Making simulated cosmic dust—in the microwave

Cosmic dust is the key to the chemical evolution of stars, planets, and life itself, but its composition is not well understood, and we can't currently collect samples for analysis. A few examples have arrived on Earth as ...

Study suggests space dust carries water and organic compounds

Researchers from the University of Hawaii-Manoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and University of California – ...

Chandra sees eclipsing planet in X-rays for first time

For the first time since exoplanets, or planets around stars other than the sun, were discovered almost 20 years ago, X-ray observations have detected an exoplanet passing in front of its parent star.

Fighting Parkinson's with carbon nanoparticles

One of the problems affecting the human nervous system is dopamine deficiency. But testing of dopamine concentration is costly and requires sophisticated equipment not available in a doctor's office. Enter a team of Polish ...

Spitzer Catches Star Cooking Up Comet Crystals (w/Animation)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have long wondered how tiny silicate crystals, which need sizzling high temperatures to form, have found their way into frozen comets, born in the deep freeze of the solar system's outer edges. ...

A dust factory around a dead star

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers, led by Loretta Dunne from the University of Nottingham, have found some very unusual stardust. In a paper to be published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dr Dunne ...