10 new Jupiter sized planets have been found floating alone in space, and I mean alone, well away from any star. They are sometimes called orphan planets and have been the subject of science fiction and science theory for a long time but now there is evidence that they exist. The survey shows that for [...]

Some great news from the planet front has just arrived. As was expected Kepler has found lots of new planets. These planets are really planetary candidates and have to be positively confirmed but a high percentage definitely will be planets. The recent findings increase the number of planets found by Kepler to 1235. 68 of [...]

The race to find an earthlike planet hots up with the Kepler space telescope finding a rocky planet. I say race because the telescope that finds an earthlike planet will enter the history books. This planet orbits a sun like star. The planet is only 40% larger than Earth (all the previous ones were the size [...]

The Plank space observatory has just released its first scientific results from the Plank spacecraft. The findings look at the coldest objects in the universe and our galaxy and out to the edges of the universe. The Plank Observatory is looking to put together a picture of the evolution of the cosmos and these findings [...]

Cassini may have spotted a cryovolcano on Titan. it has been found in a region called the Sotra Facula. The craters, peaks and fingerlike flows are very good indicators that this is a cryovolcanism. The picture has been exaggerated and filled in with false colours for clarity.this is good news for the search for life [...]

One day in the future perhaps not 10 years from now we will be able to look up into the night sky at particular stars and know that they have Earth like planets orbiting them. SETI is going to scan the stars with exoplanets for intelligent life in 2011 and you never know do you? [...]

There were some wild speculations a week ago when NASA implied that they may have found some form of life. Everyone thought that this was finally it, alien life had been found. It was, unfortunately, one jump too far but the news of the discovery of an arsenic microbe is still good news. It has [...]

Volcanoes can be an indication of a planet that can support life. There are studies that show that lightning together with the chemicals volcanoes produce may have provided the spark that produced life on early Earth. This experiment called the Miller-Urey experiment has been shown to students for years from 1953 to mimic the chemical [...]

The latest on the search for planets in other planetary systems. .

This is a good lecture on why there’s a 1 in 4 chance of life (in Penelope’ Bostons opinion anyway) under the surface on Mars.

The Cassini spacecraft has noticed on Titan, Saturn’s moon, that hydrogen molecules flow down through the atmosphere and disappear when they reach the surface (Icarus Journal). Also the hydrocarbons on the surface of Titan have been mapped and show that there is a lack of acetylne (Journal of geophysical research). The lack of acetylne could [...]

The Kuiper belt is a region beyond Neptune that is full of comets, asteroids and other debris. It circles the solar system and has always been a little bit of a mystery as it is so far away and hard to explore. The inkling that the Kuiper belt existed first came from Kuiper and a [...]

The tree that prompted the discovery of gravity is being taken into space aboard space shuttle Atlantis next week. Of course, this is the tree that the Apple dropped out of and gave Newton a rather large bruise on his head and of course his idea about gravity. It’s a pity, but they’re not taking [...]

Paul Kalas was the leader of the team who managed the long-sought feat of actually taking a photograph of a planet orbiting another star. Before this, all the planets outside our solar system were found by indirect means. He describes how they achieved the breakthrough, using the Hubble Space Telescope, and discusses the wide range [...]