For centuries, the Solar System has revealed its secrets gradually, yielding new planets, moons, and asteroids to the patient observer and the diligent theorist. Yet even in the 21st century, with robotic eyes combing the heavens and telescopes probing distant stars, our own cosmic backyard may still harbour a giant […]
Planets
The Evolutionary Pathways of K2-18b: A Companion Study in Planetary Resilience
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
Former mini-Neptune/ice dwarf – or just Terrestrial?
The astronomy world has been abuzz for several years regarding the discovery of so many mini-Neptunes – planets that seems to be similar in characteristics to Neptune, but smaller. A Mini-Neptune, also called an ice dwarf or transitional planet, is a planet less massive than Neptune but resembling Neptune in […]
Colonising Mars
There is a lot of debate about colonising Mars, in fact the conversations have been had for more than 100 years, but realistic plans to at least land humans on Mars are around 50 years old. In 1976 the debate grew when NASA successfully landed the Viking 1 and 2 […]
The Moon – our amazing companion
For as long as humans have gazed upward to the sky, there are many who gazed is awe at the site of the Moon in our sky. For many thousands of years the Moon has been both a source of inspiration and terror in all cultures around the world, with […]