A UK-Canadian team of scientists has discovered ancient pockets of water on Earth, which have been isolated deep underground for billions of years and contain abundant chemicals known to support life. Water filtering out of the floor of a deep Ontario mine has been trapped underground for more than a billion years. It bubbles [continue reading]
TAU finds white dwarf stars may hold the key to detecting life on other planets Because it has no source of energy, a dead star — known as a white dwarf — will eventually cool down and fade away. But circumstantial evidence suggests that white dwarfs can still support habitable planets, says [continue reading]
April 17, 2013 The Saturn Nebula, a planetary nebula in Aquarius Image Credits: Bruce Balick (Univ. of Washington), Jason Alexander (Univ. of Washington), Arsen Hajian (U.S. Naval Observatory), Yervant Terzian (Cornell University), Mario Perinotto (Univ. of Florence), Patrizio Patriarchi (Arcetri Observatory), NASA The Saturn Nebula (also known as NGC 7009) is a planetary nebula of [continue reading]
The surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa exposes material churned up from inside the moon and also material resulting from matter and energy coming from above. If you want to learn about the deep saltwater ocean beneath this unusual world’s icy shell — as many people do who are interested in possible extraterrestrial life — [continue reading]
Researchers at the University of Leeds may have solved a key puzzle about how objects from space could have kindled life on Earth. An artists impression of a meteorite landing in a hot, acidic pool of liquids. Image Credit: James McKay 2013 (www.jamesmckay.info) While it is generally accepted that some important ingredients for life came from [continue reading]
March 19, 2013 Jupiter’s icy moon Europa Image Credit: NASA/JPL/DLR Jupiter’s moon Europa is, with just over 3,100 kilometers (1,900 mi) in diameter, slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon. It is the sixth-largest moon of Jupiter, and the smallest of its four Galilean satellites but nonetheless more massive than all known moons in the Solar System [continue reading]