-forming disk around super-Jupiter exoplanet?

Astronomers say that there may be moons being created in a moon-forming disk of dust around a giant super-Jupiter planet (or brown dwarf) 500 light-years away.

Paul Scott Anderson

October 21, 2021

Weird radio waves from the heart of the Milky Way

An international team of astronomers has detected weird radio waves coming from the heart of the Milky Way. They are unlike any found before, and may originate from a new type of cosmic object.

Paul Scott Anderson

October 17, 2021

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

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.