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Kiwi astronomers help find icy 'Super Earth' - Life in space discovery a step closer
By designing a variant of an astronomical technique proposed by Einstein, researchers from The University of Auckland and Massey University, together with astronomers from Auckland's Stardome Observatory, have found evidence for a new icy "Super Earth".   view more (2006-03-15)

How Special Is The Solar System?
On the evidence to date, our solar system could be fundamentally different from the majority of planetary systems around stars because it formed in a different way. If that is the case, Earth-like planets will be very rare. After examining the properties of the 100 or so known extrasolar planetary... view more (2004-08-03)

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)

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.   view more (2008-06-17)

Astronomers discover two new planets, both among the hottest ever
Astronomers have discovered two new planets outside our solar system, both extremely close to their stars and thus among the hottest ever found.   view more (2006-09-27)

Scientists Model a Cornucopia of Earth-sized Planets
In the Star Wars movies fictional planets are covered with forests, oceans, deserts, and volcanoes. But new models from a team of MIT, NASA, and Carnegie scientists begin to describe an even wider range of Earth-size planets that astronomers might actually be able to find in the near future.   view more (2007-09-25)

Unexpected cooling effect in Saturn's upper atmosphere
UK researchers from University College London (UCL), along with colleagues from Boston University, have found that the hotter than expected temperature of Saturn's upper atmosphere - and that of the other giant planets - is not due to the same mechanism that heats the atmosphere around the Earth's... view more (2007-01-29)

100th Extra-solar planet gives clues to origins of planets
British astronomers, together with Australian and American colleagues, have used the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope [AAT] in New South Wales, Australia to discover a new planet outside our Solar System - the 100th to be detected. The discovery, which is part of a search for solar systems that... view more (2002-09-16)

Space Man Joins BBC Voyage Around The Solar System
A Kingston University space expert has been reaching out to the stars after lending his specialist knowledge to a major TV drama-documentary. Director of the University's Aerospace Research Centre Dr Chris Welch has been working with the makers of BBC One series, Space Odyssey: Voyage to the... view more (2004-10-20)

It`s wet out there
TANTALISING signs of water have been found in the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars. If the discovery is confirmed, it will fuel speculation that the Galaxy is teeming with life. "This would be a historic discovery- the first detection of a prebiotic molecule in an extrasolar planet,"... view more (2002-09-20)

NASA predicts nongreen plants on other planets
NASA scientists believe they have found a way to predict the color of plants on planets in other solar systems.   view more (2007-04-11)

Press invitation: Big bucks for Big Bang scientists
A £1.7 million science laboratory for studying one of the great mysteries of the Universe opens at the University of Sussex on May 14, 2002. The Centre for the Measurement of Particle Electric Dipole Moments has been equipped with the very latest technology to help scientists discover what... view more (2002-05-07)

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)

Astronomers find stellar cradle where planets form
Astronomers at the University of Illinois have found the first clear evidence for a cradle in space where planets and moons form.   view more (2007-11-30)

NASA Scientists Detect Spectrum of Planets Orbiting Other Stars
For the first time, scientists at Goddard have obtained a spectrum, or molecular fingerprint, of a planet orbiting another star. Using spectroscopy, scientists were able to identify silicon dust in clouds on a gas-giant planet called HD 209458b. That planet is located 150 light years from Earth.   view more (2007-02-23)

Earth's strongest winds wouldn't even be a breeze on these planets
Earth's inhabitants are used to temperatures that vary, sometimes greatly, between day and night. New measurements for three planets outside our solar system indicate their temperatures remain fairly constant - and blazing hot - from day to night, even though it is likely one side of each planet... view more (2007-01-10)

Gas giants jump into planet formation early
Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show that gas giants either form within the first 10 million years of a sun-like star's life, or not at all.   view more (2007-01-09)

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)

Cranfield University reaches for the stars
Looking into the night sky you may see a few stars and the moon. Astronomers, however, are looking for more than this - they are looking for Earth-like planets, which, with a little help from Cranfield University, they may be able to find. As part of a four-year collaborative project, Cranfield... view more (2004-02-13)

Earth-like planets may be more common than once thought, says new U. of Colorado-Penn State study
More than one-third of the giant planet systems recently detected outside Earth's solar system may harbor Earth-like planets, many covered in deep oceans with potential for life.   view more (2006-09-08)

Launch Of Human Orrery
The Armagh Observatory's 'Human Orrery' is the first large outdoor exhibit in the world to show accurately the elliptical orbits and changing relative positions of the planets and other solar system bodies with time. It has been constructed with the support of the Northern Ireland Department of... view more (2004-11-22)

Earliest meteorites provide new piece in planetary formation puzzle
Researchers trying to understand how the planets formed have uncovered a new clue by analysing meteorites that are older than the earth.   view more (2005-09-20)

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)

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)

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)

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