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Life from a Passing Star

Remember 'Nemesis'? The idea was that mass extinctions on Earth recur on a timescale of between 20 and 40 million years, and that this recurrence could be accounted for by the existence of a faint star in a highly elliptical orbit of the Sun. Put this object on a 26...

Detection of an Interstellar Meteor

Do we have a second interstellar visitor, following on the heels of the controversial ‘Oumuamua? If so, the new object is of a much different nature, as was its detection. In 2014, a meteor north of Manus Island, off the coast of Papua New Guinea produced a powerful...

Is Most Life in the Universe Lithophilic?

Seeking life on other worlds necessarily makes us examine our assumptions about the detectability of living things in extreme environments. We're learning that our own planet supports life in regions we once would have ruled out for survival, and as we examine such...

Habitable Planets in the Same System

Learning that our own Solar System has a configuration that is only one of many possible in the universe leads to a certain intellectual exhilaration. We can, for example, begin to ponder the problems of space travel and even interstellar missions within a new...