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Understanding the oceans microbes is key to the Earth's future
Life on Earth may owe its existence to tiny microorganisms living in the oceans, but the effect of human-induced change on the vital services these microbes perform for the planet remains largely unstudied.   view more (2005-12-09)

The search for ET just got easier
Astronomers using the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma have confirmed an effective way to search the atmospheres of planets for signs of life, vastly improving our chances of finding alien life outside our solar system.   view more (2009-06-11)

XO-3b: Supersized planet or oasis in the 'brown dwarf desert'?
The latest find from an international planet-hunting team of amateur and professional astronomers is one of the oddest extrasolar planets ever cataloged -- a mammoth orb more than 13 times the mass of Jupiter that orbits its star in less than four days.   view more (2007-05-31)

The IAU draft definition of 'planet' and 'plutons'
The world's astronomers, under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), have concluded two years of work defining the difference between "planets" and the smaller "solar system bodies" such as comets and asteroids.   view more (2006-08-16)

Chronicle of Martian Expedition
A man is the most vulnerable chain in long-term space expedition. How numerous should a crew be? What are the principles of a crew selection? What should be made to protect people during a flight and on some other planet? Scientists from the Institute for Problems of Medicine and Biology are trying to answer these and many other questions. With... view more... (2001-04-20)

Interstellar Weather Report: Day and Night Temps Measured on an Extrasolar Planet
For the first time, astronomers have measured the day and night temperatures of a planet outside our solar system. The team, which includes Sara Seager of Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, revealed that a giant Jupiter-like gas planet orbiting very close to its star is blisteringly hot on one side, and frigid on the other.   view more (2006-10-13)

Earth light: Terrestrial vegetation detected in the spectrum of the earthshine
A team including Pierre Riaud and Jean Schneider of the Observatoire de Paris and Luc Arnold, Sophie Gillet and Olivier Lardie're of the Observatoire de Haute Provence detected for the first time the color characteristic of the terrestrial vegetation in the "Earthshine", i.e. the dark part of the Moon only hit by the Earth light. To observe the... view more... (2002-01-23)

Water, water everywhere -- on an extrasolar planet
Scientists report the first conclusive discovery of the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our Solar System.   view more (2007-07-12)

Hubble finds first organic molecule on extrasolar planet
The tell-tale signature of the molecule methane in the atmosphere of the Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet HD 189733b has been found with the Hubble Space Telescope. Under the right circumstances methane can play a key role in prebiotic chemistry - the chemical reactions considered necessary to form life as we know it.   view more (2008-03-20)

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.   view more (2007-11-07)

Astronomers find first habitable Earth-like planet
Astronomers have discovered the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, an exoplanet with a radius only 50% larger than the Earth and capable of having liquid water.   view more (2007-04-25)

The fine line between stability and instability -- when do gas giants reach the point of no return?
Planetary scientists at UCL have identified the point at which a star causes the atmosphere of an orbiting gas giant to become critically unstable, as reported in this week's Nature (December 6).   view more (2007-12-06)

CU-Boulder space scientists set for second spacecraft flyby of Mercury
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which is toting an $8.7 million University of Colorado at Boulder instrument to measure Mercury's wispy atmosphere and blistering surface, will make its second flyby of the mysterious, rocky planet Oct. 6.   view more (2008-10-01)

Astronomers discover distant, icy Earth-like planet
An international team of astrophysicists has discovered a new planet five times the size of Earth, the smallest extrasolar planet revealed to date outside of our solar system.   view more (2006-01-27)

'Over The Moon' At Saturn
UK scientists involved in the Cassini space mission were 'over the Moon' after the spacecraft's 100,000 km per hour white knuckle ride courtesy of Saturn's gravity which successfully completed the critical manoeuvre to place Cassini in orbit around the ringed planet. 'I've waited 15 years for this moment,' said Dr Andrew Coates of the UK's... view more... (2004-07-01)

Hunt for planets outside solar system uncovers a small one
Perhaps edging closer to finding planets that harbor life, astronomers have discovered the smallest planet yet identified outside our solar system.   view more (2006-01-26)

Scientists reveal fate of Earth's oceans
Scientists at The University of Manchester have uncovered the first evidence of seawater deep inside the Earth shedding new light on the fate of the planet's oceans, according to research published in Nature.   view more (2006-05-11)

UCF, UCLA astronomers first to measure night and day on extrasolar planet
University of Central Florida Astronomy professor Joseph Harrington and University of California at Los Angeles professor Brad M. Hansen and their team have made the first direct observation of distinct day and night temperatures on a planet orbiting another star.   view more (2006-10-13)

Models show one nearby star system could host Earth-like planet
The steady discovery of giant planets orbiting stars other than our sun has heightened speculation that there could be Earth-type worlds in nearby planetary systems capable of sustaining life.   view more (2006-07-25)

Exoplanets clue to sun's curious chemistry
"For almost 10 years we have tried to find out what distinguishes stars with planetary systems from their barren cousins," says Garik Israelian, lead author of a paper appearing this week in the journal Nature. "We have now found that the amount of lithium in Sun-like stars depends on whether or not they have planets."   view more (2009-11-12)
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