Cosmology

"Since Deep Impact will be able to stare at these stars for long periods, we can observe multiple transits and compare the timing to see if there are any hidden worlds." ~ Drake Deming, Goddard scientist NASA has given the green light to fly the Deep Impact spacecraft to Comet Hartley 2 on a two-part extended mission known as EPOXI. The spacecraft will fly by Earth on New Year's Eve at the beginning of a more than two-and-a-half-year journey to the comet. The EPOXI mission is... Read Full Story

Most astronomers today believe that one of the most plausible reasons we have yet to detect intelligent life in the universe is due to the deadly effects of local supernova explosions that wipe out all life in a given region of a galaxy. While there is, on average, only one supernova per galaxy per century, there is something on the order of 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe. Taking 10 billion years for the age of the Universe (it's actually 13.7 billion, but stars didn't form... Read Full Story

Rocky planets, some of which could have conditions suitable for life, are likely to be common companions of Sun-like stars, a new study has suggested. Astronomers have detected "warm" dust around a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Read Full Story

Measurements of supernova rates in other galaxies have led scientists to conclude that at least three supernovae should erupt in the Milky Way galaxy per century. However, for the most part, the remnants of such supernovae are yet to have been found. At least one supernova has been found, the ghostly remnant Cassiopeia A, which is likely to have occurred around the year 1680. The supernova occurred approximately 11,000 light years away within the Milky Way galaxy, in the Cassiopeia... Read Full Story

Five months after it was launched on a mission to find earth-like planets, the Kepler space telescope has sent back to Earth high-precision images of a planet some 1,000 light years away, NASA said Thursday. But the real excitement at NASA was over how well Kepler was working, and the promise it holds for the future. With Kepler only in the calibration phase, the telescope, which was launched in March on a mission to find earth-like planets in the galaxy, sent back to Earth highly precise... Read Full Story

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Five months after it was launched on a mission to find earth-like planets, the Kepler space telescope has sent back to Earth high-precision images of a planet some 1,000 light years away, NASA said Thursday. But the real excitement at NASA was over how well Kepler was working, and the promise it holds for the future. With Kepler only in the calibration phase, the telescope, which was launched in March on a mission to find earth-like planets in the galaxy, sent back to... Read Full Story

Article from: Astronomers find batch of "super-Earths" Mon Jun 16, 7:53 AM ET European researchers said on Monday they discovered a batch of three "super-Earths" orbiting a nearby star, and two other solar systems with small planets as well. They said their findings, presented at a conference in France, suggest that Earth-like planets may be very common. "Does every single star harbor planets and, if yes, how many?" asked Michel Mayor of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory. "We may not yet know... Read Full Story

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Integral has captured one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever seen. A meticulous analysis of the data has allowed astronomers to investigate the initial phases of this giant stellar explosion, which led to the ejection of matter at velocities close to the speed of light. In particular, the astronomers believe that the explosion lifted a piece of the central engine’s magnetic field into space.   On 19 December 2004, the blast from an exploding star arrived at Earth. ESA’s Integral... Read Full Story

New observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope indicate that the nearest planetary system to our own has two asteroid belts. Our own Solar System has just one. The star at the center of the nearby system, called Epsilon Eridani, is a younger, slightly cooler and fainter version of the sun. Previously, astronomers had uncovered evidence for two possible planets in the system, and for a broad, outer ring of icy comets similar to our own Kuiper Belt. Now, Spitzer has discovered that... Read Full Story