Exoplanets and the 2012 American Astronomical Society Winter Meeting [NPR Science Friday]

NPR’s Science Friday invited me to talk about exoplanets and the 2012 Winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society: Kepler Telescope Spots Tiniest Exoplanets Yet At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, scientists talked about mapping dark matter, measuring the ‘graininess’ of spacetime, and discovering the smallest exoplanets ever, using the Kepler space telescope. … Continue reading Exoplanets and the 2012 American Astronomical Society Winter Meeting [NPR Science Friday]

Finally Finding Other Earths [US News]

Looking for Earth-like planets isn’t anything new for astronomers. But it’s only been within the last few years that they’ve confidently identified candidates. The change from famine to feast is in large part due to NASA’s Kepler telescope, a mission that survived a number of challenges to become a reality. My US News article from … Continue reading Finally Finding Other Earths [US News]

Private Space Telescope to Watch for Asteroids Heading Our Way [Nature]

A  nonprofit group has announced plans for the first privately funded mission to deep space. The telescope will identify and track 90 percent of the near-Earth asteroids 140 meters and larger, including those that could bash into our planet. If you’ve got a hankering to protect Earth from wayward asteroids — and a few hundred … Continue reading Private Space Telescope to Watch for Asteroids Heading Our Way [Nature]