Nasa made a big announcement last week: seven Earth-sized planets orbit a star 40 light-years away and 3 of them are in the planet's habitable zone. Why should we care?
Why care about exoplanets?
M is for (exo)Moons
There are 8 planets in our Solar System (sorry Pluto). Most of these planets have companions that follow them around, like obedient pets and criminal records. The total count of these moons is 181. We are all quite familiar with the big shiny one that orbits Earth (that may or may not be made of …
K is for Kepler
Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife. These words, written by Johannes Kepler in 1611, are profound. At the time, Galileo had just discovered the Galilean moons (including Europa) in Florence but was being persecuted for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun. Kepler, a staunch supporter of heliocentrism, …
