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November 2, 2012December 23, 2015

You Need Just the Right Amount of Killer Asteroids to Promote Complex Life

An artist’s impression of the different configurations of asteroid belts that could occur. Image credit: NASA/ESA/A. Feild, STScI Sure, asteroids can be planetary annihilators, scouring the surface of a world with fire and molten rock. But asteroids might also help seed a planet with the right ingredients to set up the conditions for life, and …

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October 22, 2012December 23, 2015

Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: October 22-28, 2012

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It’s going to be a great week to enjoy lunar studies, but why don’t we take a look at couple of other interesting objects, too? I think this would be the perfect opportunity to chase an asteroid! Not enough? Then get out your zombie hunting equipment and we’ll have a look at …

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October 11, 2012April 26, 2016

Nearby Exoplanet Could Be Covered With Diamond

Illustration of 55 Cancri e, a super-Earth that’s thought to have a thick layer of diamond (Yale News/Haven Giguere) If diamonds are forever then this planet should be around for a very, very long time; it appears to be literally made of the stuff. 55 Cancri e — an exoplanet discovered in 2004 — is …

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September 21, 2012December 23, 2015

What Caused the Recent Explosion at Jupiter?

An impact on Jupiter captured about 6:35 am on Sept. 10, 2012 from Dallas, Texas USA. Credit: George Hall. A bright flash was spotted on Jupiter early on the morning of September 10, 2012, and astronomers were hoping to later see an impact “scar” which would provide more information about the object that slammed into …

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June 22, 2012December 23, 2015

Mars Has Watery Insides, Just Like Earth

Researchers from the Carnegie Institution have found that water is present in surprisingly Earthlike amounts within Mars’ mantle, based on studies of meteorites that originate from the Red Planet. The findings offer insight as to how Martian water may have once made its way to the planet’s surface, as well as what may lie within …

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June 21, 2012December 23, 2015

What a View! Exoplanet Odd Couple Orbit in Close Proximity

Imagine if the Neptune was only a million miles from Earth. What a view we’d have! … not to mention some incredible gravitational effects from the close-by, gigantic planet. A similar scenario is taking place for real in star system in the constellation Cygnus. A newly found planet duo orbiting a sun-like star come together …

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May 18, 2012December 23, 2015

Doomed Mercury-Sized Exoplanet May Be Turning to Dust

[/caption] The old saying of the universe being stranger than we can imagine definitely applies to a newfound exoplanet orbiting a star about 1,500 light years from Earth. Researchers using the Kepler space observatory have detected what appears to be a planet about the size of Mercury literally turning to dust. A long tail of …

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May 9, 2012December 23, 2015

Alien Life May Not Be So Alien – If It Exists At All

[/caption] Are we too hopeful in our hunt for extraterrestrial life? Regardless of exoplanet counts, super-Earths and Goldilocks zones, the probability of life elsewhere in the Universe is still a moot point — to date, we still only know of one instance of it. But even if life does exist somehow, somewhere besides Earth, would …

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May 8, 2012December 23, 2015

Light From a ‘SuperEarth’ Detected for the First Time

[/caption] The star 55 Cancri has been a source of joy and firsts for planet hunters. Not only was it one of the first known stars to host an extrasolar planet, but now the light from one of its five known planets has been detected directly with the Spitzer Space Telescope, the first time a …

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April 27, 2012December 23, 2015

Cassini Exposes Phoebe As More Planet Than Moon

[/caption] Saturn’s curious moon Phoebe features a heavily-cratered shape and orbits the ringed planet backwards at a considerable distance of over 8 million miles (12.8 million km). According to recent news from the Cassini mission Phoebe may actually be a Kuiper Belt object, having more in common with planets than it does with any of …

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