A disruptive new planet-hunting technology, now under study as part of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, could literally detect and then look for biosignatures from every Earth 2.0 within a thirty-light-year radius of our solar system.
Known as DICER (The Diffractive Interfero Coronagraph Exoplanet Resolver), the key to this NIAC study's revolutionary means of detecting these planets is that unlike conventional optical space telescopes —- which use curved, highly polished mirrors to collect starlight —- this mission would ...
This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 17 – 26 - Sky & Telescope - Sky & Telescope
■ Jupiter and Venus are closing in on each other in the western evening twilight, as shown in the two scenes below.
They're on their way to an eye-grabbing conjunction on March 1st. That evening they'll be ½° apart and lined up horizontally (seen from the mid-latitudes of North America). Mark your calendar!
What Is That Bright White 'Star' Shining In The Southwest After Sunset?
You're seeing a bright white "star" in the post-sunset evening sky and you're wondering what it is—and why it's there.
It's not a star at all. It's Venus, the brightest object in the night sky aside from the Sun and Moon.
Venus has an eight-year cycle in which it orbits the Sun 13 times, with periods dominating Earth's post-sunset night skies as a brilliant "Evening Star" and periods as "Morning Star."
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