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October 11, 2008 8:52:08 AM CDT

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Stories related to: planet

Stories

20 Stories

  • July 2008

    • Dwarf Planet Gets a Name

      USA Today  |  Jul 22, 08 10:17 AM CDT

      Dwarf Planet Gets a Name

      (Newser) - The neighborhood of the solar system beyond Neptune has a new resident—or rather, an old resident with a new name. The dwarf planet originally dubbed Easterbunny will now be known as Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh), reports USA Today. More »

      Tags

      astronomy  • planet  • outer space

    • Thinking 'Bots May Probe Planets for Us

      Space.com  |  Jul 6, 08 6:10 PM CDT

      Thinking 'Bots May Probe Planets for Us

      (Newser) - WALL-E they aren't, but future space robots may decide how and where we explore other planets, Space.com reports. Using what expert Wolfgang Fink calls “tier-scalable reconnaissance,” orbiting spacecrafts could choose where to deploy airships that drop rovers on planet surfaces. NASA and Europe may test the software on a planned 2017 mission to Titan and Europa. More »

      Tags

      space  • space exploration  • planet  • robot  • artificial intelligence  • Wall-E

    • Mercury Is Shrinking

      Los Angeles Times  |  Jul 3, 08 6:35 PM CDT

      Mercury Is Shrinking

      (Newser) - The planet Mercury is shrinking, the LA Times reports. Data from NASA’s Mercury Messenger spacecraft reveal that the planet’s diameter has shrunk by a mile over its history, probably because its core is cooling. Messenger flew in for a close-up in January, and scientists are now piecing together the new information and re-evaluating some long-held beliefs about the planet. More »

      Tags

      NASA  • Earth  • planet  • solar system  • scientist  • Mercury  • magnetic field  • molten rock

  • June 2008

    • New Planets Yield Hopes of Life Beyond

      New York Times  |  Jun 24, 08 1:43 PM CDT

      New Planets Yield Hopes of Life Beyond

      (Newser) - The discovery, announced last week, that rocky, Earth-sized planets appear to be circling sun-sized stars in our own galaxy should thrill the closet Star Trek geek in all of us, Natalie Angier writes in the New York Times. "If planets abound, scientists suspect that life abounds, too, at least of the microbial kind," she writes—exciting stuff, given previous news of unfriendly gas giants. More »

      Tags

      astronomy  • space exploration  • extraterrestrial life  • planet  • deep space  • Milky Way  • galaxy

  • March 2008

    • Scientists Find Planets Out of This World

      Washington Post  |  Mar 24, 08 9:30 AM CDT

      Scientists Find Planets Out of This World

      (Newser) - Humans took centuries to discover the other planets in the solar system, but in the 13 years since the first additional planet was identified, planetary scientists have found 277 more worlds orbiting other suns. And those extrasolar planets are just the confirmed ones—many more are suspected, and excitement among scientists is building, reports the Washington Post. More »

      Tags

      NASA  • space  • MIT  • planet  • extrasolar planets  • JPL

    • Saturn Moon Rings Detected

      Space.com  |  Mar 7, 08 4:20 AM CST

      Saturn Moon Rings Detected

      (Newser) - Saturn’s second-largest moon, Rhea, could be the first known moon with rings. The spacecraft Cassini detected apparent evidence of rings when it spotted debris around Rhea as it flew by in 2005, reports space.com. The set of rings has not been directly seen, but scientists inferred that the rings existed because the spacecraft measured a drop in electrons on both sides of the moon. More »

      Tags

      Earth  • planet  • deep space  • Saturn  • spacecraft  • space missions  • Cassini  • moons  • electron

  • February 2008

    • New Solar System Sparks Hope for Other Life

      Daily Telegraph (UK)  |  Feb 15, 08 4:10 AM CST

      New Solar System Sparks Hope for Other Life

      (Newser) - Excited astronomers say that the discovery of a solar system with strong similarities to our own raises the chances of other life out there. The system has two gas giants similar to Jupiter and Saturn orbiting at a similar distance from the alien sun 5,000 light years away, and rocky, Earth-like planets may exist in closer orbits, reseachers write in the journal Science. More »

      Tags

      space  • astronomy  • extraterrestrial life  • planet  • solar system

  • January 2008

    • Spectacular Show Awaits Sky Gazers

      Space.com  |  Jan 26, 08 2:58 PM CST

      Spectacular Show Awaits Sky Gazers

      (Newser) - Sky gazers have an exceptional show awaiting them over the next couple of weeks, Space.com reports, and the most striking celestial sights will be in the early morning. Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, will converge, forming a spectacular "double planet" low in the dawn light, and a few mornings later, the moon will drop by to join them. More »

      Tags

      space  • astronomy  • moon  • planet  • Jupiter  • Venus

    • Probe Zips Over Mercury Today

      Christian Science Monitor  |  Jan 14, 08 4:33 AM CST

      Probe Zips Over Mercury Today

      (Newser) - NASA's Messenger spacecraft this afternoon will whiz past Mercury at 141,000 mph and snap an estimated 1,200 detailed photos of the planet's surface from a mere 124 miles up. It will be the first of three passes before the craft starts orbiting the planet closest to the sun in 2011. What scientists find could provide clues about how the Earth was formed. More »

      Tags

      NASA  • space  • research  • photographs  • planet  • sun  • Mercury  • Messenger

  • November 2007

    • Planet Found Orbiting Star

      Space.com  |  Nov 6, 07 10:28 PM CST

      Planet Found Orbiting Star

      (Newser) - Astronomers have found a planet that’s at least 45 times the size of Earth orbiting a star 41 light years away, Space.com reports. The giant ball of gas is the fifth planet discovered around the star 55 Cancri. And while it's not a "twin of our solar system," it is the first outside our own to have five known planets. More »

      Tags

      space  • astronomy  • planet  • solar system

  • October 2007

    • Astronomers Watch as New Earth-Like Planet Forms

      Space.com  |  Oct 4, 07 2:45 PM CDT

      Astronomers Watch as New Earth-Like Planet Forms

      (Newser) - A massive belt of dust swirling around a young star 424 light-years away could be evidence of a second Earth in the making, Space.com reports. Astronomers observing the area through a NASA space telescope say many of the conditions for forming an Earth-sized planet are present, including moderate temperatures allowing for liquid water. More »

      Tags

      NASA  • astronomy  • Earth  • planet

  • September 2007

    • When the Sun Dies, Earth Might Not

      New York Times  |  Sep 13, 07 3:32 AM CDT

      When the Sun Dies, Earth Might Not

      (Newser) - When the Sun begins to kick out in some 5 billion years, it might not take Earth with it, reports the New York Times. Scientists are more optimistic since discovering a planet that survived a similar situation. A lack of hydrogen fuel is expected to cause the Sun to expand 100-fold into a "red giant," enveloping Mercury and Venus and wiping out human life. More »

      Tags

      Earth  • planet  • solar system  • sun  • life

  • August 2007

    • 25 Biggest Scientific Discoveries

      USA Today  |  Aug 21, 07 1:10 PM CDT

      25 Biggest Scientific Discoveries

      (Newser) - The invention of the wheel was pretty good. Fire, even better. But what has science done for us lately? USA Today lists the top 25 scientific discoveries; here are the top 10: Accelerating universe Human genome Climate accord More »

      Tags

      Internet  • list  • science  • DNA  • genes  • planet  • genome  • Hubble  • ozone  • Pluto  • RNA

    • Largest Planet Ever Discovered

      Space.com  |  Aug 7, 07 1:53 PM CDT

      Largest Planet Ever Discovered

      (Newser) - Forget Jupiter. Scientists have discovered the largest planet out there—a "puffy" space mass almost twice the size of our solar system's gas giant. But the find is posing more questions than answers, Space.com reports: TrES-4’s mass is large but its density is about the same as balsa wood, which has confounded astronomers' theoretical models. More »

      Tags

      space  • astronomy  • discovery  • planet  • exoplanet

    • Destroy Earth: 10 Easy Methods

      LiveScience  |  Aug 6, 07 9:34 AM CDT

      Destroy Earth: 10 Easy Methods

      (Newser) - Destroying life on earth is one thing; obliterating the planet entirely is quite another. Bring out your inner supervillain with any of these 10 strategies. Hurl the earth into the sun. Release a Von Neumann machine beneath the earth's crust. Smash something large (such as Mars) into the earth. Eject large chunks of earth into space until the whole thing's gone. Maneuver the earth into a giant black hole, a la The Hitch Hiker's Guide to t