https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/telescope/ Recent content in Telescope on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Tue, 01 May 2018 16:21:50 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/trappist-1-system-hosts-seven-earth-planets/ Tue, 01 May 2018 16:21:50 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/trappist-1-system-hosts-seven-earth-planets/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/trappist-1-system-hosts-seven-earth-planets/PIA22097NASA_TrappistNN.jpg" alt="An illustration of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets, which are all roughly Earth-sized. TRAPPIST-1e, fourth from the left, is considered the most Earth-like overall. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>An illustration of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets, which are all roughly Earth-sized. TRAPPIST-1e, fourth from the left, is considered the most Earth-like overall. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.</figcaption> </figure> <p>In 2017, astronomers discovered seven planets orbiting a star dubbed TRAP­PIST-1, a faint red dwarf 40 light-years from Earth and only 9 percent as bright as our sun. The Earth-like qualities of these planets made headlines: they are of similar sizes to our planet, and their orbits fall within TRAPPIST-1&rsquo;s habitable zone — two characteristics that scientists think are important for life to exist on a planet. Researchers now report that the TRAPPIST-1 planets have even more traits in common with Earth: they are likely rocky, and they may have surface water that exists as liquid, ice and vapor.</p> https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/mysterious-rapid-radio-burst-captured-live/ Mon, 20 Apr 2015 09:07:08 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/mysterious-rapid-radio-burst-captured-live/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/mysterious-rapid-radio-burst-captured-live/1280px-CSIRO_ScienceImage_3881_Five_Antennas_at_Narrabri.jpg" alt="In addition to the Parkes telescope, the Australia Telescope Compact Array turned to look for evidence of the fast radio burst. Credit: ©John Masterson/CSIRO, CC BY 3.0." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>In addition to the Parkes telescope, the Australia Telescope Compact Array turned to look for evidence of the fast radio burst. Credit: ©John Masterson/CSIRO, CC BY 3.0.</figcaption> </figure> <p>Last year, astronomers received a signal from the depths of the cosmos: a fleeting pulse of intense electromagnetic radiation known as a fast radio burst (or FRB). First discovered in 2007, these millisecond blasts occur sporadically and continue to baffle astronomers. Now, for the first time, an FRB has been caught red-handed.</p> https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/twinkle-twinkle-new-little-star/ Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:43:27 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/twinkle-twinkle-new-little-star/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/twinkle-twinkle-new-little-star/TZO_SmallMagellanicCloud.jpg" alt="A new hybrid star, called a Thorne-Zytkow object, was observed in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest and brightest galaxies near the Milky Way. Credit: NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/STScI." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>A new hybrid star, called a Thorne-Zytkow object, was observed in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest and brightest galaxies near the Milky Way. Credit: NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/STScI.</figcaption> </figure> <p>What&rsquo;s red, sparkly and far from home? Not Dorothy&rsquo;s shoes, but a Thorne-Zytkow object (TZO), a type of hybrid star theorized since 1975 to exist but not observed until now.</p>