Spitzer Uncovers Hints Of Mega Solar Systems
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 08, 2006
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has identified two huge "hypergiant" stars circled by monstrous disks of what might be planet-forming dust. The findings surprised astronomers because stars as big as these were thought to be inhospitable to planets.
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Astronomers Detect Smallest Exoplanet Yet
Arlington VA (SPX) Jan 26, 2006
Using a relatively new and much more sensitive technique for detecting distant planetary bodies, astronomers employed a network of telescopes scattered across the globe to find the smallest extrasolar planet to date � and promised to find even smaller bodies in the coming years.
Two New Dusty Planetary Disks May Be Astrophysical Mirrors Of Our Kuiper Belt
Berkeley CA (SPX) Jan 20, 2006
A survey by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of 22 nearby stars has turned up two with bright debris disks that appear to be the equivalent of our own solar system's Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy rocks outside the orbit of Neptune and the source of short-period comets.
Study Highlights Role Of Hit-And-Run Collisions In Planet Formation
Santa Cruz CA (SPX) Jan 12, 2006
Hit-and-run collisions between embryonic planets during a critical period in the early history of the Solar System may account for some previously unexplained properties of planets, asteroids, and meteorites, according to researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who describe their findings in a paper to appear in the January 12 issue of the journal Nature.
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Spitzer Team Says Debris Disk Could Be Forming Infant Terrestrial Planets
Tucson AZ (SPX) Dec 16, 2005
Astronomers have found a debris disk around a sun-like star that may be forming or has formed its terrestrial planets. The disk - a probable analog to our asteroid belt - may have begun a solar-system-scale demolition derby, where the rocky remains of failed planets collide chaotically.
HARPS Instrument Finds Neptune Class Exoplanet Around Small Star
La Silla, Chile (SPX) Dec 01, 2005
A team of French and Swiss astronomers have discovered one of the lightest exoplanets ever found using the HARPS instrument on ESO's 3.6-m telescope at La Silla, in Chile. The new planet orbits a star belonging to a class of red dwarfs. As these stars are very common, this discovery proves crucial in the census of other planetary systems.
Optical Vortex Coronagraph Could Look Directly At Extrasolar Planets
Tucson AZ (SPX) Dec 01, 2005
A new optical device might allow astronomers to view extrasolar planets directly without the annoying glare of the parent star. It would do this by "nulling" out the light of the parent star by exploiting its wave nature, leaving the reflected light from the nearby planet to be observed in space-based detectors.
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Scientists Find Possible Birth Of Tiniest Known Solar System
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Nov 30, 2005
Scientists using a combination of ground-based and orbiting telescopes have discovered a failed star, less than one-hundredth the mass of the Sun, possibly in the process of forming a solar system.
SETI Sets Its Sights On M Dwarfs
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Nov 18, 2005
Scientists have been searching actively for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations for nearly half a century. Their main approach has been to point radio telescopes toward target stars and to "listen" for electronic transmissions from other worlds.
New Technique Helps Planet Inside Triple-Star System
Amsterdam, Netherlands (UPI) Nov 16, 2005
Astronomers say more than a thousand planets might be lurking in our galactic neighborhood. That's the conclusion they reached in explaining the genesis of a giant planet discovered in July by Maciej Konacki, then at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
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NASA's Spitzer Finds Failed Stars May Succeed in Planet Business
Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 24, 2005
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted the very beginnings of what might become planets around the puniest of celestial orbs - brown dwarfs, or "failed stars."
NASA Takes Giant Step Toward Finding Earth-Like Planets
Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 03, 2005
Are we alone in the universe? Are there planets like Earth around other "suns" that might harbor life? Thanks to a recent technology breakthrough on a key NASA planet-finding project, the dream of answering those questions is no longer light-years away.
Cultivating a Planetary Garden: How Long Does it Take?
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 14, 2005
According to the most popular theory of planet formation, planets are akin to redwood trees, growing in size very gradually. Rocky planets like Earth develop over millions of years, followed by gas giants like Jupiter, which build upon rocky cores.
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