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Saturn News Stories, Current Saturn News Events, Discoveries and Articles
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Saturn News Stories
Current Saturn 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)

Astronomers Weigh the Coldest Brown Dwarfs with Astronomy's Sharpest Eyes
Astronomers have used ultrasharp images obtained with the Keck Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope to determine for the first time the masses of the coldest class of "failed stars," a.k.a. brown dwarfs. (2008-06-03)

Astronomers find grains of sand around distant stars
In a find that sheds light on how Earth-like planets may form, astronomers this week reported finding the first evidence of small, sandy particles orbiting a newborn solar system at about the same distance as the Earth orbits the sun. The report will be published online this week by the journal Nature. (2008-03-13)

New Purdue facility aims to improve NASA moon rocket engine
Purdue University engineers are conducting experiments using a new hydrogen facility to help NASA create designs to improve the cooling efficiency and performance of the J-2X rocket engine, critical for future missions to Mars and the moon. (2008-03-11)

New theory sheds light on space enigma
An enormous plume of dust and water spurts violently into space from the south pole of Enceladus, Saturn's sixth-largest moon. This raging eruption has intrigued scientists ever since the Cassini spacecraft provided dramatic images of the phenomenon. (2008-02-25)

Dartmouth researchers part of the team to discover similar planetary system to our solar system
Two Dartmouth researchers are part of the team that has discovered a planetary system where the two largest planets are very similar to Jupiter and Saturn, in terms of mass and distance from their host star. (2008-02-15)

Hot spot on Enceladus causes plumes
Enceladus, the tiny satellite of Saturn, is colder than ice, but data gathered by the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan has detected a hot spot that could mean there is life in the old moon after all. In fact, for researchers of the outer planets, Enceladus is so intellectually hot, it's smokin'. (2007-12-18)

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)

Hazy red sunset on extrasolar planet
A team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to detect, for the first time, strong evidence of hazes in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star. The discovery comes after extensive observations made recently with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). (2007-12-11)

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)



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