Seeking the pale red dot

Posted on Tuesday, 30 June, 2009 | Comment icon

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A team of astronomers have determined that an extrasolar planet with the correct conditions for life would show up as more of a pale red dot as oppose to the pale blue dot that we have come to associate with our own planet.

Scientists looking for Earth-like planets in distant solar systems might find it more productive to focus on pale red dots, rather than blue ones."

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Source: Discovery Channel

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Recent comments on this story

#1 Posted by Lt_Ripley on 30 June, 2009, 16:16

so that's why the moon at times looks reddish. cool.

#2 Posted by ROGER on 1 July, 2009, 0:25

Before reading the whole thing my mind jumped to "Red Spectral Shift". I must say light through the upper atmosphere would never have occurred to me!

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