The Habitable Zone
Posted inAstronomy & Space

The Habitable Zone

The Habitable Zone is the distance around a star where a planet is just right for water to exist as a liquid on its surface. Not boiling away. Not frozen forever. We call it many names: The Goldilocks Zone (not too hot, not too cold) The Life-friendly Zone The Water Zone
Red Dwarfs – The Quiet Fires of the Universe
Posted inAstronomy & Space

Red Dwarfs – The Quiet Fires of the Universe

A red dwarf is a small, relatively cool star that shines with a dim red light. In terms of size, it’s only about 7% to 50% the mass of our Sun. That means if our Sun were a basketball, a red dwarf might be the size of a golf ball. Their “red” color comes from their cool surface temperatures — usually around 2,000 to 4,000°C.
Kepler-22b
Posted inExoplanets

Kepler-22b

At 2.4 times Earth’s radius, Kepler-22b sits in a curious category between rocky and gaseous worlds. Astronomers call these “super-Earths” or “mini-Neptunes,” planets that may possess thick atmospheres or vast global oceans.