Friday, February 24, 2006

Top Five Stars That May Support Life

Scientists already know that only a tiny fraction of the 200 to 400 billion stars in our galaxy seem to have what it takes to support life on orbiting planets. Now researchers think they know where such potential habitable stars—or "habstars"—hang in the sky. Margaret Turnbull, of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., recently released her list of top five potential habstars in our galaxy, three of which can be seen from Earth with the naked eye..........

National Geographic News

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Galaxy Smashups Littered Early Universe

A study has found that the biggest galaxies in the universe formed through repeated, grand smashups early in the history of the universe..........

World Science

Monday, February 20, 2006

Astronomers Get Shortlist of Possible ET Addresses

Astronomers looking for extraterrestrial life now have a short list of places to point their telescopes.

They include nearby stars of the right size, age and composition to have Earth-like planets circling them, scientists said on Saturday.

But cuts in federal funding mean that private philanthropists who pay for the bulk of their work may find out first when and if extraterrestrial life is discovered, the astronomers told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Margaret Turnbull of the Carnegie Institution of Washington released her "top 10" list of potential stars to the meeting. They will be the first targets of NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder, a system of two orbiting observatories scheduled for launch by 2020..........

Topix.net

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Scientists Studying Saturn Lightning Storm

Researchers are tracking a gigantic storm on Saturn that is unleashing lightning bolts more than 1,000 times stronger than those found on Earth.Using instruments aboard the international Cassini spacecraft, scientists from the University of Iowa first spotted the storm on Jan. 23..........

CBS News

Friday, February 10, 2006

Hints of Mega Solar Systems

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has identified two huge "hypergiant" stars circled by monstrous disks of what might be planet-forming dust. The findings surprised astronomers because stars as big as these were thought to be inhospitable to planets..........

Science Daily

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

NASA Focuses on New Craft to Return to the Moon

NASA has delayed two programs that search for planets capable of supporting life as the space agency instead focuses on developing a new manned spacecraft to return to the moon in the next decade..........

AP Wire

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Ongoing Galaxy Formation Detected

Astronomers have reported finding a huge blob of hot gas around a spiral galaxy, evidence that galaxies like our Milky Way are drawing in material from a gradual inflow of intergalactic gas..........

World Science

Thursday, February 02, 2006

A Tenth Planet?

Scientists have measured the size of a solar system object discovered last year and confirmed that it is larger than Pluto.
The icy object, called 2003 UB313, is located in the far reaches of the solar system. It measures 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) in diameter. Pluto, by contrast, measures 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers)..........


National Geographic News