QUANTA MAGAZINE - Earth’s fate rests on a coin flip. In 5 billion years, our sun will balloon into a red giant star. Whether Earth survives is an “open question,” said Melinda Soares-Furtado, an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Sure, Earth could be swallowed by the sun and destroyed. But in some scenarios...
EOS - The folks next door can have a big impact on the livability of a neighborhood. If they’re loud, pushy, and obnoxious, they can force you out of even the most comfortable of homes. That truism applies to planets as well as people. The wrong kind of neighbor can kick an Earth-like planet out...
NATURE - Budget pressures at NASA, specifically arising from the increasing costs of several planetary science mission programmes, have rendered the Venus orbiter VERITAS as collateral damage. Currently on subsistence funding, mission scientists worry about the impact of ongoing delays on Venus exploration. Perpetually shrouded by dense, toxic clouds and sizzling with temperatures hot enough...
CNET - Scientists have spotted something unexpected in the cloud decks of Venus, our nearest planetary neighbor. While no one is saying it's aliens just yet, some sort of alien microorganism is on the list of potential explanations for why a chemical that shouldn't be floating around above the planet has been observed there for...
UNIVERSE TODAY - In recent decades, over 4,000 extrasolar planets have been confirmed beyond our Solar System. With so many planets available for study, astronomers have learned a great deal about the types of planets that exist out there and what kind of conditions are prevalent. For instance, they have been able to get a...