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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: planet

planet stories: 36 news summaries

1 - 20 of 36 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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 NASA Will 
 Try to Free 
 Rover Stuck 
 on Mars 

Spirit has been in a sand trap since April

Nov 12, 09 5:37 PM CST
(Newser) - Help is on the way, rover. NASA will attempt to free the Mars rover Spirit from its sand-trap prison on Monday. The plucky machine got stuck in April—“the equivalent of falling through the ice over a frozen pond," says a NASA official. Spirit has been exploring Mars... More »

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NASA • space exploration • Mars • planet • Mars rover • outer space

 32 New Exoplanets Discovered 

New finds signal that cosmos harbors wealth of planets

Oct 20, 09 3:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - European astronomers have discovered 32 new planets in other solar systems, bringing the total of known exoplanets to over 400. The planets—which range in size from five times the size of Earth to five times the size of Jupiter—were found circling a variety of stars. The new discoveries... More »

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planet • Milky Way • exoplanet • galaxy • extrasolar planets • observatory

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a colossal ring around Saturn, the biggest planetary ring yet found. It's enormous even by solar system standards: Among the analogies being used to make it clear to our little earthly minds is that it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it. "This thing is... More »

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NASA • planet • Saturn • solar system • outer space


 New Planet 
 Expected to 
 Crash and Burn 

It defies laws of physics

Aug 27, 09 10:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Scientists in the UK have discovered a planet that defies the laws of physics, the Independent reports. WASP-18b, which is orbiting a star 1,000 light years from Earth, is so big and close to the sun that it should be pulled toward it. "The spin of the star... More »

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planet • star • sun • physics • exoplanet • Jupiter • orbit • University of St. Andrews • WASP-18b

(Newser) - An Australian science magazine is soliciting text messages to send to a mysterious planet more than 20 light-years away, Space.com reports. Called "Hello from Earth," the project aims to transmit 160-character missives to Gliese 581d, a so-called "Super Earth" discovered 2 years ago. "Will... More »

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planet • extraterrestrial life • exoplanet • outer space

 Saturn's Rings 
 Vanish Today 

They'll be out of sight for three months

Aug 11, 09 2:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - Saturn's rings will disappear from sight for three months starting today, Space.com reports. The rings, 170,000 miles long but only 30 feet thick, are visible because they reflect sunlight. But they vanish once every 15 years as equinoxes occur in its 30-year orbit and the rings are directly... More »

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planet • space • Saturn • solar system • orbit

 Mysterious Bright Spot 
 Appears on Venus 

Scientists suspect volcanic eruption

Aug 1, 09 10:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers are puzzling over a strange white spot that recently appeared in the clouds of Venus, the BBC reports. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft confirmed the spot, originally noticed by an amateur stargazer on July 19. Data suggests it appeared 4 days before that and has been... More »

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astronomy • European Space Agency • planet • Venus

(Newser) - A massive mysterious object scientists believe may be a comet slammed into Jupiter yesterday, AP reports. The Earth-size impact "scar" left by the object was caught on NASA's powerful infrared telescope in Hawaii. The agency was alerted to the new mark on the planet by an amateur astronomer in... More »

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NASA • planet • Jupiter • comet • space telescope • astronomer

(Newser) - Mercury's not such a dull planet after all. A new batch of papers in Science spells out evidence of a busy volcanic past and describes an unusual impact crater that would stretch from Boston to DC, reports Wired. The papers, which draw from the October flyby of NASA's Messenger craft,... More »

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NASA • planet • solar system • Mercury • volcanoes

 Scientists Spot End of World 

Remains of solar systems discovered around dead stars

Apr 21, 09 2:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers looking at dead stars trillions of miles away believe they have glimpsed Earth's eventual fate, the Times of London reports. The scientists found that many white dwarfs—stars that swelled, burned out, and collapsed—are surrounded by a dust they think is the remnants of planets like ours destroyed... More »

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planet • dwarf star • star • Earth • Spitzer orbiting telescope • solar system • outer space

 Kepler Begins
 Search for 
 Other 'Earths'

Spacecraft will spend next 3 years searching for planet in 'Goldilocks zone'

Mar 7, 09 2:18 AM CST
(Newser) - NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft Kepler was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral last night, Space.com reports. Kepler, the widest-field telescope ever sent into space, will spend the next three years scanning the sky for a planet in the "Goldilocks zone" where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist... More »

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space exploration • planet • Earth • exoplanet • Cape Canaveral • Kepler spacecraft • space telescope • outer space

(Newser) - Having helped install a hometown boy in the White House and ousted its colorful governor, Illinois is next out to save Pluto, the Guardian reports. The state senate blasted the International Astronomical Union’s 2006 decision to demote the erstwhile ninth planet to a “dwarf planet,” and voted... More »

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planet • solar system • International Astronomical Union • Illinois • Pluto • dwarf planet • Clyde Tombaugh

 Alien Life 
 'Inevitable': 
 Astronomer 

Countless Earth-like planets likely in universe

Feb 15, 09 12:21 PM CST
(Newser) - Scientists now believe there could be as many habitable planets in the cosmos as there are stars, and that makes life’s existence elsewhere “inevitable” over billions of years, says one. “It is sort of like running an experiment in your refrigerator—turn it off and something will... More »

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NASA • planet • Earth • extraterrestrial life • aliens • universe • Kepler spacecraft

If Another Earth Is Out There, Kepler Will Find it

NASA telescope designed to look for life-sustaining planets

Feb 11, 09 2:18 PM CST
(Newser) - If there's truly no place like home, then NASA's new Kepler mission will help scientists prove it. The space telescope, set to launch March 5, will scan the skies for planets with the approximate size and temperature range of Earth. Matches could be candidates for extraterrestrial life; if Kepler finds... More »

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NASA • planet • SETI • extrasolar planets • Kepler spacecraft • space telescope

(Newser) - A nearby solar system looks a lot like ours, complete with newly identified asteroid belts, gas giants, and a similarly sized sun, Space.com reports. The star at the center of the system is visible without magnification, and scientists say they can infer the presence of planets in a zone... More »

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astronomy • planet • space • star • Spitzer orbiting telescope • exoplanet • asteroid belt • Epsilon Eridani

Trick Telescopy Aids in Search for Alien Life

Precision mirrors could show stargazers
planets far, far away

Oct 13, 08 2:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Telescope technology currently in the works will use light measurements to search for planets beyond our solar system whose orbit around a star means they could support life, Wired reports. The system, called nulling interferometry, uses tiny mirrors that move at atomic levels to combine the power of several telescopes,... More »

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planet • space • telescope • extraterrestrial life

 Dwarf Planet Gets a Name 

Smaller than Pluto, Makemake is covered in frozen methane

Jul 22, 08 10:17 AM CDT
(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 »

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astronomy • planet • outer space • Makemake • dwarf planet

Thinking 'Bots May Probe Planets for Us

Gizmos could direct airships over Titan, Europa by 2017

Jul 6, 08 6:10 PM CDT
(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... More »

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

 Mercury Is Shrinking   

Messenger spacecraft reveals planets core still molten

Jul 3, 08 6:35 PM CDT
(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... More »

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

OPINION

 New Planets Yield 
 Hopes of Life 
 Beyond  

Rocky, Earth-like orbs appear to be out there; might we indeed have company?

Jun 24, 08 1:43 PM CDT
(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... More »

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

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