^CategoryUncategorized

Planets and exoplanets of unexplored galaxies. Sci-Fi. New worlds to discover. Colonization and exploration of nebulae and galaxies

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Author
News
Date
October 15, 2022

Tagged
Avi Loeb, Biosignatures, Europa and shallow lakes, Evan Gough, Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning of universe for life and initial conditions, Full sky map, Methyl bromide as biosignature, Ocean Worlds Life Surveyor (OWLS), Paul Sutter on white dwarf stars, Rob Sheldon on speed of light, Rogue planets concept, Speed of light, White dwarf stars and life}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 9

_{NASA is readying a set of eight instruments for the Ocean Worlds Life Surveyor to search for life on Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus} _{News

October 15, 2022

7}

In our universe The universe (as much of we know of it) has now been mapped: With 56,000 galaxies, there wold be, in principle, many places to look for life: “Galaxies, such as the Milky Way, are the building blocks of the universe, each comprised of up to several hundred billion stars.” – Phys.org A big barrier to exploration is, of course, the speed of light; most galaxies are many light years away and nothing moves faster than light. Incidentally, a group of astronomers recently claimed to have detected matter exceeding the speed of light. We asked theoretical physicist Rob Sheldon about that and he replied, “No, it isn’t going faster than the speed of light. Most superluminal objects are Read More ›

Saturn moon Enceladus in front of planet Saturn, rings, other moons and the Milky Way galaxy

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Author
News
Date
October 8, 2022

Tagged
Enceladus and phosphorus, Extraterrestrial life, Mars and water, Nitrous oxide as biosignature, Pale yellow dot planets and life, Red dwarf stars and habitability zones}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 8

_{Saturn’s moon Enceladus may have abundant phosphorus, essential for life} _{News

October 8, 2022

4}

In our universe: Even the smallest stars could provide for habitable planets, a research group reports. They were able to get photosynthetic bacteria and red and green algae to live in light conditions that mimicked the glow from a red dwarf star. Their paper is open access. That’s important because only 8% of stars are Sun-like; 75% are red dwarfs. (Universe Today) That greatly increases the search space. Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) could be a biosignature, along with oxygen and methane, University of California Riverside scientists suggest: “Microorganisms are constantly transforming other nitrogen compounds into N2O, a metabolic process that can yield useful cellular energy … The research team believes now is the time for astrobiologists to consider alternative biosignature Read More ›

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Author
News
Date
October 1, 2022

Tagged
Bruce Dorminey, Dimorphos, Doris Elin Urrutia, Fine-tuning of universe for life, Super-Earths, Teresa Pultarova, Venus (life on Venus)}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 7

_{Venus is back in the news, for what it can teach us about what can go wrong with Earth} _{News

October 1, 2022

5}

The search continues. Last week we learned about an ancient ocean on Mars and also that Saturn’s moon Enceladus may be a better bet than Mars for life (in the oceans beneath its icy surface). Meanwhile, NASA slams the DART into asteroid Dimorphos NASA successfully struck asteroid Dimorphos, and witnessed the dramatic impact in real time from Earth. Engineers from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) in Maryland monitored their DART probe, short for Double Asteroid Rendezvous Test, as it approached the small asteroid on Monday (Sept. 26). This is NASA’s first planetary defense test, which might inform future efforts to change the direction of a dangerous asteroid traveling towards our planet. Doris Elin Urrutia, “The Top Space Stories Read More ›

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Author
News
Date
September 24, 2022

Tagged
David Rothery, Dimensionality, Enceladus (moon) oceans, Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning and dimensionality, Frank Drake, James Webb Space Telescope accuracy, Mars meteoroid hit, Mars ocean and lakes}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 6

_{China has found evidence for an ancient ocean on Mars and an international research teams reports that the number of dried-up lakes is higher than thought} _{News

September 24, 2022

6}

Noting the passing earlier this month of Frank Drake, author of the famous Drake Equation, planetary geoscientist David Rothery notes, we know a great deal more promising information about the search for life today than we did in 1961 when he first formulated the equation: “We are learning more about exoplanets every year, and are entering an era when measuring their atmospheric composition to reveal evidence of life is becoming increasingly feasible. Within the next decade or two, we can hope for a much more soundly based estimate of the fraction of Earth-like planets where life gets started.” – The Conversation, September 5, 2022. We also know about potentially habitable moons now (for example, Enceladus, whose image is featured above). Read More ›

Exploration of Mars the Red planet of the solar system in space. This image elements furnished by NASA.

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Author
News
Date
September 17, 2022

Tagged
Exoplanet types, Extraterrestrial life, Eyeball planets, Fine-tuning of universe for life, Fine-tuning of universe for life and cosmological constant, Frank Landymore, Jezero Crater, Joseph Michalski, Mars organic materials, Matt Williams, Sasha Quanz, Seth Lockman, Technosignatures in solar system, Vera C. Rubin Observatory}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 5

_{NASA staff are said to be quite excited about organic materials around the Jezero Crater; astronomers are learning more about "eyeball planets"} _{News

September 17, 2022

7}

As the telescopes and other instruments rain data on researchers, each week brings news of interest: From our galaxy: Last week, planets orbiting M-type (common red dwarf) stars came up. Astronomers are classifying these planets in greater detail: “’We have discovered that small planets orbiting this type of star can be classified into three distinct families: rocky planets very similar to Earth, planets with half their mass consisting of water that we call water worlds, and mini-Neptunes with extended atmospheres of hydrogen and/or helium’, describes Pallé.” – Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) (September 8, 2022) One feature of these worlds may be a surprise: “Given that they are tidally locked to their suns, these planets may also have liquid Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
September 10, 2022

Tagged
Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning and cosmic density, LP-890-9c, Luke Barnes on universe's density, Mars (evidence for life), NASA and GAO, Olivine, Planets with water, Super-Earths as habitable, VHS 1256b}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 4

_{Just as much promising data about habitable planets is streaming in from the telescopes, pioneer ET astronomer Frank Drake has died} _{News

September 10, 2022

7}

Lots of places to look: From Universe Today: To date, 5,084 extrasolar planets have been confirmed in 3,811 planetary systems, with another 8,912 candidates awaiting confirmation. (Matt Williams, September 9, 2022) Planets with water have been in the news: According to a new study, “… it turns out that water-rich worlds are far more common in the Milky Way Galaxy than we first thought… ” – Jerusalem Post (Aaron Reich, September 9, 2022) The paper requires a fee or subscription. “A new type of exoplanet — one made half of rock and half of water — has been discovered around the most common stars in the universe, which may have great consequences in the search for life in the cosmos, Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
September 3, 2022

Tagged
Asteroids, Eric Mack, Europa (life on Europa), Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning of universe for life, Fine-tuning of universe for life and free parameters, HIP 65426b, James Webb Space Telescope, Mars (water), Science fiction and science}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 3

_{The Webb gets a good closer look at an exoplanet} _{News

September 3, 2022

8}

Exoplanets are hard to spot but the James Webb Space Telescope got an image of one (HIP 65426b), reported September 1: The planet is more than 10,000 times fainter than its host star and about 100 times farther from it than Earth is from the Sun (~93 million miles), so it easily could be spotted when the telescope’s coronagraphs removed the starlight. The exoplanet is between six and 12 times the mass of Jupiter—a range that could be narrowed once the data in these images is analyzed. The planet is only 15 million to 20 million years old, making it very young compared to our 4.5-billion-year-old Earth. Isaac Schultz, “See Webb Telescope’s First Images of an Exoplanet” at Gizmodo (September Read More ›

Somewhere in extreme deep space far galaxies and habitable exoplanets with rings. 3D rendered background. Elements of this image were furnished by NASA.

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Author
News
Date
August 27, 2022

Tagged
Artemis Accords, Carbon dioxide and life, Europa and life, Exoplanets and life, Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning of universe for life, Geraint Lewis, Mars and life, Moon-based telescope and search for life}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 2

_{A new ocean planet, a planet with carbon dioxide, and new information about life chances on Mars} _{News

August 27, 2022

7}

What may be an ocean planet has been discovered in the region of the Constellation Draco: An international team of researchers led by Charles Cadieux, a Ph.D. student at the Université de Montréal and member of the Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx), has announced the discovery of TOI-1452 b, an exoplanet orbiting one of two small stars in a binary system located in the Draco constellation about 100 light-years from Earth. The exoplanet is slightly greater in size and mass than Earth and is located at a distance from its star where its temperature would be neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on its surface. The astronomers believe it could be an “ocean planet,” Read More ›

Futuristic multiverse world concept. Downtown with skyscrapers skyline under and cityscape over. Two parallel worlds. Alternative reality dimension

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Author
Gary Varner
Date
August 27, 2022

Tagged
America Chavez (character in Multiverse of Madness), Bruce Campbell, Charlize Theron, Christine (Multiverse of Madness character), Dr. Strange (character in Dr. Strange), Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) narrative failures, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness review, Featured, Kamar-Taj in Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe's future, Multiverse in fiction (plot problems), Professor X (Multiverse of Madness character), Scarlet Witch (Marvel Universe character), Souls of the Damned (characters in Multiverse of Madness), Wanda Maximoff (Marvel Universe character), Wanda Maximoff treatment in Multiverse of Madness, Wong (character in Multiverse of Madness)}

Multiverse of Madness?: It’s a Letdown for the Marvel Universe

_{I can’t really recommend it because spectacle trumps any sense of the story hanging together and we can infer nothing from past events} _{Gary Varner

August 27, 2022

10}

The Multiverse of Madness ends with America Chavez training at Kamar-Taj while Dr. Strange and Wong have a final conversation.All the Characters say their goodbyes and Dr. Strange returns home, prepared to move on with his life. Thing’s are looking pretty chipper — that is until a third eye opens on his forehead. This isn’t a big deal but I did think it was a little ridiculous to have a cliffhanger ending followed by a post-credits scene. At any rate, the post-credits scene includes a mysterious woman played by Charlize Theron show up out of nowhere. She tells Dr. Strange that he’s caused an Incursion — a collision between two universes, possibly as a result of multiverse travel. And together, Read More ›

super-earth planet, realistic exoplanet, planet suitable for colonization, earth-like planet in far space, planets background 3d render

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Author
News
Date
August 20, 2022

Tagged
Carcinization, Cyanobacteria and Mars, Decarcinization, Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning for life and neutrons, Jason P. Dinh, Neutrons and fine-tuning for life, Paul Sutter, Self-replicating probes, Sensing With Independent Micro-Swimmers (SWIM), Super-Earths as habitable, Three-D printing and space exploration}

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life I

_{Super-Earths that might have life, choosing life forms to take to Mars, and self-replicating robots…} _{News

August 20, 2022

5}

A roundup from popular science news sources: ★ Are any super-Earths habitable? The largest single class of exoplanets discovered are super-Earths — bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, of which there are 1,577 confirmed discoveries. Some lie within the habitable zones — at least in principle — of their stars. Stony Brook astrophysicist Paul Sutter ponders the factors that go into determining how many of them are actually habitable, concluding, Perhaps the best candidate for a habitable super-Earth is LHS 1140b, which orbits a red dwarf star about 49 light-years from Earth. It’s about 60% wider than our planet but 6.48 times as massive. It orbits extremely close to its parent star — its orbital period is just 25 Read More ›

Agate surface background. Multicolor transparent crystal background. Macro

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Author
News
Date
July 30, 2022

Tagged
Biominerals, Biosignatures (minerals), Exoplanets and life, Extraterrestrial life, Life forms producing minerals, Minerals and life forms, Robert Hazen, Shaunna Morrison}

Exoplanets: Life Forms Made One Third of Earth’s Minerals

_{Researchers hope detection of such minerals on exoplanets can narrow the search for life} _{News

July 30, 2022

4}

Recent work on how minerals form may help determine which planets are more likely to be habitable or inhabited. One-third of minerals — chemical solids whose atoms are highly ordered — are created directly or indirectly by life forms, says Carnegie geologist Robert Hazen: “One third of Earth’s minerals could not have formed without biology — shells and bones and teeth, or microbes, for example, or the vital indirect role of biology, such as by creating an oxygen-rich atmosphere that led to 2,000 minerals that wouldn’t have formed otherwise.” Carnegie Institution for Science, “Crushed, zapped, boiled, baked and more: Nature used 57 recipes to create Earth’s 10,500-plus ‘mineral kinds’” at ScienceDaily Both papers, here and here, require a fee or Read More ›

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Author
News
Date
July 16, 2022

Tagged
Cold planets, Cold super-Earths, Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial life, Helium, Hydrogen, James Webb Space Telescope, Jupiter and moons}

Some Cold Giant Planets May Be Habitable, Researchers Say

_{Life could exist outside the expected habitable zone if a massive planet can hang onto insulating gases in its atmosphere} _{News

July 16, 2022

4}

Rocky exoplanets with an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium gases could have liquid water on the surface, like Jupiter’s moon Europa, and could thus host life. The question is whether the surface water sticks around long on “cold super-Earths,” that are ten times the mass of our planet: Now, new calculations described in a paper published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy suggest that the surface conditions of these worlds could have been temperate for more than enough time for life—for 5 billion to 8 billion years. Earth is only about 4.5 billion years old, by comparison, and life emerged here about 3.7 billion years ago. Eva Botkin-Kowacki, “We may be underestimating how many cold, giant planets are habitable” at Read More ›

Sci-fi concept image illustration. Unknown origin radio signal waves coming out from deep cosmos space in colorful nebula and millions stars with galaxies universe background

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Author
News
Date
June 18, 2022

Tagged
Danny C. Price, Extraterrestrial life, Radio frequency interference (RFI), Sky Eye and radio signals 2022, Zhang Tongjie}

ET? China Claims To Have Picked Up Unusual Radio Signals…

_{Most expert sources are skeptical that it is ET but the signals are unusual and warrant investigation} _{News

June 18, 2022

5}

The fact that the story appeared and then abruptly disappeared from a Chinese government-run science and technology website left many wondering. It seems to be back again: After launching the search for extraterrestrial civilizations, the “China Sky Eye” has made important progress. A few days ago, Professor Zhang Tongjie, chief scientist of the China Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Group of the Department of Astronomy and Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Group of Beijing Normal University, revealed that his team used the “Chinese Sky Eye” to discover several cases of possible technological traces and extraterrestrial civilizations from outside the earth. candidate signal. Zhang Tongjie said that these are several narrow-band electromagnetic signals different from the past, and the team is currently working on further Read More ›

Celestial digital art, Venus planet and galaxies in outer space

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Author
News
Date
June 18, 2022

Tagged
Biosignatures and Venus, Extraterrestrial life, Jordan Chortle, P. B. Rimmer, Venus, Venus (life on Venus)}

New Analysis Casts Doubt on Claims for Life on Venus

_{The newer study agrees that the composition of Venus’s atmosphere is unusual but not that it is evidence for life.} _{News

June 18, 2022

3}

A new study throws cold water (vapor?) on an earlier paper that suggested that aerial life forms could exist in Venus’s massive cloud cover: Researchers from the University of Cambridge used a combination of biochemistry and atmospheric chemistry to test the ‘life in the clouds’ hypothesis, which astronomers have speculated about for decades, and found that life cannot explain the composition of the Venusian atmosphere. Any life form in sufficient abundance is expected to leave chemical fingerprints on a planet’s atmosphere as it consumes food and expels waste. However, the Cambridge researchers found no evidence of these fingerprints on Venus. University of Cambridge, “No signs (yet) of life on Venus” at ScienceDaily (June 14, 2022) The paper is open access. Read More ›

sci-fi scene showing the giant monster invading night city, digital art style, illustration painting

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Author
News
Date
June 4, 2022

Tagged
Alberto Caballero, Extraterrestrial life, Extraterrestrials (estimating threat risk), Extraterrestrials (malevolent), Jason Koebler, Kardashev Scale and aggression, Stephen Hawking on extraterrestrials}

Researcher: Only 4 in 1000s of ET Groups Are Likely Malicious

_{Historically, sci-fi has preferred aliens to be overlords or villains. But a researcher asks us to look at the history of conflict on our own planet…} _{News

June 4, 2022

6}

In a recent paper at Physics ArXiv, Alberto Caballero, a PhD student in conflict resolution at the University of Vigo in Spain, has calculated that there are, perhaps, four civilizations in our galaxy that are both intelligent and evil. A natural response has been “only four? Not counting us?” The estimate got quite a bit of media attention. To arrive at it, Caballero began by reviewing the history of conflicts on Earth: To reach his estimation, Caballero first counted the number of countries that invaded other countries between 1915 and 2022. He found that a total of 51 of the world’s 195 nations had launched some sort of invasion during that period. (The U.S. sat at the top of the Read More ›

Jupiter's moon Europa in front of the planet Jupiter

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Author
News
Date
May 28, 2022

Tagged
Ethan Siegel (on fine-tuning of universe), Europa (life on Europa), Europa (moon), Europa Clipper, Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning (solar system), Fine-tuning (universe), Hugh Ross (on fine-tuning of solar system), Sarah T. Stewart, Tim Elliott}

Why Scientists Think There Might Be Life on Europa

_{Jupiter’s moon Europa, somewhat smaller than Earth’s moon, may have surface water and organic chemicals, researchers say} _{News

May 28, 2022

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Recent evidence suggests that Europa’s icy shell may have pockets of liquid water: “Because it’s closer to the surface, where you get interesting chemicals from space, other moons, and the volcanoes of Io, there’s a possibility that life has a shot if there are pockets of water in the shell,” says study author Dustin Schroeder, a geophysics expert at Stanford University in a statement. “If the mechanism we see in Greenland is how these things happen on Europa, it suggests there’s water everywhere.” Elizabeth Gamillo, “Europa’s Icy Shell May Be Habitable for Life” at Smithsonian Magazine (April 20, 2022) The paper is open access. NASA has noted the likely presence of organic chemicals as well: For Europa to be potentially Read More ›

Time travel machine. Surreal steampunk technology

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Author
News
Date
December 4, 2021

Tagged
Science fiction, Tethers (film), Time travel}

Are We Tethered To Our Time Despite Time Travel?— Sci-fi Saturday

_{A very short film about a girl on a mission to save her mother raises a profound philosophical question} _{News

December 4, 2021

25}

“Tethers” (2021) at DUST by Matthew Steele Finley (uploaded at DUST November 24, 2021, 5:22 min) A woman travels in time to save another woman’s life but the risk could be far reaching for her own reality. Review: “Don’t kill your mother or anything,” the time travel technician (Larry Herring) warns Anna (Abigail Williams), as she prepares to travel back to prevent a tragedy set maybe thirty years ago in an upper middle class home. Not too many spoilers but Anna must attempt to persuade her future mother Rachel (Alicia Kelley) not to marry her father — a man whom she knows (the way the future knows the past) is not good for her mother. Sshe shows her mom the Read More ›

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Author
Eric Holloway
Date
April 21, 2020

Tagged
Computers, Featured, halting problem, Language, Shirts without stripes (halting problem)}

Why Your Computer Will Never Talk to You

_{As a jokester recently demonstrated, even “shirts without stripes” is a fundamental, unsolvable problem for computers} _{Eric Holloway

April 21, 2020

3}

At first, “shirts without stripes” might not seem like much of an issue but it turns out that many important and interesting problems for computers fundamentally reduce to this “halting problem.” And understanding human language is one of these problems.

We Will Never “Solve” the Brain

_{A science historian offers a look at some of the difficulties we face in understanding the brain} _{News

March 4, 2020

4}

In a forthcoming book, science historian Matthew Cobb suggests that we may need to be content with different explanations for different brain parts. And that the image of the brain as a computer is definitely on the way out.

Teaching Computers Common Sense Is Very Hard

_{Those fancy voice interfaces are little more than immense lookup tables guided by complex statistics} _{Brendan Dixon

February 8, 2020

4}

Researchers at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) published a paper recently, deflating claims of rapid progress toward giving computers common sense.