drew@drewexmachina.com
With a V magnitude of -1.46, Sirius is by far the brightest star in our nighttime sky. Located in the constellation of Canis Major (the Greater […]
Before the discovery of the first extrasolar planets, the only planetary system we could study was our own Solar System. Based on centuries of study, astronomers […]
The Holy Grail of NASA’s Kepler mission is the identification of what have become popularly known as “Earth twins”: Earth-size planets in Earth-like orbits around Sun-like […]
Without a doubt, NASA’s Kepler mission is the most prolific extrasolar planet hunter in the history of astronomy. As of July 23, 2015, a total of […]
One of the basic activities of science is the categorization of objects being observed based on common properties. Whether the objects be plants, rocks, subatomic particles […]
Over the past several years, NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered over a thousand confirmed planets with thousands more unconfirmed candidates awaiting follow up observations and even […]
It has been almost two decades since the first extrasolar planets were discovered orbiting Sun-like stars using precision radial velocity measurements. But as more accurate instruments […]
Without a doubt, the most prolific planet hunter to date has got to be NASA’s Kepler mission. Launched into solar orbit on March 7, 2009, Kepler […]
For over half a century, controversy has swirled around Barnard’s Star and the possibility it could harbor extrasolar planets. Back when I was growing up in […]
About two and a half years ago, the web was filled with stories about the announcement of an Earth-size extrasolar planet discovered orbiting our Sun-like next […]
Back in July 2014, the press was filled with stories about the apparent disappearance of two potentially habitable extrasolar planets thought to be orbiting the nearby […]
When I was a teenager, I was a voracious reader of the work of the famous science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov. But it was not his […]
