Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. While astronomers have not yet detected any rocky exoplanets with hydrogen atmospheres, they expect such atmospheres to exist, especially around exoplanets known as super-Earths, which have more mass and therefore stronger gravitational pulls than Earth does.
Their growth rates were slower in hydrogen atmospheres, perhaps due to the lack of energy the microbes would normally get from oxygen. E. coli reached numbers roughly half those they would have in regular air, and yeast was hundreds of times less abundant than it would otherwise have been.
In case you are keeping track:
Five Truly Inhospitable Fictional Planets | Tor.com
The Greeks had a word, hubris, that gets thrown about a lot. I have the impression that it means something like "self-confidence." Right? Self-confidence is great stuff! Empowering! There are no challenges that human ingenuity cannot overcome: social conflicts, climate change, plagues and pandemics. We'll just power through it all like a tank through soap bubbles.
I must admit that not every science fiction author adopts this buoyant stance. Some of them have taken a contrary point of view, in fact, positing that there are some circumstances that will defeat humans, no matter how smart and persevering they are. Circumstances like alien worlds that cannot be terraformed into human-friendly resort planets. Here are five worlds that steadfastly resist meddling…
Giant, scorching-hot alien planet has yellow skies - Times Famous
The gas-giant exoplanet , which lies about 780 light-years from Earth, circles extremely close to its bright host star, completing one orbit every 3.7 Earth days. That proximity makes WASP-79b scorching hot, with an average temperature around 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius), NASA officials said.
All that heat puffs up WASP-79b substantially, making it one of the largest alien worlds ever observed. Although WASP-79b is just 85% as massive as Jupiter, it’s 1.7 times wider than our solar system’s biggest planet.
Mysterious Planet 9 could be found using futuristic spacecraft, theoretical physicist suggests |
The hypothetical Planet 9 has been bandied about for several years, first mentioned in 2014, but researchers have yet to find it. Now, a well-known theoretical physicist believes we could find the mysterious object using "laser-launched spacecraft."
Edward Witten, who many consider to be the founder of M-theory, a theory in physics that unifies superstring theory, believes a fleet of these craft could find the celestial object with relative ease.
Other things to check out:
New images reveal the heart of Jupiter's storms and the planet's jack-o-lantern glow - CNN
(CNN) Jupiter is known for its massive storms, but trying to peer inside them requires teamwork by the Juno spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. Collective observations from this dream team have produced stunning images and revealed what's happening inside Jupiter's giant, continuous storms.
TESS Finds Four-Planet System around Sun-Like Star | Astronomy | Sci-News.com
Astronomers using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have found four exoplanets — a hot super-Earth and three sub-Neptunes — orbiting the bright, Sun-like star HD 108236. A paper detailing the discovery will be published in the Astrophysical Journal .
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The star is located approximately 211 light-years from the Earth in the southern constellation of Centaurus.
Otherwise known as TIC 260647166, TOI-1233, and HIP 60689, it is 11% smaller than our Sun and 15% less massive.
Myth debunked: Are planets only visible through a telescope?
When many think of the night sky, the moon and the stars immediately come to mind. Few realise that, throughout the year, five of the other seven planets in the solar system are rather easily visible to the unaided eye as pinpoints of light, appearing like bright stars in the night sky.
Indeed, at different times of the year, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be seen in our night skies. Mercury is hardest to glimpse as it is rather close to the sun, and therefore can only be seen quite low in the sky just after sunset or just before sunrise. On the other hand, Mars’s brightness rises significantly every 26 months, as Earth and Mars reach opposition.
Planet of the Humans: Reviewing the Film and its Reviews - Resilience
If you haven't seen the latest (and arguably the most contentious) documentary on renewable energy, be prepared for an aftertaste of mixed feelings.
Joining hands with the controversial Michael Moore, environmentalist and filmmaker Jeff Gibbs has sent an eerie message that is now somewhat dividing the climate movement—in many ways for the worse, but, in a few others, for the better.
So, at least, one could argue is the case of Planet of the Humans . After engaging briefly with some of the well-deserved criticisms the film has received thus far, there are nevertheless some important aspects brought to our attention by the movie.
Happening on Twitter
Microbes can survive and grow in 100% hydrogen atmospheres, suggesting life could potentially evolve on a much broa… https://t.co/vMWiVplKJI ABC (from New York City / Worldwide) Sun May 10 04:52:28 +0000 2020
Microbes can live and grow in an atmosphere of pure hydrogen, lab experiments show. The finding could widen the ran… https://t.co/2tjmQFYD5g ScienceNews (from Washington, DC) Fri May 08 21:40:00 +0000 2020
Microbes could live on exoplanets with hydrogen atmospheres. https://t.co/m16Rk2y7SF ScienceNews (from Washington, DC) Thu May 07 21:20:00 +0000 2020
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