Posts by

Paul Scott Anderson

Water on giant exoplanets both common and scarce

A new study of the atmospheres of known giant exoplanets suggests that water - an essential ingredient for life - may be common on other worlds in our Milky Way galaxy. At the same, there may be less of it than astronomers once expected.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 17, 2019

Explained! Enceladus’ enigmatic tiger stripes

How did the so-called tiger stripes - huge parallel cracks - form in the icy surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus? A new study from the Carnegie Institution for Science provides some answers.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 10, 2019

Meet the microorganism that likes to eat meteorites

At least one type of microbe on Earth not only likes to eat meteorites but actually prefers them as a food source, according to a new international scientific study.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 10, 2019

This white dwarf star has a giant, evaporating planet

White dwarf stars are typically more or less Earth-sized. The planet orbiting white dwarf WDJ0914+1914 appears to be at least twice as big as its star! High intensity radiation from its star is causing this planet to evaporate. Will the same thing happen in our solar system someday?

Paul Scott Anderson

December 6, 2019

Does complex life exist elsewhere? Study of exoplanet-tilts boosts hopes

A new study focuses on the axial tilt of Earthlike exoplanets in binary or double star systems. It boosts hope for complex life elsewhere ... although not, these astronomers say, within the star system closest to our sun.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 2, 2019

Thousands of exoplanets may orbit supermassive black holes

It sounds unbelievable, but a new study from Kagoshima University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan says that exoplanets - thousands of them - could be orbiting supermassive black holes.

Paul Scott Anderson

December 1, 2019

Was ‘Oumuamua a cosmic dust bunny?

'Oumuamua - the weird object that entered our solar system in 2017 and quickly fled back toward interstellar space - might not be an asteroid or comet from a distant solar system, as many believed. It might instead be a "cosmic dust bunny."

Paul Scott Anderson

November 26, 2019

Scientists confirm Europa’s water vapor geysers … maybe

New observations appear to confirm the existence of water vapor geysers on Europa. The findings are tantalizing, but some scientists are not convinced yet.

Paul Scott Anderson

November 25, 2019

Bizarre Tully Monster fossil is still a mystery

Was the Tully Monster - which left behind one of the strangest fossils ever discovered - a vertebrate or an invertebrate? The mystery continues.

Paul Scott Anderson

November 24, 2019

Who knew? Plants ‘panic’ when it rains

Using a spray bottle to simulate rain, researchers found a "panic-like" response in plants. Complex chemical warning signals were passed from leaf to leaf and even communicated to other plants.

Paul Scott Anderson

November 19, 2019

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.