Scientists discover first of a new class of extrasolar planets
(Aug 31, 2004)
Astronomers announced today the first discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system about 10 to 20 times the size of Earth – far smaller than any previously detected. The planets make up a new class of Neptune-sized extrasolar planets. In addition, one of the new planets joins three others around the nearby star 55 Cancri to form the first known four-planet system. [N.b. A European team announced a similar discovery several days ago – see news item for Aug. 25. However, the European results have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.]
Fred Whipple – the astronomer who first correctly described comets as "dirty snowballs" – has died aged 97. He revolutionised the study of comets when in 1950-51 he proposed that they were not "sandbags" but small bodies made or rock, dust and ice. He also predicted the coming of artificial satellites and was prepared with a satellite tracking network when Sputnik was launched in 1957.
Life on Mars: a definite possibility
(Aug 31, 2004)
Was Mars once a living world? Does life continue, even today, in a holding pattern, waiting until the next global warming event comes along? Many people would like to believe so. Scientists are no exception. But so far no evidence has been found that convinces even a sizable minority of the scientific community that the red planet was ever home to life. What the evidence does indicate, though, is that Mars was once a habitable world. Life, as we know it, could have taken hold there.
Research into what separates matter from antimatter is accelerating in particle physics experiments around the world. Scientists are hoping the difference will help explain why you, me and all the things around us are made of matter instead of its opposite. Shortly after the Big Bang theoretically kicked off everything, the universe was a hot soup of equal parts matter and antimatter, scientists say. Why the former came to dominate is a question that physicists have yet to answer fully. Recent results from the BaBar experiment in California have confirmed one departure between the two substances, but to solve the puzzle more deviations will have to be found. Also see antimatter propulsion.
At a rock called "Clovis," the rock abrasion tool on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit cut a 9-millimeter (0.35-inch) hole during the rover's 216th martian day, or sol (Aug. 11, 2004). The hole is the deepest drilled in a rock on Mars so far. This approximately true-color view was made from images taken by Spirit's panoramic camera on sol 226 (Aug. 21, 2004) at around 12:50 p.m. local true solar time – early afternoon in Gusev Crater on Mars.
Major NASA extrasolar planet discovery announcement scheduled for August 31
(Aug 27, 2004)
A team of planet-hunters will announce their discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system at a NASA Science Update at 1 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, August 31. Their discovery represents a significant and much-anticipated advance in the hunt for extra-solar planets. The news conference will be carried live on NASA Television, with two-way question-and-answer capability from participating NASA centers.
Meteorites supplied Earth life with phosphorus, scientists say
(Aug 26, 2004)
University of Arizona scientists have discovered that meteorites, particularly iron meteorites, may have been critical to the evolution of life on Earth. Their research shows that meteorites easily could have provided more phosphorus than naturally occurs on Earth – enough phosphorus to give rise to biomolecules which eventually assembled into living, replicating organisms.
Read more. Source: Astrobiology Magazine / U. of Arizona
Smallest 'Earth-like' planet seen
(Aug 25, 2004)
European scientists have discovered what they describe as the smallest Earth-like planet orbiting a star outside our Solar System. The planet is 14 times the mass of Earth – not so large that it qualifies as a gas giant – and is close enough to the star that it is unlikely to be icy. Dr Nuno Santos of the University of Lisbon, the new planet can be thought of as "super-Earth-like".
Dark, rippling dunes of volcanic ash – similar to Hawaii's black sand beaches – cast a teardrop shape in an ancient Martian crater, reveal the latest images from Mars Express. Wind is likely to have carved the 12-kilometre-long tear shape a million or more years ago when the Martian atmosphere was thicker, says Gerhard Neukum, principal investigator of the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Europe's Mars orbiter. Now, the atmosphere has thinned so much that the dune's shape is likely to remain fixed for at least hundreds of thousands of years, he says.
Asteroid shaves past Earth's atmosphere
(Aug 24, 2004)
The closest observed asteroid yet to skim past the Earth without hitting the atmosphere, was reported by astronomers on Sunday. The previously unknown object, spanning five to 10 metres across, has been named 2004 FU162. It streaked across the sky just 6500 kilometres – roughly the radius of the Earth – above the ground on 31 March, although details have only now emerged. The MIT Lincoln Laboratory's asteroid-hunting LINEAR telescope (shown here) in Socorro, New Mexico, observed the new object four times over a 44-minute period, several hours before its closest approach in March.
