A spacecraft that looks like a giant sunflower might one day be used to acquire images of Earth-like rocky planets around nearby stars. The prototype deployable structure, called a starshade, is being developed by NASA's ...
Astronomy
Mar 21, 2014
3
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- One year ago this week, NASA's Kepler mission soared into the dark night sky, leaving a bright glow in its wake as it began to search for other worlds like Earth.
Space Exploration
Mar 4, 2010
0
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Bad news for planet hunters: most of the "hot Jupiters" that astronomers have been searching for in star clusters were likely destroyed long ago by their stars. In a paper accepted for publication by the ...
Astronomy
Sep 10, 2010
1
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- The search for planets outside our solar system continues to heat up. NASA's Kepler spacecraft has located more than 1,200 planetary candidates, however confirming them remains a challenge. In some circumstances, ...
Astronomy
Feb 15, 2011
5
0
There is only one planet we know of, so far, that is drenched with life. That planet is Earth, as you may have guessed, and it has all the right conditions for critters to thrive on its surface. Do other planets beyond our ...
Astronomy
Jul 18, 2013
0
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Kepler is continuing to collect science data. The Kepler Science Team announced Kepler’s first exoplanet discoveries at the 215th American Astronomical Society Meeting in Washington DC on Jan. 4, 2010.
Space Exploration
Jan 20, 2010
0
0
Finding exoplanets is hard work. In addition to requiring seriously sophisticated instruments, it also takes teams of committed scientists; people willing to pour over volumes of data to find the evidence of distant worlds. ...
Astronomy
Aug 30, 2016
0
0
Since the online citizen science project Planet Hunters launched last December, 40,000 web users from around the world have been helping professional astronomers analyze the light from 150,000 stars in the hopes of discovering ...
Astronomy
Sep 22, 2011
2
0
(Phys.org) —Astronomer John Gizis of the University of Delaware, working with data obtained by the Kepler mission, is studying a highly unusual dwarf star and its powerful flares that may hold clues to the likelihood of ...
Astronomy
Jun 3, 2013
10
2
(Phys.org)—NASA's Kepler mission Monday announced the discovery of 461 new planet candidates. Four of the potential new planets are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's "habitable zone," the region ...
Astronomy
Jan 8, 2013
1
0
