Planets: A Very Short Introduction
David A. Rothery
From Our Blog
Ever since it was realised that the stars are other suns, people have wondered whether any of them are accompanied by planets, or 'exoplanets' as we now call them. Speculation along these lines were among the charges that led to Giordano Bruno being burned at the stake in the year 1600. It is only since the 1930s that astronomers seriously thought they had the observational tools to be able to find out.
Posted on January 5, 2018
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The discovery of water on Mars has been claimed so often that I'd forgive anyone for being skeptical about the latest announcement. Frozen water, ice, has been proven on Mars in many places, there are lots of ancient canyons hundreds of kilometres long that must have been carved by rivers, and much smaller gullies that are evidently much younger.
Posted on October 9, 2015
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World Space Week has prompted myself and colleagues at the Open University to discuss the question: 'Is there life beyond Earth?' The bottom line is that we are now certain that there are many places in our Solar System and around other stars where simple microbial life could exist, of kinds that we know from various settings, both mundane and exotic, on Earth. What we don't know is whether any life DOES exist in any of those places.
Posted on October 3, 2014
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By David Rothery So Mars is 'Place of the Year'! It has the biggest volcano in the Solar System ' Olympus Mons ' amazing dust storms, and the grandest canyon of all ' Valles Marineris. Mind you, the surface area of Mars is almost the same as the total area of dry land on Earth, so to declare Mars as a whole to be 'place of the year' seems a little vague, given that previous winners (on Earth) have been islands or single countries.
Posted on December 4, 2012
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I've seen proud posts on the internet from people who saw five planets with the naked eye this spring. Venus and Jupiter could hardly be missed in the west after sunset, though Mercury was more elusive as it never strays very far from the Sun and is smaller and fainter. Later in the evening Mars and then Saturn have been rising high in the east. That's a 'full house', comprising all five of the planets recognised by the ancients. Being a geologist, I usually insist on claiming that a sixth planet is easily visible too...
Posted on April 13, 2012
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