Neptune News - Space Science News RSS Feeds from Brightsurf Science NewsSpace Science :: NeptuneNeptune News Stories, Current Neptune News Events, Discoveries and Articleshttp://www.brightsurf.com/rss.news.xml?search=Neptune Neptune News Stories Current Neptune News Events, Discoveries and Articles A Trio of Super-Earths Today, at an international conference, a team of European astronomers announced a remarkable breakthrough in the field of extra-solar planets. Using the HARPS instrument at the ESO La Silla Observatory, they have found a triple system of super-Earths around the star HD 40307. (2008-06-17) Plutoid chosen as name for Solar System objects like Pluto Almost two years after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly introduced the category of dwarf planets, the IAU, as promised, has decided on a name for transneptunian dwarf planets similar to Pluto. (2008-06-12) Stardust comet dust resembles asteroid materials Contrary to expectations for a small icy body, much of the comet dust returned by the Stardust mission formed very close to the young sun and was altered from the solar system's early materials. (2008-01-25) U of M physicist reads the history of the solar system in grains of comet dust Four years ago, NASA's Stardust spacecraft chased down a comet and collected grains of dust blowing off its nucleus. When the spacecraft Comet Wild-2 returned, comet dust was shipped to scientists all over the world, including University of Minnesota physics professor Bob Pepin. (2008-01-04) Solving solar system quandaries is simple: Just flip-flop the position of Uranus and Neptune Quick: What's the order of the planets in the solar system? Need a little help? Maybe the following mnemonic rings a bell: "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Up Nine Pizzas." It's useful for remembering the order of the planets today, but it wouldn't have been as useful in the past, and not just because the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to "dwarf planet" last year. The reason this mnemonic wouldn't have worked is because the planets weren't always in the order they are today. Four billion years ago, early in the solar system's evolution, Uranus and Neptune switched places. (2007-12-12) Astronomers discover record 5th planet around nearby star 55 Cancri A team of American astronomers announced today (Tuesday, Nov. 6) the discovery of a record-breaking fifth planet around the nearby star 55 Cancri, making it the only star aside from the sun known to have five planets. (2007-11-07) Dwarf galaxies need dark matter too, U-M astronomers say Stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies behave in a way that suggests the galaxies are utterly dominated by dark matter, University of Michigan astronomers have found. (2007-10-25) A Warm South Pole? Yes, on Neptune! An international team of astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope has discovered that the south pole of Neptune is much hotter than the rest of the planet. This is consistent with the fact that it is late southern summer and this region has been in sunlight for about 40 years. (2007-09-19) Computer models suggest planetary and extrasolar planet atmospheres The world is abuzz with the discovery of an extrasolar, Earth-like planet around the star Gliese 581 that is relatively close to our Earth at 20 light years away in the constellation Libra. (2007-06-20) Hidden Planet Pushes Star's Ring a Billion Miles Off-Center A young star's strange elliptical ring of dust likely heralds the presence of an undiscovered Neptune-sized planet, says a University of Rochester astronomer in the latest Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. (2007-06-14) |
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