The Galactic Inquirer

Cosmochemistry and Astrobiology

GAAC Meeting, October 9 2020, with Robert Naeye and Finding Life on Other Worlds

Are we alone or do we share our solar system and galaxy with other forms of life? And how widespread are advanced civilizations with whom we could communicate? Right now we don’t have answers to these profound questions. But scientists are in hot pursuit...

Perspective: The Case for Coordinating Earth & Space Science Education

In this essay, I argue in support of teaching the Earth & space sciences together, so that students can attain a more holistic understanding of their planetary environment, how it came to be, and where it is headed. Such teaching (and teachers) should receive the same priority as in the teaching of physics, chemistry, and biology.

Book Review: Alan Lightman’s The Accidental Universe, The World You Thought You Knew

There has always been a lot of conflict and contention between religion and science, arguably since the beginning of human abstract thought. Everyone has an opinion on how the two interact, intermingle, or completely repel against each other. The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew is simply one man’s opinion written into a book.

Book Review: Andy Weir’s The Martian

Andrew Taylor “Andy” Weir is an American novelist born on June 16, 1972 in Davis, California, USA. He is best known for his science fiction novel, The Martian, which was written and self-published in 2011. Three years later, Crown Publishing purchased the rights and re-released it.

Earth and Space Report #2: Comparing Planetary Climates, and Why We Should Take Heed

Earth sits right in the Goldilocks zone. Venus, only a little closer to the sun, has a surface hot enough to melt lead, and Mars is cold enough to have dry ice -- C02 -- at its poles. What can the atmospheres of these three planets tell us about the future of our climate?

Why We Explore Earth and Space

I have no doubt that we will become an interplanetary species, within two decades and that we will likely find the existence of life, or past life, on another planetary body, within the next decade.

Extraterrestrial Anthropomorphism

Perhaps because of their tremendous popularity, Hollywood’s sci-fi films have exerted a powerful influence on our psyches – piquing our curiosity and igniting our imagination regarding life beyond Earth.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Martin Annis, Ph.D. (Founder - American Science and Engineering) We have overlooked an important source of information in our search for life on Earth-like planets...

Latest news

Multi-Spectral Imagery of the Multi-phase ISM in M33

We investigate star formation in the Sc(s) II-III galaxy M33 by analyzing eight prominent HII regions using multi-wavelength data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and optical imagery. Results indicate that dust emission is a compact tracer of high-mass star formation, while PAH and H-alpha emissions decline more slowly with galactocentric radius.

Dispatches from the Cosmos — Winter 2025

Just like the dust that stubbornly besmirches your computer monitor, bookcase, and ancestral credenza, cosmic dust is now recognized to have a multiplicity of origins.  For decades, astronomers thought that aging red giant stars produced most of the dust responsible for obscuring and reddening our views of nebulae and more distant stars ...

Sticking Close to Home #3 — Forming Planets

To form a solar system, the literature says that in a simulation like this we can ignore the gravity of the Sun and just concentrate on the interaction of the objects in the protoplanetary disk.The gas, dust and other objects rotate around the forming Sun in Keplerian orbital motion...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you

Extraterrestrial Anthropomorphism

Perhaps because of their tremendous popularity, Hollywood’s sci-fi films have exerted a powerful influence on our psyches – piquing our curiosity and igniting our imagination regarding life beyond Earth.

Multi-Spectral Imagery of the Multi-phase ISM in M33

We investigate star formation in the Sc(s) II-III galaxy M33 by analyzing eight prominent HII regions using multi-wavelength data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and optical imagery. Results indicate that dust emission is a compact tracer of high-mass star formation, while PAH and H-alpha emissions decline more slowly with galactocentric radius.

Interstellar Communications

Introduction: It took less than two billion years for our...