Other Earths: The Search for Habitable Planets
A MagellanTV original and exclusive premiere. Our galaxy is made up of some four hundred billion stars and at least a hundred billion planets. How many are like Earth, with an atmosphere, flowing water, complex geology, and abundant life? Astronomers are seeking answers in countless photons racing past the Earth and in bold new theories about how planets form and evolve. What they are finding has only sharpened one of the oldest debates in science: Is biology a powerful and inevitable byproduct of cosmic evolution? Or is it rare, in a galaxy shaped by violence and mayhem?
A MagellanTV original and exclusive premiere. Our galaxy is made up of some four hundred billion stars and at least a hundred billion planets. How many are like Earth, with an atmosphere, flowing water, complex geology, and abundant life? Astronomers are seeking answers in countless photons racing past the Earth and in bold new theories about how planets form and evolve. What they are finding has only sharpened one of the oldest debates in science: Is biology a powerful and inevitable byproduct of cosmic evolution? Or is it rare, in a galaxy shaped by violence and mayhem?
Related Titles
.jpg?width=520&height=292&quality=75&jpg=true)
Related Articles
View All
Why Isn’t Pluto a Planet Anymore? (Some Say It Still Is)
Is Pluto a planet? Astronomers agreed in 2006 to rename it a “dwarf planet.” But planetary scientists disagree. They say its status as a planet should never have been changed.…
Are We Alone in the Universe? Scientists Resoundingly Say . . . Maybe
Are we alone in the Universe? Many people wonder if we’ll ever encounter an intelligence from beyond our planet. Space science organizations are searching our galaxy to uncover…
Ancient Influencers: Aristotle and Epicurus Debate Other Earths
Though ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Epicurus are far removed from the present day, let’s not underestimate their thinking on the nature of the Universe – and…
The Very Long Odds of Life on Planet Earth
For Earth to foster life required many processes to happen in the right order and time. Had Earth formed elsewhere in our Solar System, it might not have been the beneficiary of…
The Cosmic Origins of Our Celestial Home: How Birth of Planet Earth Turns Our Gaze to the Heavens
How did the Solar System form, and how did Earth become the only planet where life has developed? In a story perhaps best experienced through a documentary film, we see that a…
7 Threats Mars Colonizers Are Sure to Face in Outer Space
Humans appear to be on the verge of setting out in large numbers into space on commercial flights. Space visionaries are promoting these journeys as essential next steps for the…
Hawking to Humanity: We Must Venture Into Space, Or Else!
No less a thinker than the late Stephen Hawking sought to warn us that our time is running out on planet Earth. Humankind’s continued existence requires us to prepare for mass…
Buy Me to the Moon: The Money and Politics of Owning Outer Space
Who owns the Moon? Technically no one – but several private companies and individuals have had other ideas. As interest in the Moon’s profit potential grows, important questions…
Space Travel to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond: Often Romanticized, Seldom Understood
As we look ahead to NASA’s return to the Moon, it’s a good time to consider how far we’ve come. An earlier generation of rocket scientists made possible humankind's first giant…
Asteroids: Killers, Keys to the Stars and Life, or New Mining Gold Rush?
Asteroids loom large in our imagination: An encounter with one could wipe out all life. They hold clues to the origins of our Solar System, yet space speculators seek to exploit…
Planet 9 Coming Into Focus (And Maybe Planet 10, Too!)
A Caltech team is on the hunt for hidden planets. Building on research first published in 2016, they amassed enough unsexy but compelling evidence to book time at the Subaru…