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Posts by
Paul Scott Anderson
What’s the source of the ice at the moon’s south pole?
A new study from Brown University suggests that different deposits of ice at the moon's south pole not only originated from different sources, but also vary greatly in age.
October 19, 2019
New telescope to ‘see inside’ hot Jupiter exoplanets
Exoplanets - worlds orbiting distant suns - are very, very far away. Astronomers are learning what some might look like, and what's in their atmospheres. Soon - for the first time - a new telescope will be able to "see inside" some exoplanets.
October 16, 2019
These alien geysers spew life’s building blocks
The Cassini mission to Saturn is over, but scientists still pore over its data. The newest discovery is of organic compounds - the ingredients of amino acids, the building blocks of life - in water vapor plumes from Saturn's moon Enceladus.
October 10, 2019
‘Impossible’ exoplanet and an alternate planet-formation theory
The discovery of exoplanet GJ 3512b - a planet "too big for its star" - adds fuel to the competition between 2 theoretical models of how planets form. It suggests many more Jupiter-like planets are waiting to be found, orbiting nearby sunlike stars.
October 8, 2019
This giant exoplanet shouldn’t exist, but it does
As the number of newly discovered exoplanets - planets orbiting distant suns - continues to rise, so do unexpected surprises. Scientists say that giant exoplanet GJ 3512b shouldn't even exist around its tiny star, but it does.
October 1, 2019
Astronomer probes idea of ET ‘lurkers’
What would an extraterrestrial intelligence need to observe Earth, long-term, from nearby? Materials, a firm anchor, concealment? Earth's co-orbital objects, or quasi-satellites, might be the ideal place to "lurk."
September 29, 2019
Using 3-D models in the search for Mars life
Maps are handy for travel. But what if you're traveling to a place never before visited? For the ExoMars mission, due to launch next summer, scientists have developed new 3-D models of the area to be explored, which may be an old Martian river delta.
September 26, 2019
Could a melting exomoon explain Tabby’s Star?
This star undergoes a long-term dimming that's so mysterious it was, at one time, proposed as possible evidence of an alien culture. Now, scientists say, a disk of debris - torn from a melting exomoon - might explain Tabby's Star.
September 23, 2019
Did an asteroid collision cause an ice age on Earth?
Could a collision between 2 asteroids millions of miles away cause an ice age on Earth, some 460 million years ago? A new study of earthly rocks and sediments - plus micrometeorites that fell in Antarctica - suggest it's possible.
September 19, 2019
Mystery green blob appears and disappears in distant galaxy
What is ULX-4 - a mystery green blob of X-ray light that appeared in the Fireworks Galaxy - and then soon disappeared again? A black hole or neutron star are 2 possibilities.
September 16, 2019
