Space and astronomy news
[/caption] It is our general understanding of solar system composition that planets fall into two categories: gas giants like Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus… and rocky bodies that support some type of atmosphere like Earth, Mars and Venus. However, as we reach further into space we’re beginning to realize the Solar System is pretty unique …
Continue reading “Coming To A Solar System Near You… Super-Earth!”
[/caption] “Tell me thy company, and I’ll tell thee what thou art…” In this case it is Asteroid 3552 Don Quixote – one of the most well-known of Near Earth Asteroids. You may know its name, but did you know it has possible cometary origin? It may very well be one of the Jupiter-Family Comets …
Continue reading “3552 Don Quixote… Leaving Our Solar System?”
[/caption] With no more volume than could be contained within a teaspoon, the material that makes up a white dwarf star weighs tons. Smaller than the diameter of Earth, and a direct family member of stars like our own Sol, these stellar gnomes could predict our eventual fate. Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope, …
Continue reading “White Dwarf Stars Predict Our Solar System’s Demise”
[/caption] It was once thought that our planet was part of a “typical” solar system. Inner rocky worlds, outlying gas giants, some asteroids and comets sprinkled in for good measure. All rotating around a central star in more or less the same direction. Typical. But after seeing what’s actually out there, it turns out ours …
[/caption] Recently, some researchers speculated on what types of observational data from distant planetary systems might indicate the presence of an alien civilization, determined that asteroid mining was likely to be worth looking for – but ended up concluding that most of the effects of such activity would be difficult to distinguish from natural phenomena. …
Continue reading “Astronomy Without A Telescope – Alien Mining”
[/caption] Planetary rings are more than just astronomical marvels — they’re also a sort of archive, chronicling histories of impacts for decades. A pair of studies were published online in Science today by two different teams that noticed odd characteristics in the rings of Saturn and Jupiter — and followed them to this promising conclusion. In …
Continue reading “New Studies: Planetary Rings Harbor Records of Past Smash-Ups”
[/caption] Mars is a small planet. In fact, for scientists who do solar system modeling, the planet is too small. “This is an outstanding problem in terrestrial planet formation,” said Dr. David Minton from the Southwest Research Institute. “Everyone who does simulations of how you form terrestrial planets always ends up with a Mars that …
Continue reading ““Marstinis” Could Help Explain Why the Red Planet is So Small”
[/caption] One of the fundamental problems in planetary science is trying to determine how planetary bodies in the inner solar system formed and evolved. A new computer model suggests that huge objects – some as big as large Kuiper Belt Objects like Pluto and Eris — likely pummeled the Earth, Moon and Mars during the …
Continue reading “Late, Big Bombardments Brought Heavy Metals to Earth”
[/caption] With the recent milestone of the discovery of the 500th extra solar planet the future of planetary astronomy is promising. As the number of known planets increases so does our knowledge. With the addition of observations of atmospheres of transiting planets, astronomers are gaining a fuller picture of how planets form and live. Thus …
At best, the few extrasolar planets we have imaged directly are just points of light. But what can that light tell us about the planet? Maybe more than we thought. As you probably know the, Deep Impact spacecraft flew by comet Hartley 2 today, taking images from only 700 km away. But maneuvering to meet …
Continue reading “Simple Colors Could Provide First Details of Alien Worlds”