Novel calculations peg age of ‘baby’ asteroid
A Cornell-lead research team derived the age of Selam, a “moonlet” orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt, based only on the pair’s dynamics.
Read moreThe Carl Sagan Institute (CSI) was founded to find life in the universe. Based on the pioneering work of Carl Sagan at Cornell, our interdisciplinary team is developing the forensic toolkit to find life in the universe, inside the Solar System and outside of it, on planets and moons orbiting other stars.
A Cornell-lead research team derived the age of Selam, a “moonlet” orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt, based only on the pair’s dynamics.
Read morePurple bacteria is one of the primary contenders for life that could dominate a variety of Earth-like planets orbiting different stars, and would produce a distinctive "light fingerprint," Cornell scientists report.
Read moreThe clues we find on exoplanets could be as strange as a bioluminescent glow or a rainbow hue, as astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger describes in “Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos.”
Read more"Have dinosaurs evolved on other worlds? Could we spot a planet of glowing organisms? What nearby star systems are positioned to observe Earth passing in front of the sun? These are just a few of the questions that Lisa Kaltenegger has joyfully tackled. As the founding director of the Carl Sagan ...
Read moreThe three-year postdoctoral fellowship, granted to Lígia Fonseca Coelho and Zach Ulibarri, provides recipients with resources, freedom, and flexibility to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.
Read moreSamples of Martian rock and soil could be stranded if Congress doesn't adequately fund a NASA mission to retrieve them, Astronomy Chair Jonathan Lunine told a U.S. House subcommittee on March 21.
Read moreDecades before any probe dips a toe – and thermometer – into the waters of distant ocean worlds, Cornell astrobiologists have devised a way to determine ocean temperatures based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from space.
Read moreWith the help of a Cornell astronomy researcher, the first radio telescope ever to land on the moon will lay the foundation for detecting habitable planets in our solar system by observing Earth as if it’s an exoplanet.
Read moreThe Carl Sagan Institute was founded in 2015 at Cornell University to find life in the universe and explore other worlds – how they form, evolve and if they could harbor life both inside and outside of our own Solar System.