Space and astronomy news
Scientists at the European Southern Observatory have identified the closest looking solar system to our own. They located a sun-like star more than 100 light years distant with as many as seven different planets, including one that might be the smallest ever found outside the solar system. “We have found what is most likely the …
Continue reading “Step On The Scales: Weighing Up Planet Earth…”
[/caption] If civilization-forming intelligent life is rare in our Milky Way galaxy, chances are we won’t hear from ET before the Sun goes red giant, in about five billion years’ time; however, if we do hear from ET before then, we’ll have lots of nice chats before the Earth is sterilized. That’s the conclusion from …
Continue reading “If the Earth is Rare, We May Not Hear from ET”
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the much anticipated, long awaited “next generation” telescope. Planned for launch in 2013 October 2018, fall of 2021, JWST has been touted as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. With it, astronomers hope to look back in time to when the universe was just 200 million years …
Continue reading “Q & A with Dr. John Mather on the James Webb Space Telescope”
[/caption] Two of the hottest and most engaging topics in space and astronomy these days are 1.) exoplanets – planets orbiting other stars – and 2.) dark matter—that unknown stuff that seemingly makes up a considerable portion of our universe. There’s a spacecraft currently in development that could help answer our questions about whether there …
[/caption]The Hubble Space Telescope has detected carbon dioxide on a planet orbiting another star. The star in question is HD 189733 (also known as V452 Vulpeculae, a variable star designation), a binary system over 60 light years away, and the planet is approximately the size of Jupiter (called HD 189733b). The exoplanet is already known …
Continue reading “Carbon Dioxide Detected on Exoplanet HD 189733b”
[/caption] The southern circumpolar constellation of Mensa was created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille and was originally named Mons Mensae. It was later changed and adopted by the International Astronomical Union and accepted as one of the permanent 88 modern constellations. Mensa encompasses only 153 square degrees of sky – ranking 75th in size. It …
Using a new technique with a near-infrared spectrograph attached to ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have been able to study planet-forming discs around young Sun-like stars in unsurpassed detail, clearly revealing the motion and distribution of the gas in the inner parts of the disc. Astronomers used a technique known as ‘spectro-astrometric imaging’ to give …
Continue reading “New Technique Expands View of Young Exo-Planetary Systems”
[/caption] We’ve all wondered at some point or another what mysteries our Solar System holds. After all, the eight planets (plus Pluto and all those other dwarf planets) orbit within a very small volume of the heliosphere (the volume of space dominated by the influence of the Sun), what’s going on in the rest of …
Jupiter. Image credit: Wes Higgins. Click to enlarge. Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! This week is all about Jupiter. While these sky guidelines were written before the appearance of the “Great Red Spot, Jr.” – that doesn’t mean the new storm can’t be spotted with an intermediate sized telescope. Be on the lookout for it to begin …
Continue reading “What’s Up This Week – June 5 – June 11, 2006”
HD98618 would look almost identical to our Sun. Image credit: SOHO Click to enlarge. When astronomers start searching for evidence of live orbiting other stars, they’ll start with familiar terrain: other stars like our Sun. Astronomers from the Australian National University have identified a nearby candidate that’s a virtual twin of our Sun in age, …