superearth

Are there habitable planets outside of our solar system? Dr. Ravi Kopparapu, Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard, explains that almost every star in our galaxy has a planet around it. This means there may be 100 billion planets in our Milky Way galaxy! Most of these planets range between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. Data available to exoplanet scientists is limited to what can be collected through remote observations with telescopes. Therefore, scientists tend to focus on terrestrial planets (similar to Earth), with suitable atmospheres (nitrogen and oxygen), that are able to maintain liquid water on the planet’s surface. A biological presence could interact and change the gas composition of the atmosphere, which could then be detected by remote telescopes and lead to potential discoveries of life.

What might clouds on other planets, even planets outside our own solar system, look like?  Alexandria Johnson, Assistant Professor of Practice and Research in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University discusses the process of analyzing a few pixels of light, detected by telescopes, in order to study cloud formation on exoplanets. With a focus on sub-Neptune planets that could reach temperatures near 500K in their upper atmosphere, scientists believe there are clouds formed both from potassium chloride and zinc sulfide. On planets described as Hot Jupiters, which are thousands of degrees Kelvin in their upper atmospheres, there could be titanium oxide clouds and it may even rain rubies!

It's finally here! The first version of The CompPlete SoVran Star System. Learn about the 6 planets of SoVran the first star of The DianToz Tri-System

Welcome to the first science mini-episode from Fueled By Death Cast. From this week's Fueled By Death Show, Jeff and Dustin discuss recent data from space that could lead to the discovery of a super-earth only 6 light years away. Plus, the NASA InSight spacecraft will land on Mars on November 26th, 2018, and will be the first probe of its kind to drill deep into the planet's interior.

Check out the full show, along with the weekly podcast and more at deathwishcoffee.com/goofy