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 on the surface of Mars… Read More »
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 not sticking to the predictions… Read More »
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 whilst our knowledge has improved… Read More »
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 recent years archaeologists have found… Read More »
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, for which Pluto is the… Read More »
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 around their host star so… Read More »
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