Space and astronomy news
OK, I think I have my feet back on the ground now. But I may have gotten lost in the Small Magellanic Cloud’s Open Star Cluster. I’ve just been playing around with Google Sky, and have traveled around the universe, seeing dramatic astronomical images as never before. Anyone interested in astronomy, or those of you …
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We’re holding out hope for the next generation of planet-finding observatories to locate Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. But hold on, maybe we don’t need a super space observatory like ESA’s Darwin just yet. In fact, if our nearest neighbour Alpha Centauri has Earth-sized planets, we should be able to detect them with established techniques… …
Despite the name, a “planetary nebula” has nothing to do with planets. They were given the confusing name 300 years ago by William Herschel because they looked like planets in their early, rudimentary telescopes. They’re really the glowing shells of gas and dust puffed out by stars nearing the end of their lives. But wait, …
Continue reading “Planets Might Actually Shape Planetary Nebulae (plus a gallery)”
It’s one of the biggest questions in all humanity: are we alone in the Universe? Either way, the answer is significant. And so, scientists are searching for intelligence out there. Huge arrays of radio telescopes, like the Allen Array scan the skies for radio broadcasts. And researchers have also proposed that aliens might be using …
Continue reading “Do Advanced Civilizations Communicate with Neutrinos?”
How many moons does Pluto have? The mini-moons of Pluto, Nix and Hydra, were discovered in 2005 (but named in 2006) during an observation campaign by the Hubble Space Telescope. The discovery of these mini-moons increase the number of natural satellites orbiting Pluto to three (including larger moon Charon). But where did these satellites …
Continue reading “Pluto’s Moons, Nix and Hydra, may have been Adopted”
When researchers examine meteorites, they often find them sprinkled with teeny tiny diamonds – 25,000 times smaller than a grain of sand. In fact, these nanodiamonds make up 3% of the carbon found in meteorites. Astronomers think diamonds might actually be common out there in the Universe, and they’ve developed a new technique to find …
Are you ready to take a closer look at the real “Lord of the Rings”? Then say hello to Saturn as it reaches opposition tomorrow night. With the yellow planet rising around sunset, highest in the south around midnight, and setting around sunrise, now is the time for observers and photographers to enjoy Saturn the …
Continue reading “Time to Observe Saturn – Opposition Occurs February 23!”
Astronomers have no idea what dark matter is, but they have a few guesses. Since they can’t see the stuff directly, they’re trying to chip away at what it can’t be, peeling away theory after theory. Eventually, there should be a few theories that have withstood the most experiments, and best model what astronomers see …
Continue reading “Bubble Experiment Fails to Find Dark Matter”
Even in the smallest telescopes, Saturn’s bright rings pop into view. But those might be just the tip of the iceberg. During a recent flyby of the planet, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft noticed empty patches where the constant rain of high-energy electrons slowed down. Perhaps there are partial rings there, invisible to the spacecraft’s cameras. And …
Continue reading “Cassini Uncovers Invisible Rings at Saturn”