Two of the most common questions if you are a scientist and, particularly, an astronomer are: “is there life on other planets?” and, “what do you think of UFOs?” I will start by answering these two questions: Of course, there is life “out there”. History has shown that every time we take a geocentric or [...]
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Carl Sagan, 1980 [This is a quick-reaction piece that is being polished and updated constantly. Last updated: October 1st] Through the day today there have constant reports in social media and elsewhere in the Internet, leaking news of the discovery of evidence of microbial life in the atmosphere of Venus, [...]
The Red Planet has fascinated man for centuries, ever since the first telescopic observations that revealed pole caps, seasonal changes and signs of atmosphere. A new study is likely to re-open the debate about the possible presence of fossils in Martian rocks, even though it is unlikely that the claims made will be accepted. For [...]
Some months back I made some from the hip comments about ‘Oumuamua, that strange little visitor from outside the solar system. Some of them were superseded by later events, others are certainly debatable. However, in the last week or so, ‘Oumuamua has been in the spotlight due to renewed speculation that it could be artificial, [...]
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