Exoplanets | The Daily Space

Old Falcon 9 Stage Reenters Over Mexico

Feb 14, 2022 | Asteroids, Book Club, Daily Space, Exoplanets, JWST, Review, Rockets, Soyuz, Spacecraft, SpaceX, White Dwarfs

The second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket launched in 2017 re-entered the atmosphere over Mexico, breaking up and creating a show of fiery lights in the sky. Plus, dead stars with possibly living planets, more on moon formation, more launches, more launch failures, and a review of “The Apollo Murders” by Chris Hadfield.

Distant Galaxies Found Lifeless Within Ancient Cluster

Feb 11, 2022 | Daily Space, Exoplanets, Galaxies, Sky Watching, Spacecraft, Venus, White Dwarfs

Defying expectations, an ultramassive galaxy and many of its cluster companions had already formed most of their stars and become inactive only two billion years after the beginning of the universe. Plus, the nightside of Venus, a new exoplanet for Proxima Centauri, and What’s Up.

Moons May Be Beneficial to Life Beyond Earth

Feb 5, 2022 | Astrobiology, Crewed Space, Daily Space, Exoplanets, Moon, Rockets, Sky Watching, Spacecraft, SpaceX, Starlink, Stars, Supermassive Black Holes, Uranus

New simulations find that to form a moon with a similar size ratio to our own system, certain types of planets are needed. And that type of moon-planet system could then be beneficial to the rise of life on the planet. Plus, a Starlink launch, puffy planets, and training astronauts underwater for spacewalks.

Indigenous North American Stories Point to Comet Explosion

Feb 3, 2022 | Asteroids, Comets, Daily Space, Earth, Exoplanets, Moon, Random Space Fact, Rockets, Space History, Spacecraft, White Dwarfs

By collecting and analyzing stories from a variety of indigenous cultures in North America, researchers find evidence for a mid-air explosion of a comet or asteroid, similar to the Tunguska event. Plus, a new Trojan for Earth, volcanoes and dinosaurs, ancient Mexican cacao groves, and this week in rocket history is Lunar Orbiter 3.

SpaceX Launches Italian Radar Satellite

Feb 2, 2022 | Crewed Space, Daily Space, Exoplanets, Galaxies, Guest Interview, Mars, Nebulae, Rockets, Science, Spacecraft, SpaceX, Star Forming Region

After several weather-related (and one cruise ship-related) delays, SpaceX finally launched the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Flight 2 (CSG-2) satellite for the Italian government. Plus, some beautiful images to start your week and an interview with Dr. Núria Miret-Roig about free-floating planets.

Early Mars Volcanoes Could Have Been Habitable to Microbes

Jan 29, 2022 | Asteroids, Astrobiology, Climate Change, Crewed Space, Daily Space, Earth, Exoplanets, Mars, Physics, Science

A research team studying the Poás volcano in Costa Rica, a potential analog for early Mars conditions, finds microbes surviving in extremely harsh conditions. Plus, table-top matter-antimatter experiments, an exoplanet’s complex atmosphere, and how snails and squirrels can help us understand space.