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Apr 27, 2016 · 10 National Geographic Photos That Explain Earth to Extraterrestrials. By Becky Harlan. April 27, 2016. • 15 min read. How did this photograph of Jane Goodall end up in outer space?...
Jun 23, 2021 · Astronomy. This article is more than 2 years old. Scientists identify 29 planets where aliens could observe Earth. Astronomers estimate 29 habitable planets are positioned to see Earth...
Jan 18, 2021 · January 18, 2021. Encountering aliens would be surprising; the fact that we haven’t yet heard from any is perhaps even more so. Illustration by Paul Sahre. On October 19, 2017, a Canadian...
- New Eyes on Alien Worlds
- Who Are You Looking at?
- The Moon to The Rescue
- Polarization: A New Angle on Exoplanets
- A Mind-Bending Plan
Two techniques will be particularly fruitful in that quest. One is transmission spectroscopy, which looks at the spectrum of starlight that has passed through an exoplanet’s atmosphere. Specific wavelengths will have been absorbed by atmospheric gases, leaving characteristic absorption lines in the spectrum. The lines form a chemical fingerprint th...
Despite these challenges, both Jiang and Mayorga believe that evidence of a potentially habitable world – or even signs of one that already harbours life – can be found among these reflected rays and filtered photons. But to ensure their exoplanetary biosignature techniques work, they first want to test them out on the Earth, which is the only worl...
Jiang’s work suggests a way to search for biology among the stars without having to guess its chemistry or assume that aliens must be similar to us. The only trouble is that the technique is based on data from DSCOVR, whose orbit lies between the Earth and the Sun. The craft therefore never sees our planet pass in front of the Sun, which means it c...
Beyond direct imaging and spectroscopy, there is a third way of analysing exoplanet light. That involves studying its polarization, which changes when light reflects off a surface. Smoother surfaces (such as calm water) generally reflect light waves over a narrow range of polarizations, whilst light bouncing off rougher surfaces (such as rocks or v...
One even crazier idea in the hunt for alien life involves sending craft out into the distant reaches of the solar system, 10 times further from the Sun than Pluto. As first calculated by Albert Einstein in 1936, distant light that skirts the edge of the Sun would be bent by its gravitational field, eventually converging to a focal point about 800 m...
- 5,000th confirmed exoplanet at last. After 30 years of exoplanet discoveries, the tally of confirmed alien worlds reached 5,000 this year. Scientists added the new milestone entry to the NASA Exoplanet Archive in March.
- New class of alien planets. In September, astronomers announced that a new type of exoplanet had been discovered. Made of about half-rock and half-water, either in liquid or ice form, the exoplanets were found orbiting the most common stars in the universe.
- Hidden Jupiter-size world. Astronomers and citizen scientists joined forces to discover a mysterious planet the size of Jupiter around an alien star. If their calculations of its orbit are correct, they should be able to see it again in February.
- The alien planet Hulk. A newfound blazing-hot 'super-Earth' is one of the most massive ever discovered, an exoplanet covered in magma with a "year" that only lasts half a day.
Dec 28, 2021 · By Brandon Specktor. published 28 December 2021. A bombshell UFO report, the "alien junk" in our solar system, and more new clues about extraterrestrial life. Two aircraft pilots reported seeing...
Sep 10, 2021 · Sep 10, 2021. Article. Do aliens exist? Extraterrestrial life has never been discovered, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. At NASA, astrobiologists like Lindsay Hays are trying to answer one of the most profound questions ever: Is there life beyond Earth? Do Aliens Exist? We Asked a NASA Scientist. Watch on. Do aliens exist?
