Posts by

Paul Scott Anderson

95 new cool brown dwarfs in the sun’s neighborhood

A group of citizen scientists working with a NASA citizen science project called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 has discovered 95 new brown dwarfs in the sun's nearby neighborhood.

Paul Scott Anderson

August 23, 2020

Amazing photos in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter celebration

NASA has posted a sampling of some of the most awe-inspiring photos of Mars, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are proof that Mars is a very photogenic world.

Paul Scott Anderson

August 20, 2020

Exoplanet-hunter TESS completes its primary mission

NASA's 2nd planet-hunter, TESS, has spent 2 years surveying the sky for exoplanets orbiting distant stars. It has found over 2,000 exoplanets so far. TESS now moves into its extended mission phase.

Paul Scott Anderson

August 16, 2020

A deep, giant cloud disruption found on Venus

Researchers have discovered a giant atmospheric wave-like phenomenon in Venus' lower atmosphere, unlike anything else seen in the solar system. Evidence shows it has existed since at least 1983, but went completely undetected until now.

Paul Scott Anderson

August 10, 2020

A surprising spiral around a planet factory

A new image of the planet-forming disk around the young star RU Lup reveals a beautiful and unexpected massive spiral of gas, reminiscent of a spiral galaxy.

Paul Scott Anderson

August 9, 2020

Could ice sheets, not rivers, have formed the channels on Mars?

New research suggests that many of Mars' ancient channels, thought to have been carved by flowing surface water, were formed instead by meltwater beneath glacial ice sheets.

Paul Scott Anderson

August 7, 2020

Can other gases help explain Mars methane mystery?

The European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter has unexpectedly detected carbon dioxide and ozone in Mars' atmosphere where the elusive methane should be, researchers in the UK and Russia have announced. The two gases may be hindering the probe's methane detections.

Paul Scott Anderson

August 3, 2020

Juno’s new images reveal Ganymede’s north pole

These are the first spacecraft images yet acquired of the north pole of Ganymede, largest moon of the giant planet Jupiter. NASA's Juno spacecraft - now orbiting Jupiter - obtained them.

Paul Scott Anderson

July 31, 2020

How astronomers rediscovered a ‘lost world’

And why this rediscovery of a lost world - called NGTS-11b - bodes well for finding habitable exoplanets.

Paul Scott Anderson

July 30, 2020

1st direct image of 2 giant exoplanets orbiting a sunlike star

For the 1st time ever, astronomers have photographed more than one giant exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star. The planetary system is similar to our solar system, but younger.

Paul Scott Anderson

July 26, 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.