This week on the Cosmic Companion, we take a look at Exoplanets in Your Backyard! Or, at least how you can get a small idea of what it might be like to visit these worlds, and you know… Survive.
Later in the show, we’re going to be talking with Allyson Johnson, senior editor at National Geographic. We’ll be discussing their new release, Complete National Parks of the United States, and explore how some national parks can give us a small taste of life on distant worlds.
Astronomers currently know of a little over 5,000 worlds orbiting stars other than the Sun. These range from small, hot rocky planets huddling close to their star, to massive Jupiter-like worlds. This largest class of worlds could themselves be encircled by families of Moons, some as large as Mercury — or perhaps even the Earth…