Astrophysicists Say ‘Planetary Intelligence’ Exists… But Earth Doesn’t Have Any

We tend to think of intelligence as something that describes just one individual. But it’s possible to describe all kinds of collectives as intelligent, too – whether we’re talking about social groups of humans, enclaves of insects, or even the mysterious behavior of slime mold and viruses.   By extension, could intelligence be observed on a much … Read more

A New Simulation of Mars’s Core Could Explain How It Lost Its Magnetic Field

Mars is a parched planet ruled by global dust storms. It’s also a frigid world, where night-time winter temperatures fall to minus 140 C (minus 220 F) at the poles. But it wasn’t always a dry, barren, freezing, inhospitable wasteland. It used to be a warm, wet, almost inviting place, where liquid water flowed across … Read more

Enigmatic High-Energy X-Rays Have Been Spied Coming From Jupiter

Jupiter has finally been observed spitting out X-rays in high-energy wavelengths. Emanating from the giant planet’s permanent auroras, and detected by NASA’s space-based X-ray telescope NuSTAR, the emissions are the most energetic light seen coming from any planet in the Solar System (aside from Earth).   The detection could shed light on the most powerful … Read more

White dwarf star circled by 65 objects may host a planet in its habitable zone

Astronomers have found 65 evenly spaced rocks orbiting a white dwarf star in its habitable zone, hinting that a planet’s gravity may be holding them there Space 11 February 2022 By Leah Crane Illustration of the white dwarf star WD 1054-226 orbited by clouds of planetary debris and a major planet in the habitable zone … Read more

Possible Third Planet Spotted around Proxima Centauri, Our Sun’s Nearest Neighbor Star

The sun’s nearest neighbor may actually host three planets, a new study reports. Astronomers have found evidence of a third planet circling Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star that lies a mere 4.2 light-years from our solar system. The candidate world, known as Proxima d, is estimated to be just 25% as massive as Earth, … Read more

Possible 3rd planet spotted around Proxima Centauri, the sun’s nearest neighbor star

The sun’s nearest neighbor may actually host three planets, a new study reports. Astronomers have found evidence of a third planet circling Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star that lies a mere 4.2 light-years from our solar system. The candidate world, known as Proxima d, is estimated to be just 25% as massive as Earth, … Read more

A New Planet Has Just Been Discovered Orbiting The Nearest Star to The Sun

What appears to be a teeny tiny alien world has just been found orbiting the Solar System’s closest stellar neighbor. The exoplanet candidate, named Proxima d, orbits a star named Proxima Centauri: a small, dim red dwarf star just 4.2 light-years from the Sun.   Amazingly, the exoplanet is just a quarter of the mass … Read more