Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive. Bad Astronomy. Well now, this is an interesting discovery: astronomers have found what looks like a "super-Earth" – a planet more massive than Earth but still smaller than a gas giant – orbiting a nearby star at the right distance to have liquid water on it! Given that, it might – might – be Earthlike.
This is pretty cool news. We’ve found planets like this before, but not very many! And it gets niftier: the planet has at least five siblings, all of which orbit its star closer than it does. Now let me be clear: this is a planet candidate; it has not yet been confirmed. The star is called HD 40307, and it’s a bit over 40 light years away (pretty close in galactic standards, but I wouldn’t want to walk there). Massive planets tug on their star harder, so they’re easier to find this way. In this case, HD 40307 was originally observed a little while back by HARPS, and three planets were found. We don’t know how big the planet is, unfortunately. That’s exciting because of the prospect for life. One Sad Monkey » Carl Sagan. What lady could resist my turtleneck? I was listening to the love story between Carl Sagan and his third and final wife Anne Druyan from an episode in Radiolab. I kept playing it again and again because there this gigantic gap in the story that seems to require a giant cognitive leap that I just couldn’t make.
Carl was on his second marriage with his wife Linda Salzman with which he had a child with. Anne Druyan was in a serious relationship with a man and the two couples were friends. But 1 phone call changed everything. I guess its supposed to be reckless and romantic but I just don’t see it. Here is the story as written by Anne Druyan in the Epilogue of Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium with a few minor edits by me. What message did she leave him? I can understand the usage of narrative ellipses and very subtle exposition to make a love story mysterious, alluring and still remain a little private.
Carl and Anne Oh Snap! Space, NASA Information & News | Outer Space Flight Videos & Pictures | Astronomy, Solar System Images. Quantum Physics Online. Large Hadron Collider - How does it work? Astronomy.com - Interactive Star Charts, Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes.
The Second Law and Energy | MIT World. Richard Feynman: Physics is fun to imagine. What Does a Solar Flare Sound Like? Amusing physics. Dimensions Home. A film for a wide audience! Nine chapters, two hours of maths, that take you gradually up to the fourth dimension. Mathematical vertigo guaranteed! Background information on every chapter: see "Details". Click on the image on the left to watch the trailer ! (turn your speakers on please). Free download and you can watch the films online! The film can also be ordered as a DVD. This film is being distributed under a Creative Commons license. Now with even more languages for the commentary and subtitles: Commentary in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Russian. Film produced by: Jos Leys (Graphics and animations) Étienne Ghys (Scenario and mathematics) Aurélien Alvarez (Realisation and post-production) Home. Home.