While K2-18b continues to intrigue scientists and the public alike with the possible detection of biologically relevant sulphur compounds such as DMS and DMDS, any serious interpretation must begin not with biosignatures, but with a clear understanding of how such a planet might evolve. This article explores several credible evolutionary […]
Commentary
K2-18b, DMS, and DMDS: Unravelling the Sulphur Signature Beyond the Hype
The recent announcement from Cambridge researchers that dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) have been detected in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b to a significance of three sigma has reignited intense speculation about alien life. This detection, derived from the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) MIRI instrument, has […]
Simple Experiment to Prove the Earth Is a Globe
No space agencies. No photos from orbit. Just you, the Sun, and a couple of friends. There’s been a rise in people claiming the Earth is flat, that it’s all a lie, and that organisations like NASA are part of a global conspiracy. Some of these people are trolls chasing […]
Abiogenesis
Introduction There is a Youtube video by Anton Petrov at the end of this article ( I have also added a couple of his other videos on other discoveries about simple organisms) with an important update on how some simple organisms are rewqriting what we thought we knew and giving […]
Humanity to Mars
ARTICLE IN PROGRESS, IT WILL UPDATED AND EXTENDED PERIODICALLY. Getting to Mars The race is on – within 20 years humanity will have established itself on the lunar surface, with at least 1 permanent settlement, likely more as the Chinese go it alone, but the plans also involve human boots […]
Planet 9 – The Controversial missing planet?
We know a lot about the solar system – but we also know so little. Over the last century or so there have been several theories of additional planets inhabiting both the inner and the outer solar system. Vulcan During the 19th century it was discovered the planet Mercury was […]
Revisiting where we may find life and the Drake equation
Where should we look for life? Developed in 1961 by the late Frank Drake, a giant of the SETI community, it was an initial attempt to ascertain how many intelligent civilisations might exist that humanity could potentially communicate with. Every parameter was a best guess, nothing definitive was known, and […]
Impacts – how often, how deadly, can we prevent them?
Over the years of humanity looking to the heavens we have been aware of ‘stuff’ burning up in the atmosphere, in the early days we did not know what this was or where it came from, there are stories of “stones from the heavens” thrown by angry gods and in […]
When is a planet not a planet?
In 2006 the IAU (international Astronomical Union) held a meeting, IAU0603, and resolution 5A discussed the “Definition of a Planet”. Courtesy the IAU. RESOLUTIONS Resolution 5A is the principal definition for the IAU usage of “planet” and related terms. Resolution 6A creates for IAU usage a new class of objects, […]
News – 12 August 2020
Researchers have concluded that the molten rock and cooled volcanic glass present on the surface of Lava-Ocean Planets is unlikely to be the cause of their brightness, some of which have an albedo higher than Earth. This is intriguing, these lava-Ocean worlds are similar in size to Earth but whizz […]