Exoplanets Clue To Sun's Curious Chemistry Nov 12, 2009
5, 2007) Three new extrasolar planets have been discovered. The planets orbit around stars similar to our Sun that are located at a distance of 850 light-years away from the Earth. (Science Daily)
Special calling for Special Ed Nov 3, 2009
"It's an empire. I'll show you on the computer." Hayden is a little different, too, and it's not only because of his interest in things like the Ottoman Empire and extrasolar planets. Hayden is one of Kirk Allen's special education students at Enterprise Attendance Center. (Brookhaven Daily Leader, MS)
New Wrinkle In Ancient Ocean Chemistry Oct 30, 2009
The findings also have implications for the search for life on extrasolar planets. "Our findings add to growing evidence suggesting that biological production of oxygen is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the evolution of complex life," Reinhard said. (Science Daily)
> read more Oct 22, 2009
At an international conference on extrasolar planets being held in Portugal, a group of European astronomers unveiled on Monday a list of 30 new exoplanets and two brown dwarfs orbiting more-or-less Sun-like stars ... Here's the Extrasolar Planets Catalog so the new discoveries form the top of the list. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
32extrasolar planets found Oct 20, 2009
Nearly three dozen extrasolar planets found - Space ... Nearly three dozen extrasolar planets found ... 19: Astronomers announce the discovery of 32 extrasolar planets, one of which can be seen in this artist's rendering. (MSNBC -- Technology)
32 New Planets Found Outside Our Solar System Oct 20, 2009
The discoveries, announced today at a press briefing in Portugal, increase to more than 400 the number of known extrasolar planets, or "exoplanets.". SHARE RELATED. (National Geographic)
World's Most Sensitive Astronomical Camera Developed Oct 1, 2009
(July 13, 2007) Astronomers who used powerful telescopes in Arizona and Chile in a survey for planets around nearby stars have discovered that extrasolar planets more massive than Jupiter are extremely rare in other. (Feb. (Science Daily)
10 most intriguing extrasolar planets Sep 8, 2009
Primeval worlds and shrinking planets discovered beyond our Solar System. updated 6:12 p.m. ET July 3, 2007. (MSNBC -- Technology)
New school year rides in on Great Square of Pegasus Sep 5, 2009
Gravitational-wobble measurements have been key to finding or confirming most of the 373 extrasolar planets known as of this week. If you have a pair of binoculars, they ll show 51 Pegasi even through the sky glow. (Boston Globe)
Kepler could find habitable moons Sep 4, 2009
While ground-based observatories, and even some space telescopes, such as Spitzer and Hubble, can find Jupiter-sized extrasolar planets, Kepler is the first telescope aimed at detecting alien worlds closer to the size of our own home planet. One astronomer suggests that Kepler's capabilities may even be able to detect so-called "exo-moons.". (MSNBC -- Technology)
Extrasolar Hot Jupiter: The Planet That 'Shouldn’t Exist' Aug 28, 2009
The planet, called WASP-18b, belongs to a now-common class of extrasolar planets known as hot Jupiters massive planets that are thought to have formed far from their host stars, and migrated inwards over time ... Extrasolar planets: Secrets that only tides will tell. (Science Daily)
Huge Planet Orbits 'Wrong' Way Around Star Aug 28, 2009
Huge New Planet Orbits 'Wrong' Way Around Star; Tells Of Game Of Planetary Billiards. Huge New Planet Orbits 'Wrong' Way Around Star; Tells Of Game Of Planetary Billiards. (Science Daily)
Lines blur between planet and full-blown star Aug 18, 2009
Going down the scale, the of extrasolar planets also came late last year ... "No one is writing a law or rule that you have to call them this or that," Seager said, referring to the more than 300 extrasolar planets orbiting alien stars. (MSNBC -- Technology)
New telescope is worlds largest ... for now Jul 24, 2009
The telescope already is in the business of discovering extrasolar planets. During its commissioning phase, astronomers using GTC discovered a planet transiting a distant star. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Space Science Jul 5, 2009
Extrasolar Planets News Stories, Current Extrasolar Planets News Events, Discoveries and Articles. Manually add to your RSS reader. (BrightSurf.com)
Binary stars host potential planetary disk Jun 17, 2009
Extrasolar planets have been found orbiting around a few other binaries, but the stars in most of these systems are much farther apart than the V4046 Sagittarii pair. "In this case the stars are so close together, and the profile of the gas in terms of the types of molecules that are there is so much like the types of gaseous disks that we see around single stars, that we now have a direct link between planets forming around single stars and planets forming around double stars," said... (MSNBC -- Technology)
Earth is 1st stop as probe looks for other worlds Jun 2, 2009
Originally dispatched to so scientists could study the comet's interior, was given a follow-on assignment to visit comet Hartley 2 in November 2010 and search for extrasolar planets along the way. Cowen focused on understanding how an ocean-bearing world like Earth, with continents interspersed with water, would impact the overall reflectivity of light in seven select wavelengths, particularly those in the near-infrared. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Science nonfiction: A serious search for extraterrestrial life Jun 1, 2009
Astronomers call those around other stars extrasolar planets, or just exoplanets. Only two such planets have ever appeared in a Hubble Space Telescope picture. (The Pantagraph newspaper)
NASA/University team develops new method to find alien oceans May 27, 2009
These limitations of viewing geometry could plague observations of extrasolar planets as well: "We could erroneously see the planet as a desert world if it had a nearly solid band of continents around its equator and oceans at its poles," said Cowan ... EPOXI is a combination of the names for the two extended mission components: a search for extrasolar planets during the cruise to Hartley 2, called Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh), and the flyby of comet Hartley 2,... (EurekAlert!)
New technique could find water on Earth-like planets orbiting distant suns May 26, 2009
Powerful space telescopes, such as the one that is central to NASA's recently launched Kepler Mission, will make it easier to spot much smaller rocky extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, more similar to Earth. But seen from dozens of light years away, an Earth-like exoplanet will appear in telescopes as little more than a "pale blue dot," the term coined by the late astronomer Carl Sagan to describe how Earth appeared in a 1990 photograph taken by the Voyager spacecraft from near the edge of the... (EurekAlert!)
Creating the astro-comb to locate Earth-like planets May 8, 2009
WASHINGTON, May 7 -- Thanks to the ability of astronomers to detect the presence of extrasolar planets orbiting distant stars, scientists today are able to examine hundreds of solar systems ... In most cases, extrasolar planets can't be seen directlythe glare of the nearby star is too greatbut their influence can be discerned through spectroscopy, which analyzes the energy spectrum of the light coming from the star. (EurekAlert!)
Missing planets attest to destructive power of stars' tides Apr 28, 2009
"When we look at the observed properties of extrasolar planets, we can see that this has already happened some extrasolar planets have already fallen into their stars," he said ... " The researchers hope the work leads to better understanding of how stars destroy planets and how that process might affect a planet's orbit, Jackson said. The scientists also say their research will have to be updated as more extrasolar planets are discovered. NASA, which funded the research, recently launched the... (EurekAlert!)
New Effort To Discover Habitable Earth-like Planets Around Other Stars Apr 28, 2009
26, 2009) Astronomers have announced plans to build an ultra-stable, high-precision spectrograph for the Science and Technology Facilities Council's 4. 2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT - part of the Isaac Newton Group or ING on La Palma) in an effort to discover habitable Earth-like planets around other stars. (Science Daily)
Solar Systems Around Dead Suns? Apr 20, 2009
We can then address the question, Are the rocky extrasolar planets we find similar to the terrestrial planets of our Solar System ... 16, 2001) An international team of astronomers has discovered eight new extrasolar planets, bringing to nearly 80 the number of planets found orbiting nearby stars. (Science Daily)
Hidden Exoplanet Found In Archival Data Apr 2, 2009
2, 2009) A powerful, newly refined image-processing technique may allow astronomers to discover extrasolar planets that are possibly lurking in over a decade's worth of Hubble Space Telescope archival data. See also. (Science Daily)
Finding Twin Earths Is Harder Than Thought Mar 21, 2009
Both NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes have studied the atmospheric compositions of extremely hot, gas-giant extrasolar planets. The characterization of a "pale blue dot" is the next step from there, whether by adding up hundreds of transits of one planet or by blocking out the starlight and analyzing the planet's light directly. (Science Daily)
NASA: Kepler orbiting sun as scheduled Mar 8, 2009
Finding extrasolar planets is a daunting task because light from the stars they orbit swamps the reflected light of the satellites, according to the JPL.. Most of the 340 planets discovered beyond our solar system are gas giants similar to Jupiter and too hot for human life. (Xinhuanet, China)
Ball Aerospace-Built Kepler Spacecraft Launches From Cape Canaveral Mar 7, 2009
"The extraordinary interest in extrasolar planets will make this the 'mission to watch' for several years." ... More information about extrasolar planets and NASA's planet finding program is at. (PR Newswire)
JPL: NASA's Kepler ready to be launched Mar 7, 2009
Finding extrasolar planets is a daunting task because light from the stars they orbit swamps the reflected light of the satellites, according to the JPL.. "Trying to detect Jupiter-size planets crossing in front of their stars is like trying to measure the effect of a mosquito flying by a car's headlight," said James Fanson, Kepler project manager. (People's Daily Online, China)
Nasa launches Earth hunter probe Mar 7, 2009
Of the 300-plus extrasolar planets discovered to date, only a handful are thought to be rocky like the Earth, and none are Earth-mass. The vast majority are gas giants like Jupiter or so-called ice giants like Neptune. (BBC News)
• COLUMN: Satellite will stare for years, seeking earth-like worlds Mar 5, 2009
In the interim, astronomers have chalked up a total of 342 extrasolar planets, mostly "super Jupiters" in orbits so close to their stars that their surfaces are boiling hot. Heavier planets in small orbits dominate the list because our current search techniques favor them over more distant planetary pipsqueaks. (Burley South Idaho Press, ID)
Kepler tosearch for Earth-like planets Mar 4, 2009
Looking for GoldilocksOver the last two decades, scientists have spotted more than 300 extrasolar planets circling other stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Most of these planets have been about the size of Jupiter or larger, making it unlikely they would harbor life. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Astronomy's bright future Mar 2, 2009
Many of those challenges are purely scientific, including the quest to clarify the true nature of dark matter and dark energy; the search for extra-terrestrial life among the myriad of extrasolar planets that are set to be discovered; and finding the first stars that formed after the Big Bang. Other challenges are political - including the need for mass international collaboration to fund and manage astronomical facilities, many of which are being so large and expensive that no single country... (EurekAlert!)
How to search for Ice Age aliens Feb 13, 2009
"The main point is that even in climate extremes the vegetation remained visible," Arnold says, and this is encouraging for future space missions aimed at detecting and characterizing extrasolar planets similar to Earth. ET takes rootAstrobiologists have long pondered whether life on other planets might be detectable through spectral signatures. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Laser-sculpted Optical Devices For Future Giant Telescopes Feb 10, 2009
According to Joss Bland-Hawthorn and Pierre Kern, the editors of Optics Express' Focus Issue on the subject, "Modern astronomy is on the verge of another revolution, which is going to be made possible by astrophotonics. For example, much of today's research in astronomy is focused on the detection of faint light from extrasolar planets in orbit around nearby stars and, at the other extreme, the detection of the first star-forming systems in the early universe. You need larger, more robust... (Science Daily)
Super-Earths point to crowded universe Feb 9, 2009
By David A. Aguilar, NASA. Artist's concept of the newfound 'super-Earth' and hypothetical moon. (USA Today -- Tech)
Solar-Extrasolar Planet Formation Meeting Feb 8, 2009
On the second, invited talks will touch on extrasolar planets and planet formation. The third day will cover solar system talks. (NASA Watch)
