About 4.6 billion years ago, a celestial cloud collapsed, paving the way for our solar system to form. Then, a nebula with strong gravitational pull took shape, kick-starting the birth of the sun. But after that, the details leave more room for debate about which planets formed first. So, what do we know about which planets emerged early, and which …
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When you see art of our solar system as the planet orbit the sun, you may notice that Earth’s orbit has a tilt. It is not a perfect circle. What’s more, Earth is not the only planet that displays such a tilt. Though Earth’s orbit may have also been altered by a passing star millions of years ago, this particular …
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Drpixel/Getty Images When you see art of our solar system as the planet orbit the sun, you may notice that Earth’s orbit has a tilt. It is not a perfect circle. What’s more, Earth is not the only planet that displays such a tilt. Though Earth’s orbit may have also been altered …
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When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration of a planet orbiting a white dwarf star. New research hints that planets like these may have more hope for hosting life than previously thought. | Credit: ASA/JPL-Caltech The planets around white dwarf stars might provide long-term homes for alien life, …
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The planets around white dwarf stars might provide long-term homes for alien life, but they suffer from a fatal overheating problem. Who’s going to rescue them? According to new research, it’s none other than Albert Einstein. White dwarfs are the compact remnants of dead sun-like stars. They litter the universe, with the Milky Way alone home to hundreds of millions …
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“I Heard It Before I Saw It”: This Giant European Antenna in Australia Will Talk to Distant Planets (and change how we explore space) Rude Baguette ESA inaugurates new deep space antenna in Australia SpaceNews ESA inaugurates deep space antenna in Australia European Space Agency The new antenna that could theoretically receive a phone call from Mars Australian Broadcasting Corporation Cook Government Investment Strengthens …
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For nearly twenty years, satellites have quietly gauged the flow of sunlight and heat through the Earth’s atmosphere. Today, scientists say those measurements indicate a disturbing trend — the Northern Hemisphere is steadily getting darker compared to the Southern Hemisphere. The discrepancy could redefine wind patterns, ocean currents, and even global temperatures. Tracking the Planet’s Energy Flow The study relies …
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Thirty years ago this week, two Swiss astronomers announced that they had spotted the first known planet orbiting a Sun-like star. The Nobel-winning discovery, later published in the pages of Nature1, was the culmination of centuries of dreaming, and decades of searching, for worlds beyond the Solar System. It was also the start of a whirlwind of discovery. Astronomers have …
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I love 4X games. I’ve tried other strategy game genres, but frankly, they don’t stick if they’re not first and foremost 4X games—at the heart of it, it must be about exploring, expanding, exploiting, and yes, exterminating. I suspect that the first 4X game most people played was some entry in the Civilization franchise—though certainly, a select few played precursors …
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A Russian satellite crash landed in a field south west of Moscow earlier this month while carrying some unusual cargo: about 1,500 flies, 75 mice, seeds, a bunch of microbes, and various cell tissues. The Bion-M No 2 satellite’s mission was to study the impact of space on these critters, but to also test the wild concept — a theory …
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