Lifeboat Foundation

Serina Jain, who is a student at San Francisco University High School, said in a statement, “This experience further propelled my fascination with the subject of astronomy, specifically in regard to exoplanetary science.”

How can high school contribute to finding exoplanets? The answer is easy and effective, as a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal announced the confirmation of exoplanet TIC 139,270,665 b with the help of an enthusiastic group of high school students who are part of the Unistellar Citizen Science Network, which is a worldwide collaboration of citizen astronomers. This discovery holds the potential to not only improve the hunt for exoplanets, but also improve the chances of citizen scientists using public data to contribute to finding exoplanets, as well.

The confirmation of TIC 139,270,665 b, which is located approximately 483 light-years from Earth, was made through a collaboration between SETI Institute Affiliate, Dr. Dan Peluso, and Chabot Space & Science Center’s Galaxy Explorer program, the latter of which consists of high school students. TIC 139,270,665 b was initially found using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), where it measured one transit in front of its parent star.

Continue reading “Galaxy Explorers: High School Students Explore Exoplanet with SETI Institute” »

The barren, dusty Red Planet was not always a lifeless mess. In fact, scientists have often theorized that Mars was once covered in vast waterways. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that may be the case, too. However, new research involving that evidence suggests that it might not have been water that left those marks after all and that the chance of finding life on Mars is actually much slimmer than we hoped.

Mars is by far the planet that humanity has explored the most, with several rovers now having made their way across the barren surface of our neighboring planet. One of the key missions with those rovers has always been to find signs of life, or signs that life once existed on Mars. We’ve come close a couple of times, with some theorizing that NASA accidentally killed the only Martian life we’ve ever discovered on the planet.

Through it all, though, the hope that our chances to find life on Mars were high has relied on one key thing: the existence of water in Mars’s past. However, that watery past we believe the planet had may not have been as long or as extensive as we thought. New evidence suggests that places we thought had been carved out by water flowing through them could have actually been created by explosively evaporating carbon dioxide ice.

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Life is incredibly complicated, but for most of Earth’s history it was much simpler. Is it possible the Universe is full of planets with very simple life, and complex organisms are rare?

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Continue reading “The Fermi Paradox: Rare Complexity” »

Robotic exoskeletons designed to help humans with walking or physically demanding work have been the stuff of sci-fi lore for decades. Remember Ellen Ripley in that Power Loader in “Alien”? Or the crazy mobile platform George McFly wore in 2015 in “Back to the Future, Part II” because he threw his back out?

Step into the enigmatic realm of neutron stars, where the universe showcases its extremes. This documentary-style video guides you through the life and legacy of neutron stars, the dense remnants left by supernovae, the explosive deaths of massive stars. We delve into the heart of these cosmic enigmas, exploring how they compress more mass than the sun into a sphere just kilometers across, resulting in densities and gravitational fields almost beyond comprehension. Discover the peculiarities of neutron star phenomena, such as pulsars that beam radio waves across the cosmos and magnetars with magnetic fields trillion times stronger than Earth’s.

Researchers have discovered significant amounts of water vapor in the disc around the young star HL Tauri, suggesting the presence of water where planets are forming. This breakthrough, enabled by the ALMA telescope in Chile, marks the first time astronomers have been able to quantify water vapor in a cool, stable disc conducive to planet formation. The findings could have profound implications for our understanding of how planets, particularly those capable of hosting life, are formed. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com.

Researchers have found water vapor in the disc around a young star exactly where planets may be forming.

Continue reading “Unlocking the Cosmic Recipe for Planet Formation” »

Liftoff occurred at 5:05 p.m. ET (2205 GMT).

Inherited memory was a popular theory in the past, inspiring stories like Frank Herbert’s Dune, but could it be possible with alien biologies or cybernetic civilizations, and what is it? Music Courtesy of: Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

A new study into life on Mars has forced scientists to change what we thought we know about the Red Planet.