A solar flare sets off auroras around the Arctic Circle.

The Spitzer Space Telescope fails to find a visible planet circling where Hubble saw one four years ago. (p. 12)

Roasted remains orbit former red giant. (p. 9)

The Kepler space telescope gets one step closer to its mission of discovering habitable worlds by finding two orbs of terrestrial proportions orbiting a distant sunlike star. (p. 10)

Extrasolar planet hunt spots its most Earthlike orb yet. (p. 11)

Recent data from two spacecraft suggest the planet was mostly dry and cold, with a wet, warm subsurface. (p. 5)

On November 1, the formula for estimating the abundance of extraterrestrial life in our galaxy celebrates its 50th birthday. It’s known as the Drake equation for its creator, Frank Drake, who is also my father.