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Phil Plait

Bad Astronomy

Irony: 1984 - 2007

Clavascidium lacinulatum, or brown stipplescale lichen, is a common sight in the Mojave Desert. (Image Credit: Bob O'Kennan via iNaturalist) 

lichen

Learn why a lichen found in the Mojave Desert has become key evidence in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Desert Lichen Resists Intense Solar Radiation, Providing Evidence for Extraterrestrial Life

Stone alignments revealed an ancient temple, called Palaspata after the native name for the area. The temple complex is approximately 125 meters long by 145 meters wide — about the size of a city block — and includes 15 quadrangular enclosures arranged around a rectangular inner courtyard. This is a digital reconstruction of the temple. (Image Credit: Jose Capriles/Penn State/CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Digital reconstruction of ancient Palaspata temple

Recent archaeological discovery expands our knowledge on complex Indigenous societies in South America.

Ancient Temple Ruins Shed Light on Life of Tiwanaku, a Thriving Pre-Inca Civilization

 Image of the disk around the star TWA 7 recorded using ESO’s Very Large Telescope’s SPHERE instrument. The image captured with JWST’s MIRI instrument is overlayed. We can clearly see the empty area around TWA 7 B in the R2 ring (CC #1). (Image Credit: JWST/ESO/Lagrange) 

JWST TWA7 

Learn more about TWA 7 b, an exoplanet with the mass of Saturn that was captured by creating a fake eclipse.

James Webb Space Telescope Captures Smallest Exoplanet Ever Seen in Historic First