News tagged with planets
Related topics: stars , solar system , earth , nasa , orbit
Exomoons? Kepler‘s on the hunt
Recently, I posted an article on the feasibility of detecting moons around extrasolar planets. It was determined that exceptionally large moons (roughly Earth mass moons or more), may well be detectable wit ...
Jan 09, 2012 |
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Wanted: Habitable moons
As the Kepler space telescope continues to search for potentially habitable planets, it also may reveal moons that could host life. Three new simulations will help astronomers identify rocky satellites that ...
Jan 06, 2012 |
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First of NASA's GRAIL spacecraft enters Moon orbit
(PhysOrg.com) -- The first of two NASA spacecraft to study the moon in unprecedented detail has entered lunar orbit.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 01, 2012 |
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Subaru's sharp eye confirms signs of unseen planets in the dust ring of HR 4796 A
(PhysOrg.com) -- The SEEDS (Strategic Exploration of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru Telescope/HiCIAO) project, a five-year international collaboration launched in 2009 and led by Motohide Tamura of NAOJ ...
Dec 30, 2011 |
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Mercury's magnetic field -- nipped in the bud
(PhysOrg.com) -- Mercury, the smallest of the eight planets with a diameter of 4900 kilometres and the closest to the Sun, looks more like the Moon than the Earth from the outside. It is the only rocky planet ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 23, 2011 |
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Can Earth-sized planets survive their star's expansion?
Two Earth-sized planets have been discovered circling a dying star that has passed the red giant stage. Because of their close orbits, the planets must have been engulfed by their star while it swelled up ...
Dec 21, 2011 |
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Kepler finds first earth-size planets beyond our solar system
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star ...
Dec 20, 2011 |
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New insight into the bar in the center of the Milky Way
(PhysOrg.com) -- It sounds like the start of a bad joke: do you know about the bar in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy? Astronomers first recognized almost 80 years ago that the Milky Way Galaxy, around ...
Dec 19, 2011 |
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New evidence suggests large asteroid strike may have influenced Mercury's spin
(PhysOrg.com) -- Planets orbiting a sun generally, but not always spin on their axis. Some spin east to west, others west to east. Those that don’t spin are said to be tidal locked with their sun; always ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 12, 2011 |
3.8 / 5 (5) |
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Haul of 50 oscillating stars with orbiting planets found by Kepler Spacecraft
(PhysOrg.com) -- Oscillations have been discovered in 50 stars with their own orbiting candidate planets (exo- or extrasolar planets) by an international team of scientists using data from the NASA Kepler Mission, according ...
Dec 12, 2011 |
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Life possible on 'large parts' of Mars: study
Australian scientists who modelled conditions on Mars to examine how much of the red planet was habitable said that "large regions" could sustain life.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 12, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (16) |
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Tidal locking could render habitable planets inhospitable
Tidally-locked planets - planets with one side perpetually facing their star while the other remains shrouded in darkness - tend to be warmer on one side than the other. The presence of an atmosphere can help ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 09, 2011 |
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With 'Google Earth' for Mars, explore the red planet from home
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new software tool developed by the HiRISE team in the UA's Lunar and Planetary Lab allows members of the public to download high-resolution images of the Martian landscape almost instantaneously ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 08, 2011 |
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NASA rover prepares for 5th winter on Mars
NASA's lone surviving Mars rover has been busy exploring its surroundings since it rolled up to its latest crater destination four months ago. Now the solar-powered, six-wheel Opportunity is in search of ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 07, 2011 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
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New NASA dawn visuals show Vesta's 'color palette'
(PhysOrg.com) -- Vesta appears in a splendid rainbow-colored palette in new images obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The colors, assigned by scientists to show different rock or mineral types, reveal Vesta ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 06, 2011 |
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