Astronomers have directly imaged a brown dwarf companion to the star HD 3651. This star is already known to host an extrasolar planet – less massive than Saturn, but sitting within the orbit of Mercury. HD 3651 is slightly less massive than the Sun, and is located 36 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. The brown dwarf, or HD 3651B, is probably between 20 and 60 Jovian masses, and has a temperature between 500 and 600 degrees Celsius.
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Biggest Ozone Hole Ever
If you’re going to Antarctica, put on your sunscreen. According to NASA and NOAA scientists, the ozone hole above the Earth’s Southern Hemisphere is the biggest on record. In late September, the new hole reached 27.5 million square km. Even through most countries banned ozone-depleting chemicals many years ago, they’re expected to continue affecting the atmosphere for decades to come.
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Europe’s New Weather Satellite Blasts Off
MetOp, a new European weather satellite, has successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Russian Soyuz carrying MetOp blasted off from the launch pad on Thursday, October 19 at 1628 UTC (12:28pm EDT). The satellite was successfully placed into an orbit that will bring it 850 km (531 miles) above the Earth’s poles. The satellite has 8 instruments designed to gather data about the planet’s atmospheric and surface conditions, and 3 additional instruments for viewing space and relaying data.
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Hardy Microbes Might Be Happy on Mars
Is there life on Mars? If it’s there, it’s probably microscopic, and really tough; able to handle cold temperatures, low pressures, and very little water. A new class of microbes have been uncovered that seem to fit the bill. They’re able to survive and reproduce below the freezing temperature of water. These microbes expand the range of habitats that might support life in our Solar System, and will provide scientists with new characteristics to look for when exploring the Red Planet.
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Moonlet Tugs at Saturn’s Rings
This Cassini photograph shows the power Saturn’s tiniest moons have over its gossamer rings. This knot in Saturn’s F ring is caused by the gravitational influence of a tiny moon… or moons. Scientists believe there could be several tiny moonlets of various sizes perturbing the rings to create these knots. Cassini took this image on Sept. 25, 2006 when it was approximately 255,000 kilometers (159,000 miles) from Saturn.
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Another Galaxy Smashed Through Andromeda 200 Million Years Ago
Astronomers have gathered evidence that the Andromeda Galaxy collided with dwarf galaxy M32 about 200 million years ago. The evidence was seen by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, which measured the distribution of gas rings in the galaxy’s disk. These dust rings allowed astronomers to calculate when M32 smashed through Andromeda’s galactic plane, like tracing ripples in a pond.
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No Ice at the Moon’s Southern Pole
A new radar survey of the Moon’s southern pole has cast doubt on the hope that there might be accessible deposits of water ice in permanently dark craters. This new survey, performed with the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, found elevated hydrogen levels in regions of bright sunlight – not just inside the shadowed walls of craters. It seems that scattered rocks associated with impact craters have given previous instruments a false reading.
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NASA’s Wise Satellite Moves Ahead
NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer team got the good news this week when their space telescope was approved for construction. Once in orbit, the “Wise” spacecraft will survey the entire sky in the infrared spectrum. This full-sky survey should turn up many previously unseen brown dwarf stars – objects too dim to be seen in previous surveys. It should also find some of the largest, most luminous galaxies in the Universe – some could be more than 11.5 billion light-years away. The $300 million spacecraft is expected to launch in 2009.
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New Pictures from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Now firmly in its final science mapping orbit, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is releasing a torrent of science data back to Earth. The latest photo release shows dozens of sites visited by the spacecraft in the first week of October, 2006. This image shows gullies in an unnamed crater in the Terra Sirenum region of Mars. Scientists believe the gullies were formed during a time when liquid water flowed across the surface of the Red Planet.
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Podcast: More Evidence for the Big Bang
Last week’s episode started out with a bang… a Big Bang. This week we continue our discussion into the beginning of everything. We present three additional lines of evidence that have led astronomers to the conclusion that our Universe started out as a singularity 13.7 billion years ago, and has been expanding ever since.
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