tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-127040262024-02-21T07:41:30.957-08:00fascinating space and astronomyDan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-82124794277117538462007-05-16T04:07:00.000-07:002007-05-16T04:10:03.241-07:00New Evidence of Dark Matter<span style="font-family:verdana;">A hazy ring of dark matter spawned by a colossal cosmic crash eons ago offers the best evidence to date that vast amounts of this mysterious stuff reside in the universe, scientists said on Tuesday..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070515/sc_nm/space_matter_dc"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yahoo News</span> </a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-34954335235667299122007-05-13T05:54:00.000-07:002007-05-13T05:57:44.440-07:00Ancient Star Almost as Old as the Universe<span style="font-family: verdana;"> Astronomers have spied a granddaddy of the galaxy—a 13.2-billion-year-old star formed soon after the </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-family: verdana;">big bang</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> 13.7 billion years ago..........</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070511-star-clock.html">National Geographic News</a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-80578229877905257362007-04-24T11:28:00.000-07:002007-04-24T11:30:46.349-07:00Earth-like Planet Discovered Outside Solar System<span style="font-family:verdana;">In a find­ing that if con­firmed could stand as a land­mark in history, as­tro­no­mers have re­ported dis­co­v­er­ing the most Earth-like plan­et out­side our So­lar Sys­tem to date: a world that may have liq­uid oceans and thus life..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070425-habitable-planet.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">World Science</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-2204092973390938792007-04-11T04:10:00.000-07:002007-04-11T04:13:22.663-07:00Water Outside Our Solar System<span style="font-family:verdana;">Evidence of water has been detected for the first time in a planet outside our solar system, an astronomer said on Tuesday, a tantalizing find for scientists eager to know whether life exists beyond Earth..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070411/sc_nm/planet_water_dc"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yahoo News </span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1168442009009261522007-01-10T07:10:00.000-08:002007-01-10T07:13:29.023-08:00Hot, Windy Planets Beyond the Solar System<span style="font-family:verdana;">Earth's inhabitants are used to temperatures that vary, sometimes greatly, between day and night. New measurements for three planets outside our solar system indicate their temperatures remain fairly constant -- and blazing hot -- from day to night, even though it is likely one side of each planet always faces its sun and the other is in permanent darkness..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070109142300.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Science Daily</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1166014319731374112006-12-13T04:49:00.000-08:002006-12-13T04:51:59.746-08:00Signs of Flowing Water on Mars<span style="font-family:verdana;">NASA pho­tos have re­vealed bright new de­posits in two gul­lies on Mars that sug­gest wa­ter coursed through these ditches some­time in the past sev­en years, re­search­ers say..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061206_mars-water.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">World Science</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1165496327377921422006-12-07T04:53:00.000-08:002006-12-07T05:00:32.153-08:00Scientists Find Organic Materials Inside Meteorite<span style="font-family:verdana;">NASA researchers at Johnson Space Center, Houston have found organic materials that formed in the most distant reaches of the early Solar System preserved in a unique meteorite. The study was performed on the Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite, a rare type of meteorite that is rich in organic (carbon-bearing) compounds..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061204195843.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Science Daily</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1165323178318349972006-12-05T04:50:00.000-08:002006-12-05T04:54:30.083-08:00NASA Announces Plans for Lunar BaseNASA an­nounced plans today to build a per­ma­nent base on the moon by 2024.“With such an out­post, NASA can learn to use the moon’s nat­u­ral re­sources to live off the land, make prepa­ra­tions for a jour­ney to Mars, con­duct a wide range of sci­en­tif­ic in­ves­ti­ga­tions and en­cour­age in­ter­na­tion­al par­tic­i­pa­tion,” the agen­cy said in a state­ment..........<br /><br /><a href="http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061204_lunar-base.htm">World Science</a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1163264476379388742006-11-11T08:58:00.000-08:002006-11-11T09:01:16.386-08:00Puzzling Hurricane-Like Storm on Saturn<span style="font-family: verdana;">NASA's Cassini spacecraft has seen something never before seen on another planet -- a hurricane-like storm at Saturn's South Pole with a well-developed eye, ringed by towering clouds..........</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061109134926.htm">Science Daily</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1161178753659847112006-10-18T06:35:00.000-07:002006-10-18T06:39:13.673-07:00Large Meteorite Unearthed in Kansas<span style="font-family:verdana;">Scientists were excited when they pulled a 154-pound meteorite from deep below a Kansas wheat field, but what got them most electrified was the way they unearthed it..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_sc/kansas_meteorite"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yahoo News </span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1160573143983637372006-10-11T06:18:00.000-07:002006-10-11T06:25:44.000-07:00Amazing Photo of Victoria Crater on Mars<span style="font-family:verdana;">An image released today by the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson exposes the distinctive lacy scallops of Mars's Victoria Crater in unprecedented detail. The feature, an impact crater near the Martian equator, is approximately half a mile (800 meters) in diameter..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061006-mars-crater.html?source=rss"><span style="font-family:verdana;">National Geographic News </span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1158239600383003462006-09-14T06:10:00.000-07:002006-09-14T06:13:20.383-07:00Study Holds Out Possibility of Life on Other Planets in Solar SystemA comprehensive review by leading scientists about our solar system which speculates on the possibility of life on other planets has been published..........<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060912230417.htm">Science Daily</a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1158238931120619552006-09-14T05:56:00.000-07:002006-09-14T06:02:11.130-07:00Evolution of the First Galaxies<span style="font-family:verdana;">A systematic search for the first bright galaxies to form in the early universe has revealed a dramatic jump in the number of such galaxies around 13 billion years ago. These observations of the earliest stages in the evolution of galaxies provide new evidence for the hierarchical theory of galaxy formation--the idea that large galaxies built up over time as smaller galaxies collided and merged..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060913190315.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Science Daily</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1157999935330916122006-09-11T11:35:00.000-07:002006-09-11T11:41:34.486-07:00Study Says Other Earthlike Planets Exist<span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >New computer simulations by astronomers have found that Earth-like planets, warm and wet enough for life, should be common.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /> <br /> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:100%;" >The simulations focused on a common type of solar system identified before, featuring planets called Hot Jupiters. A third of these systems also produce Earth-like worlds in the computer reenactments, the researchers said..........</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.earth-science.net/othernews/060906_planets.htm">World Science</a></span><a style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.earth-science.net/othernews/060906_planets.htm"> </a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1156941478605539652006-08-30T05:35:00.000-07:002006-08-30T05:37:58.630-07:00Highest Clouds Discovered Above Mars<span style="font-family: verdana;" id="KonaBody">Planetary scientists have discovered the highest clouds above any planetary surface. They found them above Mars using the SPICAM instrument on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft. The results are a new piece in the puzzle of how the Martian atmosphere works..........<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060828211715.htm">Science Daily</a></span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060828211715.htm"> </a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1156246318321117262006-08-22T04:28:00.000-07:002006-08-22T04:31:58.340-07:00Cosmic Crash Proves Existence of Dark Matter<span style="font-family:verdana;">A colossal crash between two clusters of galaxies has wrenched apart “dark matter” and normal matter, proving the mysterious dark substance exists, astronomers say..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060821_darkmatter.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">World Science</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1153481796034506142006-07-21T04:34:00.000-07:002006-07-21T04:36:36.043-07:00A New Way to Explore Mars<span style="font-family:verdana;">MIT engineers and scientist colleagues have a new vision for the future of Mars exploration: a swarm of probes</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">, each the size of a baseball, spreading out across the planet in every direction...........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060719091322.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Science Daily</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1145884046136688912006-04-24T06:05:00.000-07:002006-04-24T06:10:27.380-07:00Galaxies Cluster Near Dark Matter<span id="KonaBody" style="font-family:verdana;">Try mixing caramel into vanilla ice cream -- you will always end up with globs and swirls of caramel. Scientists are finding that galaxies may distribute themselves in similar ways throughout the universe and in places where there is lots of so-called dark matter..........<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060422121220.htm">Science Daily</a></span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060422121220.htm"> </a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1145359453590028292006-04-18T04:21:00.000-07:002006-04-18T04:24:13.603-07:00Solar System's New Tenth Planet a Little Larger Than Pluto<span style="font-family:verdana;">NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has resolved the "tenth planet," nicknamed "Xena" for the first time, and has found that it is only just a little larger than Pluto..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060417131556.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Science Daily</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1144323411091996552006-04-06T04:34:00.000-07:002006-04-06T04:38:29.443-07:00Earth Life Began on Mars?<span style="font-family:verdana;">..........A few scientists think there's evidence that humans actually descended from Martian microbes, not exactly what the author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus had in mind. But it merits further study, said chemist Steven Benner, who has founded a new institute in Gainesville, the Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology, which aims to bridge chemistry and biology, with evolution as its guide."If you really want to find a place to get life started, it's Mars, and if you want to get a place to get life to flourish, it's Earth," Benner said.While at the University of Florida a few years ago, Benner's team collaborated with scientists at The Scripps Research Institute to explore what kind of chemistry is necessary to support life..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewnews.php?id=66034"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Unexplained Mysteries</span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1144062633298362522006-04-03T04:07:00.000-07:002006-04-03T04:10:33.313-07:00Saturn May Have Millions of Mini-MoonsNow scientists have found the first evidence of millions of "missing link" moonlets—bigger than ring particles but small enough to fit inside a football stadium.<br />The international team found signs of four such moonlets in one small segment of Saturn's brightest ring, called the A ring, according to a report in this week's issue of the journal Nature............<br /><br /><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0331_060330_saturn.html?source=rss">National Geographic News</a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1142947538828030072006-03-21T05:23:00.000-08:002006-03-21T05:25:38.840-08:00Proof of Big Bang<span style="font-family:verdana;">New NASA space-probe observations of the oldest light in the cosmos are the most direct evidence yet that the universe expanded extremely quickly immediately after the big bang, physicists say..........</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0317_060317_big_bang.html?source=rss"><span style="font-family:verdana;">National Geographic News </span></a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1141996350613344722006-03-10T05:09:00.000-08:002006-03-10T05:12:30.623-08:00Huge Star Burst from the Dawn of TimeA gigantic star that lived fast and died young in a huge cosmic explosion soon after the dawn of time has been detected by astronomers looking back into the infancy of the universe.The cataclysmic event took place 12.8 billion years ago, just 900 million years after the Big Bang, and has provided scientists with their first opportunity to study an individual star that formed so far back in time..........<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18408965%255E30417,00.html">The Australian </a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1141951511594914572006-03-09T16:43:00.000-08:002006-03-09T16:45:11.606-08:00Liquid Water Geysers Discovered on Saturn Moon<span style="font-family: verdana;">Scientists have found evidence that cold, Yellowstone-like geysers of water are issuing from a moon of Saturn called Enceladus, apparently fueled by liquid reservoirs that may lie just tens of yards beneath the moon's icy surface..........</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11736311">MSNBC </a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12704026.post-1141783608979570952006-03-07T18:04:00.000-08:002006-03-07T18:09:24.880-08:00Researchers Predict Powerful Sunspots<span style="font-family:verdana;">Solar researchers are predicting that the next cycle of sunspots, flares and magnetic storms from the sun will be the most powerful and active seen in nearly 50 years..........</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail8pk=SOLARSTORMS-03-06-06">Scripps Howard News</a>Dan McLerranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08045921859785084994noreply@blogger.com0