Archive for the ‘alien life’ category: Page 42
May 13, 2018
If We Heard From Aliens, What Would It Look Like?
Posted by Michael Lance in category: alien life
How SETI sifts through cosmic noise to hunt for alien signals.
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May 3, 2018
The First Exoplanet Known to Contain Helium Is a Truly Alien World
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: alien life
In addition to filling balloons at birthday parties, helium can be found scattered throughout the cosmos. To date, however, scientists have struggled to detect the ubiquitous element on distant worlds, even though the gas is certain to be there. But that’s now changed, thanks to the discovery of helium on a Jupiter-sized world located 200 light-years from Earth—but that’s only part of the story.
“Helium is the second-most common element in the universe after hydrogen. It is also one of the main constituents of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in our Solar System,” Jessica Spake, the astronomer who made the discovery, said in a statement. “However, up until now helium had not been detected on exoplanets—despite searches for it.”
But now, using Wide Field Camera 3 on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spake’s team managed to detect this strangely elusive substance, marking the first time that helium has been detected on a planet outside of our Solar System. The key to the finding was the use of infrared spectra to study the exoplanet’s atmosphere, whereas previous attempts used ultraviolet and optical wavelengths. This study now shows that the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres can indeed be studied at longer wavelengths. The details of this discovery were published yesterday in Nature.
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May 1, 2018
NASA’s Crazy Plan to Send a Space Submarine to Titan
Posted by Alberto Lao in category: alien life
NASA wants to send a space submarine to Saturn’s largest moon in hopes that it will bring us one step closer to discovering alien life.
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Apr 28, 2018
Hubble probes atmospheres of exoplanets in TRAPPIST-1 habitable zone
Posted by Alberto Lao in category: alien life
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have conducted the first spectroscopic…survey of the Earth-sized planets (d, e, f, and g) within the habitable zone around the nearby star TRAPPIST-1. This study is a follow-up to Hubble observations made in May 2016 of the atmospheres of the inner TRAPPIST-1 planets b and c. Hubble reveals that at least three of the exoplanets (d, e, and f) do not seem to contain puffy, hydrogen-rich atmospheres similar to gaseous planets such as Neptune…at: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/…/hubble-probes-atmospheres-of…/
NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program, the search for planets and life beyond our solar system.
Apr 21, 2018
The Geological Record, A Possible Solution For Fermi’s Paradox And The Future Of Humankind
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: alien life, existential risks
Speculating about the geological record of a technologically advanced civilization may help in the search for alien societies and poses an important question about our own future on earth.
Apr 20, 2018
Kepler Telescope Finds Ten More Possibly Life Supporting Planets
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: alien life
The planets are rocky and 1.75 times the size of Earth, and are being referred to as ‘super-Earths’ or ‘mini-Neptunes’.
Apr 17, 2018
Here Are the Necessary Ingredients for a Life-Supporting Exoplanet
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: alien life
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS for short, will add a powerful new tool to the hunt for Earth-like planets. Here’s how scientists are going about identifying habitable exoplanets.