SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: February 2006
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Father of Tyrannosaurus is unearthed in
China
(Feb 9, 2006)
Fossils of the earliest known relative of Tyrannosaurus rex –
one of the largest of the meat-eating dinosaurs – have been
unearthed in the desert "badlands" of western China. A scientific
analysis of the fossilised remains has revealed the creature lived
some 160 million years ago, about 90 million years before T. rex,
and had an ornamental bony crest on its nose.
Read
more. Source: Independent |
Milky Way accused of million-star theft
(Feb 8, 2006)
The Milky Way appears to have stolen about a million low-mass stars
from a dense globular
cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus, astronomers have discovered.
The finding suggests this cluster ventures closer to our galaxy's
central bulge than previously thought, allowing the bulge's gravity
to strip away many low-mass stars, while leaving the cluster's more
massive stars behind.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Space rock re-opens Mars debate
(Feb 8, 2006)
A carbon-rich substance found filling tiny cracks within a Martian
meteorite could boost the idea that life once existed on the Red
Planet. The material resembles that found in fractures, or "veins",
apparently etched by microbes in volcanic glass from the Earth's ocean
floor. The evidence comes from a meteorite held in London's Natural
History Museum that was cracked open by curators.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
NASA to divert cash from science into
shuttle
(Feb 8, 2006)
NASA wants to divert money from its science program to help pay for
billions of dollars of projected space shuttle cost overruns, says
the agency's chief, Mike Griffin. The cuts mean several key science
missions will be delayed indefinitely and have sparked criticism from
space enthusiasts and law makers. Griffin and other NASA officials
announced the cuts on Monday during a press briefing on US president
George Bush's 2007 budget request to Congress. (Image: LISA, now indefinitely
on hold.)
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Experts poles apart over Moon landing
sites
(Feb 7, 2006)
A healthy debate over whether humans should go to the Moon’s
well-studied equatorial regions or its more enigmatic but sunny poles
is emerging among lunar researchers, as NASA pushes towards a return
to the Moon. Reminiscent of debates seen during the planning stages
of the Mars rovers mission, its central question asks whether robotic
landers and later human missions should focus on the known equatorial
regions or the promising, but still largely unknown, polar regions
of the satellite.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Xena reignites a planet-sized debate
(Feb 6, 2006)
The heated debate over what constitutes a planet has reignited following
last week's confirmation that the most distant planet-like object
ever seen in the solar system [2003
UB313] is larger than Pluto.
But astronomers tasked with settling the issue say the argument could
drag on for years. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), responsible
for resolving such issues, assembled a special working group to decide
on the definition two years ago, when a large new body called Sedna
was found in the outer solar system.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Research into dwarf galaxies starts to
unlock the deep secrets of dark matter
(Feb 6, 2006)
Cambridge University researchers have creaked open the door to one
of the greatest mysteries in science. For the first time they can
describe some physical properties of dark
matter. Cosmologists know that the stars and planets we can see
add up to only 4% of the mass required to keep the universe in its
ordered state. The rest is made of a combination of unknown particles
called dark matter and a source of energy, which seems to push galaxies
apart, called dark energy. Other than knowing that both these things
must exist, scientists have been at a loss to describe anything about
them. But by studying the motion of dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky
Way, Gerry Gilmore, the deputy director of the Institute of Astronomy
at Cambridge University, calculated that dark matter moved at 5.6
miles a second and that the smallest chunks it could exist in measured
1,000 light years across and had 30m times the mass of the Sun.
Read
more. Source: Guardian
See also: BBC
article |
Andromeda's new satellite galaxy is faintest
yet
(Feb 5, 2006)
The faintest satellite galaxy yet found around the Milky Way's near-twin,
Andromeda, has been
turned up by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The discovery suggests
other dim galaxies remain undetected and goes some way towards solving
a mystery known as the "missing satellite" problem. Standard theories
of dark matter and
the evolution of galaxies calculate that small galaxies should merge
over time to form large ones, and that many of these undersized, unmerged
galaxies should be visible today.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Deep Impact mission reveals comet's icy
cargo
(Feb 3, 2006)
Water ice is present on the surface of comet
Tempel 1, suggest observations from NASA's Deep
Impact mission. This is the first direct detection of exposed
water ice on a comet. But the mission’s science team says the water
ice is present in surprisingly small amounts, covering less than 1%
of comet Tempel 1’s surface. The finding suggests the comet’s surrounding
cloud of gas and dust may largely be fed by underlying ices, rather
than by gas streaming off its surface.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Icy Trojan asteroids boost planet-forming
theory
(Feb 2, 2006)
A pair of asteroids that orbit in lockstep around Jupiter
are more likely to be dirt-covered ice balls than rocky rubble piles,
a new study suggests. The results back a new theory of how the giant
planets formed. The asteroid pair is called 617 Patroclus and belongs
to the Trojan asteroids
around Jupiter. The duo may share a common lineage with far-flung
objects that today orbit beyond Neptune, suggests a calculation of
the objects’ densities.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Distant world tops Pluto for size
(Feb 2, 2006)
An icy, rocky world reported last year to be orbiting the Sun in the
distant reaches of the Solar System really is bigger than Pluto, scientists
say. New observations of the object, which goes by the designation
2003 UB313, show
it to have a diameter of some 3,000km – about 700km more than
Pluto. The measurement
was undertaken by a German team using a Spanish telescope, and is
published in the journal Nature. It is likely to bolster claims for
the body to be given planet status.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Rocket Racing League names its first team
(Feb 1, 2006)
Two former US fighter pilots have become the first team chosen to
compete in an Indy 500-like race involving rocket-powered aeroplanes.
Robert "Bobaloo" Rickard and Don "Dagger" Grantham, Jr – both
veteran US Air Force F-16 pilots – have paired up to form a
team called Leading Edge Rocket Racing. The team is the first to be
chosen for a series of future "air" races being organised by the recently
formed Rocket
Racing League. The team will be one of at least 10 expected to
compete in a series of about six races across the US in 2007.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
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