Spitzer detects comet storm in nearby solar system

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected signs of icy bodies raining down in an alien solar system. The downpour resembles our own solar system several billion years ago during a period known as the "Late ...

Researchers discover a six-planet system with near 3:2 resonance

Almost visible to the naked eye in the Draco constellation, the star HD 158259 has been observed for the last seven years by astronomers using the SOPHIE spectrograph. This instrument, installed at the Haute-Provence Observatory ...

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 to realize that ...

Metal asteroid Psyche is all set for an early visit from NASA

Three times further away from the sun than the Earth lies an enormous lump of metal. Around 252km in diameter, the metallic "M-class" asteroid 16 Psyche is the target of NASA's next mission to the belt of giant rocks that ...

Juice's odyssey of exploration: Jupiter's icy moons

A grand odyssey of exploration is about to begin. Humankind's next bold mission to the outer solar system, ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, is poised to explore giant planet Jupiter and its largest moons. These intriguing ...

New photos show Jupiter's tiny moon Amalthea

It's tiny, but it's there. By now, we're all used to seeing amazing photos of Jupiter courtesy of NASA's Juno mission on a routine basis. Many of these are processed by volunteer "citizen scientists," and they show the swirling ...

Atmospheres in the TRAPPIST-1 system should be long gone

Trappist-1 is a fascinating exoplanetary system. Seven worlds orbiting a red dwarf star just 40 light-years away. All of the worlds are similar to Earth in mass and size, and three or four of them are potentially habitable. ...

New NASA rocket faces delays

The debut launch of NASA's next big rocket - now slated for 2017 - likely will be delayed a year or two because the agency simply does not have the money to finish the rocket and its accompanying crew capsule on time, a top ...

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