Space and astronomy news
[/caption] On April 7th, commands were sent to NASA’s exoplanet-hunting Kepler telescope to eject the 1.3×1.7 metre lens cap so the unprecedented mission could begin its hunt for Earth-like alien worlds orbiting distant stars. However, one UK astronomer won’t be using the Kepler data to detect the faint transits of rocky exoplanets in front of …
Continue reading “Kepler Will Be Used to Measure the Size of the Universe”
[/caption]The cosmos is a very big place, how do you begin the search for exoplanets orbiting other stars? Astronomers have a few tricks up their sleeves to work out how to spot these tiny specks of distant alien worlds. Astronomers can look for the gravitational “wobble” of a star as a massive exoplanet tugs on …
Continue reading “Looking For Extraterrestrials Looking At Us”
[/caption] When Mars and Jupiter migrated to their present orbits around 4 billion years ago, they left scars in the asteroids belt that are still visible today. The evidence is unveiled in a new paper in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, by planetary scientists David Minton and Renu Malhotra from the University of …
Continue reading “Jupiter, Saturn Plowed Through Asteroids, Study Says”
[/caption] The CoRoT satellite has found the smallest terrestrial exoplanet yet, — with a diameter just under twice that of Earth — complete with a rocky surface you could walk on and possibly even oceans to sail across. However, if you traveled there, you might want to bring some protection, as the temperature of this …
Continue reading “Smallest Terrestrial Exoplanet Yet Detected”
[/caption] In June of 2008, astronomers announced the finding of one of the smallest exoplanets yet around a normal star other than the Sun. The planet – believed to be a rocky exo-world — was found through a microlensing event, and was estimated to be 3.3 times the size of Earth, orbiting a brown dwarf …
Continue reading “Exoplanet Could Be More Earth-like Than Previously Thought”
[/caption] In September, it was announced the Chandra X-ray Observatory had spotted something very odd about BD+20 307. The binary system appeared to have a dusty disk surrounding it, indicative of a young, planet-forming system a fraction of the age of the Solar System. However, it was well known that the binary was actually several …
Continue reading “Hunt is on for “Killer” Third Star in BD+20 307 Binary System”
[/caption] After examining the 5-million-year old star cluster NGC 2362, astronomers say that planets like Jupiter must form quickly because the material that form giant gas planets disappears in just few million years in young protoplanetary (planet forming) systems. Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers from the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics found that all stars …
Continue reading “The Case of the Disappearing Planetary Disks”
The nominations are in, the votes have been counted and the Universe Today writers have been consulted; the Top 10 Scientific Endeavours of 2008 are decided! After much consideration by the readers of the Universe Today, it became quickly apparent what the popular choice would be, and some of the Top 10 may not come …
Continue reading “The Universe Today Top 10 Scientific Endeavours of 2008”
[/caption] Brown dwarfs are an interesting sort, and can only be classified in a kind of cosmic periphery between stars and planets: they are too small to be called stars and too large to be called planets. And astronomers haven’t been sure whether they form like stars, from the gravitational collapse of gas clouds, or …
[/caption] Back in 2000, astronomers discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the nearby star Epsilon Eridani. Since that star system is listed in some Star Trek lore as the location of the fabled planet Vulcan, astronomers joked they had found Spock’s homeworld. But enticing new discoveries of the Epsilon Eridani system implies it could be a …