JPL has a searchable database of exoplanets that currently lists the 340 known planets around other stars. None of them is Earth-like, most being gas giants, several orbiting pulsars, and a handful being on the border between planets and stars (the so-called Hot Jupiter model). That may change in the next few weeks with the launch of Kepler, an orbital telescope designed specifically to find habitable planets. It’s about time we get a realistic idea how common potentially life-bearing worlds are, and either meet the neighbors or get ready to move.
That is the accusation; the nation of Zimbabwe may be hoarding the entire run of William Hartnell episodes. If so, that would include a bunch of episodes lost since the early sixties, including The Tenth Planet, the first time a Doctor regenerated (Hartnell into Troughton), as well as the first story ever to feature the Cybermen. The story originally came from the Sun in the UK. Of course, this is the same magazine that took a recent entry from Google Oceans and gave it the headline Is This Atlantis?, but in their defense they also broke the news that the Doctor Who Stage Show will be going on tour soon. Already on stage is Who, Knows, the new Tasmanian play about (and tribute to) Doctor Who. The John Barrowman comic strip of a Torchwood story I mentioned the other day is going to be released soon, but while you wait you can read another Torchwood comic now online at Watch. And a brief flash of the original Cybermen:
Peak visibility for Comet Lulin will be on Monday night, but the viewing is good all weekend with the right sky. Sky and Telescope has the details you will need to spot it yourself, and APOD just had a good picture of this green visitor. We are also pointing some other observational resources at it, like the Swift spacecraft, which is looking at it in the ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths.
The trailer for the new abbreviated Torchwood season was aired at Comicon the other weekend, and is now all over the net. John Barrowman and his sister have put together a story for Captain Jack… and it’s also a comic book, coming out soon.
Joss Whedon has just won a Bradbury Award for best screenwriter… what a surprise!
The first of the new Red Dwarf specials, with the title Back to Earth, is in production now. It will be aired on Dave TV about Easter or so, and will hopefully be available on DVD for the rest of the world not long after that. Of course, there are already spoilers online, this being the internet and all. If you are not sure if you are ready for more Dwarf, take the quiz and see how you do. I didn’t do as well as I expected, getting the result:
You scored: 7/10
Whoah, man, cool scoring! You’re certainly no Duane Dibley. Feel free to hang with the Cat and strut your stuff anytime.