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NASA images, White Sands features support a wetter Mars
NASA's announcement yesterday of evidence that water still flows on Mars, at least in brief spurts, demonstrates that the view of Mars as a very dry planet should be reevaluated, says Dawn Sumner, professor of geology at UC Davis. Recent work from by Sumner and graduate student Greg Chavdarian also... view more (2006-12-08)

Saturn's winds are variable
A team of astrophysicists at the University of the Basque Country has detected, for the first time ever, changes in Saturn's winds. The research has merited front page coverage in the scientific magazine, Nature. The winds blowing around Saturn and Jupiter are special. Unlike those of the rest of... view more (2003-06-09)

Sign of 'Embryonic Planets' Forming in Nearby Stellar Systems
Astronomers at the University of Rochester are pointing to three nearby stars they say may hold "embryonic planets"-a missing link in planet-formation theories.   view more (2007-10-02)

European meeting in Athens fuels future space exploration missions to Mars, Moon
A European Science Foundation (ESF)-led workshop sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) has enabled 88 scientists from 11 European countries to agree on science goals for future Europe's planetary exploration programme; providing the continent with an ambitious roadmap to examine Mars and the... view more (2007-06-01)

Mars Express reveals the Red Planet's volcanic past
A new analysis of impact cratering data from Mars reveals that the planet has undergone a series of global volcanic upheavals. These violent episodes spewed lava and water onto the surface, sculpting the landscape that ESA's Mars Express looks down on today.   view more (2008-03-17)

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.   view more (2007-06-14)

COROT finds exoplanet orbiting Sun-like star
A team of European scientists working with COROT have discovered an exoplanet orbiting a star slightly more massive than the Sun. After just 555 days in orbit, the mission has now observed more than 50 000 stars and is adding significantly to our knowledge of the fundamental workings of stars.   view more (2008-07-28)

It may not be long before we see other worlds
WE MAY actually see a planet around a nearby star within the next six months. A team of British astronomers hope to achieve this feat by focusing their search on white dwarfs-dimly glowing stars at the end of their lives.         Although more than 80... view more (2002-03-06)

Tracking alien turbulences with Venus Express
New images and data from ESA's mission to Venus provide new insights into the turbulent and noxious atmosphere of Earth's sister planet. What causes violent winds and turbulences? Is the surface topography playing a role in the complex global dynamics of the atmosphere? Venus Express is on the case.   view more (2007-04-04)

Brown Planetary Geologists Lend Expertise to Mercury Mission
What lies on the uncharted side of mysterious Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system? Brown University students, led by planetary geologist James Head, will study never-before-seen images of Mercury when a NASA spacecraft makes the first visit to Mercury in nearly 33 years.   view more (2008-01-14)

Milking it
A Northumbria University graduate plans to milk a new technique he has devised to turn recycled plastic milk bottles into furniture. Currently the recycled bottles are made into plastic block type outdoor furniture but designer Richard Liddle, 24, has developed a technique to mould and laminate the... view more (2003-01-15)

Basque Country University researchers publish two articles in Nature on latest discoveries on Venus
Nature journal has published a series of articles devoted to the new discoveries by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Venus Express space probe made on our neighbouring planet.   view more (2007-12-03)

Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there? Probably not, according to a scientist from the University of East Anglia. A mathematical model produced by Prof Andrew Watson suggests that the odds of finding new life on other Earth-like planets are low, given the time it has taken for beings such as humans to evolve... view more (2008-04-17)

Icy Jupiter Moon Throws a Curve Ball at Formation Theories
Scientists studying data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft have found that Jupiter's moon Amalthea is a pile of icy rubble less dense than water. Scientists expected moons closer to the planet to be rocky and not icy. The finding shakes up long-held theories of how moons form around giant planets.   view more (2005-06-01)

COROT surprises a year after launch
The space-borne telescope, COROT (Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits), has just completed its first year in orbit. The observatory has brought in surprises after over 300 days of scientific observations.   view more (2007-12-21)

Madagascar`s lost wilderness @ the London `Catastrophes` conference
In the last 2000 years Madagascar has lost its entire endemic megafauna. This includes giant lemurs, pygmy hippos, elephant birds, and giant tortoises. This loss is the planet`s most recent prehistoric extinction event affecting a region with continental-scale diversity.   view more (2002-08-17)

Venus Express has reached final orbit
Less than one month after insertion into orbit, and after sixteen loops around the planet Venus, ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has reached its final operational orbit.   view more (2006-05-10)

Timing is critical as launch windows approach
There will be greater tension than usual among engineers and scientists at Europe`s spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, in January 2003, as they gather to see ESA`s comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta departing on its long journey. If it is to keep its rendezvous with Comet Wirtanen in 2012, Rosetta... view more (2002-09-05)

Setting stars reveal planetary secrets
Watching the stars set from the surface of the Earth may be a romantic pastime but when a spacecraft does it from orbit, it can reveal hidden details about a planet's atmosphere.   view more (2007-11-06)

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.   view more (2008-06-12)

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.   view more (2008-02-15)

Venus Express en route to probe the planet's hidden mysteries
The European spacecraft Venus Express has been successfully placed into a trajectory that will take it on its journey from Earth towards its destination of the planet Venus, which it will reach next April.   view more (2005-11-10)

Global Earth Observation moves ahead
The intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) met this week to agree important elements of a groundbreaking 10-year Plan that will pave the way toward building a global Earth Observation System. Over the next decade, this system will revolutionize our understanding of the Earth and how it... view more (2004-09-28)

Floating pile of rubble a pristine record of solar system's history
A small, near-Earth asteroid named Itokawa is just a pile of floating rubble, probably created from the breakup of an ancient planet, according to a University of Michigan researcher was part of the Japanese space mission Hayabusa.   view more (2006-06-02)

Look out for giant triangles in space
THE search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) could be taking the wrong approach. Instead of listening for alien radiobroadcasts, a better strategy maybe to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars by alien civilisations.   view more (2005-04-06)

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