Posts by

Paul Scott Anderson

New evidence for multiple ice ages on Mars

Earth has had at least 5 major ice ages. Now it appears Mars - the next planet outward from the sun - has undergone anywhere from half a dozen to 20 ice ages in the past several hundred million years.

Paul Scott Anderson

January 26, 2021

NASA mole failed to dig deep into Mars. What’s next?

The mission team for NASA's InSight lander called off its attempts to try to dig deeper into Mars with the heat probe known as "the mole." Meanwhile, the rest of the mission gained an extension to December 2022.

Paul Scott Anderson

January 21, 2021

Striped brown dwarf looks a lot like Jupiter

The surface features of brown dwarfs - objects midway in mass between planets and stars - can't be seen. But researchers have found a way to reveal Jupiter-like stripes and bands in the atmosphere of the closest brown dwarf, Luhman 16B.

Paul Scott Anderson

January 18, 2021

A new look at the universe’s oldest light

New work agrees with older research suggesting the oldest light in the universe - from the most distant galaxy yet known - started its journey toward us 13.77 billion years ago.

Paul Scott Anderson

January 12, 2021

New and rare direct image of a brown dwarf

Astronomers have obtained one of the best images yet of a brown dwarf, an object in a mass range midway between stars and planets. This brown dwarf - called HD 33632 Ab - lies 86 light-years from our sun.

Paul Scott Anderson

January 11, 2021

Hostile space weather might not be all bad for exoplanet life

A new study from Northwestern University shows that solar flares - space weather - might not always be as dangerous for life on exoplanets as typically thought. In fact, it might even help astronomers discover alien life on distant worlds.

Paul Scott Anderson

January 6, 2021

Dark storm on Neptune changes direction, escapes deadly fate

Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe unusual weather on the planet Neptune, not observed until now. They saw a large, dark storm on Neptune unexpectedly changing direction, thereby saving itself from looming destruction and possibly producing a smaller companion storm.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 29, 2020

Was this mystery radio signal really from Proxima Centauri?

Astronomers with Breakthrough Listen have detected a mysterious radio signal coming from the direction of the nearest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri. But is it really an alien signal or something more terrestrial?

Paul Scott Anderson

December 23, 2020

Space weather in Proxima’s vicinity dims hopes of habitable worlds

Astronomers used radio waves to study conditions in the vicinity of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our sun. The results suggest Proxima's 2 known planets are likely bathed in intense radiation from this star, casting doubt on the planets' potential for life.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 23, 2020

Want to find life on Mars? Look deep underground

A new study from researchers at Rutgers University suggests that the best place to look for evidence of life on Mars is deep underground, where geothermal heat melted subsurface ice.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 17, 2020

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.