At the first Christmas, three astrologers followed a star that shone so brightly, it looked like a diamond in the sky. A new study suggests that some stars in the Milky Way could harbor "carbon super-Earths"–giant terrestrial planets that are made up of 50% diamonds.
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We may live in a holographic projection of another, flat version of life, being lived in a two-dimensional surface at the edge of this universe. Seeing our universe as a hologram could solve some of the biggest problems in quantum physics, such as "spooky action at a distance," also known as quantum entanglement, in which two particles become entangled and when something happens to one of them, it instantly happens to the other.
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When we’re looking for extraterrestrial life, other moons may be our best bet. Among the most habitable alien worlds is Saturn’s moon Titan.
In recent years, the search for potentially habitable planets outside our solar system has increased. NASA’s Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, has found more than 1,000 possible planets so far. BBC News quotes astronomer Dirk Schulze-Makuch as saying, "The first question is whether Earth-like conditions can be found on other worlds, since we know empirically that those conditions could harbor life."
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When our satellites search for other planets that might harbor life, they always search for water. But now, for the first time, astronomers have detected around a burgeoning solar system a sprawling cloud of water vapor that’s cold enough to form comets, which could eventually deliver oceans to dry planets. And with oceans, life could spring up–or maybe migrate to the planet from another place.
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