|
|
Hot Topic
Deep Space
New Planets
|
|
| |
|
|
The Commonality of Earths
|
| Topic: New Planets |
02/21/08 |
| Astronomers have discovered that terrestrial planets might form around most of the nearby, Sun-like stars in our galaxy. The finding has important implications in the search for habitable planets. |
|
|
|
|
|
An Earth Hidden in Dust
|
| Topic: New Planets |
02/16/08 |
| Astronomers are hoping that a small, dusty disk around a nearby star is hiding Earth-like planets. Using the Subaru telescope, the team is hoping to obtain the first image of a terrestrial exoplanet by observing the young star FN Tau. |
|
|
|
|
|
Planets of Scale
|
| Topic: New Planets |
02/15/08 |
| Astronomers have found two planets that resemble small versions of Jupiter and Saturn in a distant solar system. The discovery suggests that solar systems like our own may not be rare in the Universe. |
|
|
|
|
|
Hunting Earths with EPOXI
|
| Topic: New Planets |
02/12/08 |
| In 2005, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft directed an impactor into comet Tempel 1 and collected valuable information about the composition of comets. Now the spacecraft is turning its largest telescope toward the stars in order to search for exosolar planets. |
|
|
|
|
|
MARVELS of the Stars
|
| Topic: New Planets |
01/18/08 |
| A new sky survey may double the number of known extrasolar planets. The MARVELS survey, a component of the recently announced Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, is scheduled to begin mid-year and will last until mid-2014. |
|
|
|
|
|
Finding Planets While They're Hot
|
| Topic: New Planets |
01/17/08 |
| Astronomers may have observed the aftermath of a collision between two distant planets. A strange object orbiting a star 170 light-years away doesn't match any theory for planetary formation, and may have been formed by two protoplanets crashing together. |
|
|
|
|
|
Life on the Borderline
|
| Topic: New Planets |
01/16/08 |
| If the Earth was slightly smaller and less massive, life may have never gained a foothold on our planet. A new study shows that when searching for habitable planets around distant stars, astronomers might need to focus on planets Earth-sized or larger. |
|
|
|
|
|
Astrobiology Top 10: Astronomers Find Habitable Earth-like Planet
|
| Topic: New Planets |
01/02/08 |
| Astrobiology Magazine is looking back over 2007, highlighting the Top 10 astrobiology stories of the year. At number 1 is the announcement that astronomers had found a habitable Earth-like world in another solar system. Since this discovery, some have said the planet may have a runaway greenhouse effect and therefore would not be habitable. Even if true, there is another planet in the same system that could possibly support life as we know it. (This story was originally published on April 25, 2007.) |
|
|
|
|
|
Astrobiology Top 10: COROT Sets its Sights on the Stars
|
| Topic: New Planets |
12/31/07 |
| Astrobiology Magazine is looking back over 2007, highlighting the Top 10 astrobiology stories of the year. At number 3 is the COROT space telescope. Launched in late December of 2006, COROT opened its telescope eye in January and detected its first extrasolar planet in May. Scientists hope COROT will find small rocky worlds similar to the Earth orbiting other stars. |
|
|
|
|
|
Hazy View of a Planet
|
| Topic: New Planets |
12/14/07 |
| Astronomers have detected, for the first time, strong evidence of hazes in an extrasolar planet's atmosphere. The discovery may help develop techniques for examining the atmospheres of distant, Earth-like planets. |
|
|
|
|
|
