Jun 6, 2017 03:49 AM
The Mystery Behind a 40-Year-Old Signal From Outer Space May Finally Be Solved
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/so...ry-solved/
EXCERPT: [...] Astronomer Antonio Paris has been studying the Wow! signal for a long time. In 2016, he released a paper along with fellow astronomer Evan Davies suggesting that the signal could have been caused by a comet orbiting in the inner solar system. Specifically, the 2016 paper identified two comets, 266P/Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs), that were both in the area where the Wow! signal was detected. Both of these comets have large hydrogen clouds surrounding them that could produce the kind of signal detected in 1977 [...] This is bad news for anyone holding out hope that the Wow! signal would be aliens, but it's a solid conclusion to one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy. Now that we know comets can create these otherworldly signals, any future signals we get will have to be vetted much more carefully....
MORE: http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/so...ry-solved/
How Deep Was Mars' Ocean?
http://gizmodo.com/how-deep-was-mars-ocean-1795815692
EXCERPT: Our little red neighbor may be a rocky red wasteland now, but lots of people think it was once an ocean-covered world just like our own. After scientists found some evidence of flowing water back in 2015, folks started to take these claims even more seriously. Heck, maybe Mars even supported life. After a weekend of rampant speculation, NASA has confirmed our suspicions: There’s probably liquid… A team of American researchers have a guesstimate for the next logical question: Okay, if there was water, how much was there? Oceans? Lakes? Puddles? Their estimate: 686 quadrillion meters cubed (that’s one followed by 15 zeros) of the stuff. If that seems meaningless, it’s around twice the volume of the Atlantic Ocean, or half the total volume of all the Earth’s oceans....
MORE: http://gizmodo.com/how-deep-was-mars-ocean-1795815692
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/so...ry-solved/
EXCERPT: [...] Astronomer Antonio Paris has been studying the Wow! signal for a long time. In 2016, he released a paper along with fellow astronomer Evan Davies suggesting that the signal could have been caused by a comet orbiting in the inner solar system. Specifically, the 2016 paper identified two comets, 266P/Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs), that were both in the area where the Wow! signal was detected. Both of these comets have large hydrogen clouds surrounding them that could produce the kind of signal detected in 1977 [...] This is bad news for anyone holding out hope that the Wow! signal would be aliens, but it's a solid conclusion to one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy. Now that we know comets can create these otherworldly signals, any future signals we get will have to be vetted much more carefully....
MORE: http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/so...ry-solved/
How Deep Was Mars' Ocean?
http://gizmodo.com/how-deep-was-mars-ocean-1795815692
EXCERPT: Our little red neighbor may be a rocky red wasteland now, but lots of people think it was once an ocean-covered world just like our own. After scientists found some evidence of flowing water back in 2015, folks started to take these claims even more seriously. Heck, maybe Mars even supported life. After a weekend of rampant speculation, NASA has confirmed our suspicions: There’s probably liquid… A team of American researchers have a guesstimate for the next logical question: Okay, if there was water, how much was there? Oceans? Lakes? Puddles? Their estimate: 686 quadrillion meters cubed (that’s one followed by 15 zeros) of the stuff. If that seems meaningless, it’s around twice the volume of the Atlantic Ocean, or half the total volume of all the Earth’s oceans....
MORE: http://gizmodo.com/how-deep-was-mars-ocean-1795815692