All
All
Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
One Ocean World Among Many
I'm absolutely floored when I stop to think that our beautiful blue ocean is only one of perhaps a half dozen or more oceans on other worlds in our solar system, and only one of probably millions (or more) oceans on other Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Oceans abound!
Astronomy Enters a New Era
A live conversation about just a few of the powerful new instruments that will revolutionize our knowledge of the cosmos once again.
ALMA Adventure--Complete Interviews With Planetary Radio Guests
The extended, mostly unedited recordings of my conversations with many of the people I spoke to at the ALMA Observatory in Chile. Also, the full English translation of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera's speech.
Atacama Diary for March 2, 2013--ALMA Explained
The second in a series of audio blogs chronicling my trip to the driest spot on Earth, Chile's Atacama desert, to see the inauguration of the ALMA Observatory. Al Wootten and Alison Peck tell the story of ALMA.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout, Thu Feb 14 1200PT/2000UT: Courtney Dressing
Emily Lakdawalla and Courtney Dressing talked about just how common Earth-sized exoplanets may be in our neighborhood. Watch the replay here.
The raw data behind an Earth-like exoplanet
Taking a closer look at KOI 172.02, a super-Earth exoplanet sitting in its solar system's habitable zone.
Planetary Society Hangout: Jan 10th, 2013 - AAS Coverage with Astronomer Meg Schwamb
Join Casey Dreier and Emily Lakdawalla as they are joined by Dr. Meg Schwamb from Yale University. They will discuss the latest announcements from the American Astronomical Society 2013 conference and Dr. Schwamb's research in outer solar system bodies.
Report from AAS: Exoplanets (and exo-asteroids, and exo-comets) everywhere
This year's American Astronomical Society meeting featured tons and tons of news on exoplanets. They're everywhere! And not just planets, but also asteroids, comets, and more....
Can you find a new planet?
A change in the Kepler data delivery process provides both scientists and the public to get involved in planet discovery.
A dispatch from J-school: two short videos
Two short videos produced by Jason Davis on astronomy and planetary science work taking place at the University of Arizona.
First Planet Discovered in Alpha Centauri System
European astronomers have made the first planetary discovery in the closest-to-Earth Alpha Centauri star system. Here is some information about the discovery, and insights from Yale Astronomer Debra Fischer, who leads another Alpha Centauri planet search partially supported by The Planetary Society.
DPS 2012, Monday: Icy moons and a four-star exoplanet
In the first full day of the annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, I listened to scientific sessions on icy worlds and on an exoplanet in a four-star system.
Every Planet in the Galaxy!
Okay, just the ones we know about. xkcd does it again.
Planets around Alpha Centauri?
Do planets circle our closest stellar neighbors, the system loved by science fiction: Alpha Centauri? We don’t know. But, Debra Fischer, Julien Spronck, and their colleagues at Yale University, in part with Planetary Society support, are trying to find out.
A possible nine-planet system
Someone on Twitter pointed me to a paper recently posted to ArXiv titled
Watch this week's Google+ Space Hangout
This week's lineup is a largely astronomical crowd so most of the conversation concerned dark matter and boiling exoplanets and imaging the black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Separating fact from speculation about Kepler-20's Earth-sized planets
A large team of researchers has announced in a Nature article the discovery of not one, but two, Earth-sized planets orbiting a star named Kepler-20. This article separates the observational facts from the quite-likely-to-be-true inferences from the downstream speculations.
Hubble's Millionth Observation
The Hubble Space Telescope has recorded its millionth observation. The planet is designated HAT-P-7b.
Observing at the WIYN
On May 5 and 6, I had a run on the WIYN (Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOAO) telescope, a 3.5 m telescope, the second largest telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona.
Searching for one planet, finding another
Some parallels exist between Odysseus' journey and the discoveries of exoplanets. What initially started out as a well-planned trip from Troy back to Ithaca, turned into a series of rather unfortunate events, with episodes of fighting Cyclops and having your crew turned into swine.