News tagged with rocky planet

Astronomers discover a rare stellar disk of quartz dust

A research team of Japanese astronomers led by Dr. Hideaki Fujiwara (Subaru Telescope) has discovered a main-sequence star that is surrounded by a rare disk of quartz dust. Collisions of planetesimals, building ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (12) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

When stellar metallicity sparks planet formation

New research predicts the criteria needed for Earth-like planets to form around a star that have one-tenth the metallicity of our Sun. If researchers find small, rocky planets orbiting stars with lower metallicity, ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Stars with dusty disks should harbor Earth-like worlds

Stars with disks of debris around them might be good targets to search for Earth-like planets, researchers say.

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 09, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Twin Grail spacecraft begin collecting lunar science data

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft orbiting the moon officially have begun their science collection phase. During the next 84 days, scientists will obtain a ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

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

created Jan 01, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (9) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

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

created Dec 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 27 | with audio podcast

The water reservoir in a young planetary system

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers once thought that the process of star formation was more-or-less controlled by the simple coalescence of material by gravity, leading eventually to a new star. But they have come ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 15, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Lutetia: A rare survivor from the birth of the Earth

(PhysOrg.com) -- New observations indicate that the asteroid Lutetia is a leftover fragment of the same original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury. Astronomers have combined data from ESA’s ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 11, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Heavy metal stars produce Earth-Like planets

New research reveals that, like their giant cousins, rocky planets are more likely to be found orbiting high metallicity stars. Furthermore, these planets are more plentiful around low mass stars. This could ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 30, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (14) | comments 64 | with audio podcast

How common are earth-moon planetary systems?

Sebastian Elser, Prof. Ben Moore and Dr. Joachim Stadel of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, in cooperation with Ryuji Morishima of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tried to estimate how common Earth-Moon ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 18, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

Rocky planets could have been born as gas giants

When NASA announced the discovery of over 1,200 new potential planets spotted by the Kepler Space Telescope, almost a quarter of them were thought to be Super-Earths. Now, new research suggests that these ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 16, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (11) | comments 38

NASA twin spacecraft to map the inner Moon

The US space agency plans to launch two unmanned spacecraft Thursday that will chase each other around the Moon as they use gravity measurements to draw an unprecedented map of its inner workings.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 07, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

NASA invites 150 Twitter followers to lunar launch

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has invited 150 followers of the agency's Twitter accounts to a two-day launch Tweetup Sept. 7-8. The Tweetup is expected to culminate in the launch of the twin moon-bound GRAIL spacecraft ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 02, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Greenhouse effect could extend habitable zone

The distant region beyond Saturn is too cold for liquid water, a necessity for life as we know it. But new research indicates that rocky planets far from their parent star could generate enough heat to keep ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 26, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

GRAIL moon mission in final preparations for September launch

NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to study the moon is in final launch preparations for a scheduled Sept. 8 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Aug 26, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (6) | comments 4