A Geek and Freelancer Writing About the Awesomeness of Science
Before being reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, Pluto was considered the ninth and final planet of the Solar System. It was discovered in 1930 but it wasn’t until 1978 when astronomers discovered a second object. Named Charon, the moon was nearly half the diameter of Pluto and defied all expectations. While working at... Continue Reading →
Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Its slightly larger than our own Moon and over 150 volcanos have been discovered on it, some of which shoot material 300 kilometres into space. At a distance of 422,000 kilometres, Io orbits extremely close to Jupiter and the two are locked... Continue Reading →
Humans have been fascinated by the stars for thousands of years and continue to be so thanks to a burning curiosity that only grows with each new discovery. Since its launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has shaped our understanding of space in ways astronomers never thought possible. It has confirmed the age of the universe,... Continue Reading →
People have been looking up at the night sky for thousands of years but radio astronomy was new in the 1950s. One of the first fully functioning radio telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere was the one at Parkes Observatory. It is located 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) north of the town of the same name and... Continue Reading →
In a first for an exoplanet, astronomers have announced the detection of water vapour in the atmosphere of K2-18b. The planet lies in the habitable zone—a region around a star where water exists in a liquid state on a planet’s surface. It’s also an area where astronomers believe they’ll have the best chance of finding... Continue Reading →