In case you missed part one of the JWST series, check it out here for explanations of more of the first images, as well as an insight into how the telescope works! But now, its time to move on to the JWST targets I find most intriguing- planets! WASP 96b: A distant world of discovery… Continue reading JWST: A new era of planetary science
Tag: exoplanets
How JWST can see exoplanets and ‘a bee on the moon’
If you’ve paid attention to any science news lately, you’ll know that the long awaited James Webb Space Telescope was probably this year’s best christmas present for anyone in the space community, with a successful launch yesterday (25/12/21) just before UK readers were tucking into christmas lunch! And when you hear that this mission is… Continue reading How JWST can see exoplanets and ‘a bee on the moon’
The Drake Equation
You can watch this as a YouTube video if you’d like! Linked below 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDIHwIQ5xeY After a fantastic response to my Kepler’s Laws posts, I decided to continue with my Equations of Space series, and return to one of my favourite areas of science, astrobiology! What is the Drake Equation? Essentially, it is a long… Continue reading The Drake Equation
Spectacular Scientists: Laci Brock
This time on Spectacular Scientists, I got to interview Laci (you may know her as @stellerarts on Instagram)! She is an astrophysicist and planetary scientist (how cool!!) studying the atmosphere of brown dwarfs in binary systems. Jade: Congratulations on submitting your paper! What was it about? Laci: My research is on the atmospheres of substellar… Continue reading Spectacular Scientists: Laci Brock
The Decade in Space Exploration
This decade has perhaps been the most pivotal since the 1960s/70s, in terms of space exploration, both crewed and uncrewed! (to read more about the development of human spaceflight, click here) We maintained our continuous presence in space, with 41 missions to the International Space Station, ranging in length between 64 days and a year!… Continue reading The Decade in Space Exploration
What would it be like to live around TRAPPIST-1a?
TRAPPIST-1 is a star system about 40 light years away from Earth! The star (TRAPPIST-1a) is an ultra cool red dwarf not much larger than Jupiter, though it is much more massive (as in, has more mass) and was discovered in 1999, but its first exoplanets were only found in 2015 by the TRAPPIST telescope!… Continue reading What would it be like to live around TRAPPIST-1a?
Astrobiology 103: Looking for life closer to home
In my last post, I talked about how cool exoplanets are, and how we can find them, and look for life there. But there is a small possibility that we won’t have to travel so far to find life. Although unlikely to be intelligent life, there are some locations that NASA has highlighted, and plans… Continue reading Astrobiology 103: Looking for life closer to home
Astrobiology 102: How to find the aliens?
Despite the fact that my last post might have made it seen that chances of finding life are pretty minute, people are still looking! And no, I don’t mean the people who are sure aliens have already visited us (Although if they did manage to find concrete evidence, that would be pretty awesome!) Organisations like… Continue reading Astrobiology 102: How to find the aliens?
Astrobiology 101: Where are all the Aliens?
Terms and Conditions Apply. The Milky Way is over 100,000 light years across. That’s a whole lot of football pitches! It has at least 100 billion stars (with some estimates reaching all the way to 400 billion!) and the range in estimates for the number of planets in the galaxy is from ‘just’ 50 billion… Continue reading Astrobiology 101: Where are all the Aliens?