Sulfur ‘Spices’ Alien Atmospheres
They say variety is the spice of life, and now new discoveries from Johns Hopkins researchers suggest that a certain elemental ‘variety’—sulfur—is indeed a ‘spice’ that can perhaps point to signs of life.
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The Strange Orbits of ‘Tatooine’ Planetary Disks
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found striking orbital geometries in protoplanetary disks around binary stars. While disks orbiting the most compact binary star systems share very nearly the same plane, disks encircling wide binaries have orbital planes that are severely tilted. These systems can teach us about planet formation in complex environments.
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Exoplanet Axis Study Boosts Hopes of Complex Life, Just Not Next Door
There’s new hope that we aren’t alone in the universe, that advanced beings may exist on exoplanets. But they’re probably not close by, says a new study on the stability of planetary tilts – and orbits – needed to encourage the evolution of complex life.
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