Citizen scientists found more than 1,500 brown dwarves — ‘cool worlds’ that are more massive than planets but lighter than stars — in our galactic neighbourhood. The discoveries were part of ‘Backyard Worlds: Planet 9’, a project which recruited more than 100,000 people to scour astronomical data for new ‘nearby’ objects. Some of the brown … Read more
What Planet are they on? Blue Planet’s creators ‘made millions from adverts for plastic bottles that clog up oceans’ Alastair Fothergill made adverts for biggest bottled water manufacturer in China Nongfu Spring bottles are found polluting oceans and shores worldwide Decision came despite work on BBC’s Blue Planet and Netflix’s Our Planet By Tom Kelly … Read more
What Planet are they on? Blue Planet’s creators ‘made millions from adverts for plastic bottles that clog up oceans’ Alastair Fothergill made adverts for biggest bottled water manufacturer in China Nongfu Spring bottles are found polluting oceans and shores worldwide Decision came despite work on BBC’s Blue Planet and Netflix’s Our Planet By Tom Kelly … Read more
Thousands of giant planets or ‘blanets’ surround black holes, made up from the void’s whirling dust, say scientists Experts believe there could be thousands of exoplanets in black hole safe zones Called ‘blanets,’ the team believes these formations live outside the snow-line Blanets could form from ice-covered dust particles circling the black hole Researchers speculate … Read more
Discovery of pulsars British astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first person to discover a pulsar in 1967 when she spotted a radio pulsar. Since then other types of pulsars that emit x-rays and gamma rays have also been spotted. Pulsars are essentially rotating, highly magnatised neutron stars but when they were first discovered … Read more
Could future pandemics originate in SPACE? Human immune systems may struggle to fight off ‘alien’ bacteria and viruses from other planets, study warns Experts think that alien microorganisms could potentially exist on other worlds Researchers from Exeter and Aberdeen set out to test how these might affect us They exposed mice immune cells to two amino … Read more
The first ever photo of two planets orbiting a Sun-like star 309-light years from the Earth has been captured by astronomers using a ground-based telescope. The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile was used to capture the image of the two giant exoplanets orbiting the very young star. Astronomers say this image is … Read more
A simulation created stunning sunsets from alien worlds across the solar system. The animation transports viewers to the surface of Venus, Mars, Uranus and Saturn’s largest moon Titan, allowing them to witness the sun dip into the horizon. As a planet rotates away from the sun’s light, photons scattered in different directions that produce an … Read more
The Kepler mission has spotted thousands of exoplanets since 2014, with 30 planets less than twice the size of Earth now known to orbit within the habitable zones of their stars. Launched from Cape Canaveral on March 7th 2009, the Kepler telescope has helped in the search for planets outside of the solar system. It … Read more
I touch down in Bhutan, the remote country Lonely Planet says is the best place to visit in 2020 and which touts on being the ‘happiest place on earth’, and I admit I’m feeling rather jolly. At this point, it’s solely for the reason that I’ve survived landing at the country’s international airport, which is … Read more