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Hot Topic
Deep Space
Cosmic Evolution
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Starmates
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
01/15/06 |
| New theoretical work shows that gas-giant planet formation can occur around binary stars in much the same way that it occurs around single stars like the Sun. The work was presented by Dr. Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, DC. The results suggest that gas-giant planets, like Jupiter, and habitable Earth-like planets could be more prevalent than previously thought. |
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Milky Way Harboring the Chemistry of Life
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
12/27/05 |
| NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered some of life's most basic ingredients in the dust swirling around a young star. The ingredients - gaseous precursors to DNA and protein - were detected in the star's terrestrial planet zone, a region where rocky planets such as Earth are thought to be born. |
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Searching for Our Sun's Sister
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
12/17/05 |
| Astronomers have found a debris disk around a sun-like star that may be forming or has formed its terrestrial planets. The disk - a probable analog to our asteroid belt - may have begun a solar-system-scale demolition derby, where the rocky remains of failed planets collide chaotically. |
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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
12/09/05 |
| Scientists have discovered a failed star, less than one-hundredth the mass of the Sun, possibly in the process of forming a solar system. It is the smallest known star-like object to harbor what appears to be a planet-forming disk. |
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The Dwarf that Carries a World
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
12/04/05 |
| A team of French and Swiss astronomers have discovered one of the lightest exoplanets ever found using the HARPS instrument on ESO's 3.6-m telescope at La Silla (Chile). The new planet orbits a star belonging to the class of red dwarfs. As these stars are very common, this discovery proves crucial in the census of other planetary systems. |
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Stellar Weathervane
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
12/02/05 |
| A research team investigated a disk of gas and dust surrounding a young star, as well as the stellar winds which emanate from that star. The team found unique, previously unknown characteristics of the innermost environment around the star. Another research group carried out the first-ever analysis of the gas and dust material surrounding a "supergiant" star. All of the observations have now been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. |
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One Ring Guides Them to Dark Matter and...
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
11/22/05 |
| A ring often serves as the visible symbol of the unseen - be it mystical, Lord of the Rings-style power or the devotion between two people. In space, a ring of light is more than a symbol. It is a guidepost to unseen matter and a beacon from galaxies in the distant universe. |
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SETI Sets its Sights on M Dwarfs
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
11/17/05 |
| More than half the stars in our galaxy are small, dim M dwarfs. Until recently, scientists believed these stars put out too little light to support life on any planets that orbited them. But at a recent workshop held at the SETI Institute targets in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. |
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Strings in the Mirror?
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/30/05 |
| Like Lewis Carroll's Alice, who steps through the looking glass into a strange world, Lawrence Krauss, Case Western Reserve University professor of physics, began his search for extra dimensional worlds with the Twilight Zone episode, "Little Lost Girl." |
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Busy Brown Dwarfs
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| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
10/26/05 |
| NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted the very beginnings of what might become planets around the puniest of celestial orbs - brown dwarfs, or "failed stars." |
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