The 2015 discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system, with its seven Earth-sized planets, has redirected much of the exoplanet search toward M-dwarf systems — and justifiably so. Based on Kepler data, researchers estimate M-dwarfs (the most common type of star) host around 10 billion Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way alone. But one question that immediately pops up regarding the search for exoplanets is that of habitability. In addition to other criteria, the presence of an atmosphe ...read more
Many people have pointed out to me that there is a news frenzy about "fissures opening near Yellowstone". Now, considering that if this were happening, that would be newsworthy, I had to check it out ... and with most "news" about Yellowstone, it is much ado about nothing related to the volcano in Wyoming.
Climbers in Grand Teton National Park, to the south of Yellowstone, have noticed that the cliff face at Hidden Falls and Inspiration has been breaking off due to cracks ("fissures ...read more
Hunting for exoplanets is a complex and time-consuming process. When an exoplanet candidate is detected, researchers have to observe it passing by its host star three times before they can officially confirm its existence. This isn’t a problem if the orbital period lasts a few days, weeks, or months, but it isn’t exactly effective if the planet takes years to transit its star.
Now, a new method published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics aims to ...read more
Since the announcement of its discovery earlier this month, the buried sarcophagus in Alexandria, Egypt, created a lot of speculation about who might be inside. Given the coffin’s large size and composition of granite, which would have had to be mined hundreds of miles away, experts said it was possible the coffin contained a man of importance, perhaps a nobleman of Alexander the Great. There was also a lot of online chatter about the possibility of unleashing a curse by openi ...read more
Tomorrow, on Saturday, July 21, Moth Week will commence! Running until Sunday, July 29, Moth Week is a way for people of all ages all around the world to come together to celebrate the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths. These self-described “Moth-ers� are in fact citizen scientists, as one of the key missions of Moth Week is to collect moth observation data.
Though many of the events are in the United States, this is truly a worldwide effort. ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine