Earthshine reflects Earth's oceans and continents from the dark side of the Moon
Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Princeton University have shown for the first time that the difference in reflection of light from the Earth's land masses and oceans can be seen on the dark side of the moon, a phenomenon known as earthshine. view more (2009-04-08)
Plan to identify watery Earth-like planets develops
Astronomers are looking to identify Earth-like watery worlds circling distant stars from a glint of light seen through an optical space telescope and a mathematical method developed by researchers at Penn State and the University of Hawaii. view more (2008-04-24)
Helium rains inside jovian planets
Models of how Saturn and Jupiter formed may soon take on a different look. By determining the properties of hydrogen-helium mixtures at the millions of atmospheres of pressure present in the interior of Saturn and Jupiter, physicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have determined the... view more... (2009-01-27)
Benchmark Survey Shows that Giant Outer Extrasolar Planets Are Rare
Astronomers who used powerful telescopes in Arizona and Chile in a survey for planets around nearby stars have discovered that extrasolar planets more massive than Jupiter are extremely rare in other outer solar systems. view more (2007-07-12)
Where are the other `Earths` beyond the Solar System?
One of the most fascinating areas of astronomical research in recent years has been the search for other `Earths` circling Sun-like stars far beyond our Solar System. In recent years nearly 100 planets have been discovered in orbits around other stars, but none of these `exoplanets` remotely resembles the Earth. However, according to the latest... view more... (2002-04-03)
Royal Society Summer Exhibition - Take Part In The Cassini-Huygens Mission
UK space scientists are involved in a plethora of spacecraft that are currently exploring the planets, moons and comets in our Solar System. The UK Goes to the Planets exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition provides an opportunity to find out about these missions direct from the scientists. Within the last couple of years we have... view more... (2004-06-30)
Good news: How the Earth will survive when the Sun becomes a supergiant
The astronomy textbooks will have to be rewritten, say astrophysicists at the University of Sussex who have re-examined standard calculations about solar evolution and the distant future of the Earth. The textbooks tell us that one day the Sun will burn up its nuclear fuel and expand to an enormous size, finally engulfing its inner planets... view more... (2002-01-08)
Forming super-Earths by ultraviolet stripping
A new explanation for forming "super-Earths" suggests that they are more likely to be found orbiting red dwarf stars—the most abundant type of star—than gas giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn. view more (2006-06-08)
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. view more (2008-03-13)
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)
Space shield could help image Earth-like planets, says study
A gigantic, daisy-shaped space shield could be used to block out pesky starlight and allow astronomers using an orbiting telescope to zero in on Earth-like planets in other solar systems. view more (2006-07-06)
Gifted Students Create Martian Movies and Design their Own Space Odyssey
Some of the brightest kids in the country who are members of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), based at the University of Warwick, will explore life on other planets and create an animation of what Mars probe Beagle 2 may have found if it had suceeded, or what NASA's roving US Mars probes have still to discover, on... view more... (2004-02-17)
ESA chairs the International Living With a Star programme
ESA is providing the first chairman for the International Living With A Star (ILWS) programme. ILWS is an unprecedented initiative in which space agencies worldwide are getting together to investigate how variations in the Sun affect the environment of Earth and the other planets, in the short and long term. In particular, ILWS will concentrate... view more... (2003-02-21)
Radio telescope images reveal planet-forming disk orbiting twin suns
Astronomers are announcing today that a sequence of images collected with the Smithsonian's Submillimeter Array (SMA) clearly reveals the presence of a rotating molecular disk orbiting the young binary star system V4046 Sagittarii. view more (2009-06-11)
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 the planets, these move in an eastwards direction... view more... (2003-06-09)
2 unusual older stars giving birth to second wave of planets
Hundreds of millions - or even billions - of years after planets would have initially formed around two unusual stars, a second wave of planetesimal and planet formation appears to be taking place, UCLA astronomers and colleagues believe. view more (2008-01-10)
Hubble finds carbon dioxide on an extrasolar planet
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. view more (2008-12-10)
Laugh and the world laughs with you
The first findings from Laughlab, the world’s largest experiment into the psychology of humour, are released today by psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman , University of Hertfordshire, who devised the project in collaboration with the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) as part of Science Year, the Government initiative which... view more... (2001-12-18)
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. view more (2007-06-20)
32 new exoplanets found
The latest batch of exoplanets announced today comprises no less than 32 new discoveries. Including these new results, data from HARPS have led to the discovery of more than 75 exoplanets in 30 different planetary systems. view more (2009-10-20)
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