On February 22, 2017, NASA has announced that seven Earth-sized planets have been observed by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope around TRAPPIST-1, a tiny, nearby, ultra-cool dwarf star located 39 light-years (12 parsecs; 370 petametres) away from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. The good news is: three of these planets are firmly in the habitable zone. The new discovery may be a great breakthrough in search for extraterrestrial life.
Continue reading 7 Earth-Sized Planets Found Orbiting Nearby Star – 3 of them are in the Habitable Zone
Category Archives: Astronomy
Water found on an exoplanet
Scientists spotted water in the atmosphere of 51 Pegasi b, one of the first exoplanets ever been discovered. It is around 50 light years away – so we can call it a “nearby” exoplanet – and it is in the constellation of Pegasus.
Continue reading Water found on an exoplanet
Leaving Solar System at the Speed Of Light
Our Solar system is big, and vast, despite it is really small compared to our galaxy, not to mention the complete universe. To put this into a perspective, you can think yourself as a photon emitted by the Sun. It takes about 8 minutes to reach the Earth after a photon has been emitted from the Sun’s surface. And it takes 5 hours to get out to Pluto from the Earth. The edge of the Solar System is far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
Continue reading Leaving Solar System at the Speed Of Light
Great American Total Solar Eclipse 2017
There will be a total solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, and the United States will be the best country to watch. It will be also the first total solar eclipse to go coast to coast in the U.S. in 99 years. From Oregon to South Carolina, 70-mile Moon-shadow will race across the U.S. and it will completely block out the Sun for a few minutes. It’s still more than seven months away, but hotels already are selling out as people prepare for the rare and amazing event.
Continue reading Great American Total Solar Eclipse 2017
Two stars may collide and light up night sky in 2022
Two stars may collide into a stunning “red nova” in 2022 (or a few months earlier, most probably between September 2021 and September 2022), and for a few weeks become one of the brightest objects in Earth’s night sky, scientists predict. When two stars merge, they increase in brightness 10 thousandfold.
Continue reading Two stars may collide and light up night sky in 2022
Earth and Moon, as seen from Mars
Recently, NASA published an amazing image of Earth (and Moon) taken on November 20, 2016, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera(1) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter(2). The image is so incredible that we can see even the continents and clouds of Earth.
Continue reading Earth and Moon, as seen from Mars
Top 10 Common Misconceptions about Earth
People believe many things which are actually not true. Here are the top ten misconceptions about Earth.
Continue reading Top 10 Common Misconceptions about Earth
Top 10 Most Beautiful Earth Images Taken From the International Space Station in 2016
Here are the top ten most beautiful (well, IMHO, of course) photos taken by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2016.
Continue reading Top 10 Most Beautiful Earth Images Taken From the International Space Station in 2016
If Andromeda Galaxy were brighter, this is what we’d see
Andromeda Galaxy is the farthest object in the sky that we can see with the naked eye. But if you don’t know where to look, you won’t notice it. But if it were much more brighter, its appearance in the sky would be sensational. The moon is a good reference about what we’d see in the image below:
Continue reading If Andromeda Galaxy were brighter, this is what we’d see
The Size Of Earth Compared to Other Planets and Stars (and the Universe)
When it comes to big numbers, very big numbers, human brain is weak. In fact, our brains cannot deal with the really large numbers. That’s why when the subject is Earth, planets, Solar System, galaxies, and in general, the Universe, we cannot truly conceptualize the things. A lot of people think we’re “conquering” the space (we are far, far away from that – and maybe we never will), or the “aliens” are regularly visiting Earth, as if it is just an hour’s drive from there. In fact, these people don’t truly understand what are they talking about, how big is the universe, how far the stars are, and how the Earth is a tiny, tiny spot in a vast space we are still striving to understand.
Continue reading The Size Of Earth Compared to Other Planets and Stars (and the Universe)