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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: solar system

solar system stories: 18 news summaries

(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

 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

(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

(Newser) - Astronomers in Chile looking for an Earth-like planet have discovered the closest one in size yet, the BBC reports. Don’t get your hopes up: Though Gliese 581 e, which lies outside our solar system, is just twice as large as Earth, it travels far too close to its sun... More »

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telescope • Earth • Chile • solar system • exoplanet • outer space • Gliese 581 e

 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

(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

 Moon Rocks Still Giving Up Gritty Secrets

Lunar rocks have helped unlock secrets of solar system, demise of dinosaurs

Jul 8, 08 6:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Almost 40 years after Apollo astronauts brought samples of the moon back to Earth, the extraterrestrial rocks are still yielding new information, the New York Times reports. In addition to attention from the Johnson Space Center, where they reside, samples are mailed out—on loan only, and usually less than... More »

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geology • solar system • moon • Apollo missions • lunar exploration • crater • moon rock

 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

 Earth Hits Cosmic Pitch 

Cacophonous radiation beamed from planet could easily be intercepted by aliens

Jul 1, 08 3:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - Earth’s atmosphere produces a natural sound and beams it off into the universe, Space.com reports. The sound—a painful series of chirps and whistles—is made by the collision of charged particles from the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field. More »

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radio • space • Earth • sound • aliens • solar system • radiation • solar wind

 There's a Huge Moon 
 on the Rise 

Solstice makes heavenly body look bigger tonight, tomorrow—but it's an illusion

Jun 17, 08 4:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - Northern Hemisphere residents, check out the night sky tomorrow for an extra-large-looking moon. The moon illusion—a trick our brain plays on us—is enhanced by the summer solstice, and when Earth's satellite rises close to the horizon, conditions are perfect, LiveScience notes. More »

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astronomy • space • Earth • solar system • moon • illusion • Northern Hemisphere

 Saturn Moon Holds 
 Recipe for Life  

Life's 'building blocks' found in massive geysers

Mar 27, 08 9:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - Basic components of life like heat, organic chemicals, and water have been found on a Saturn moon, Reuters reports. A spacecraft flying over Enceladus this month spotted 500-mile-high geysers spouting off its surface, containing water vapor and the organic molecules found in living things. Though no one’s saying there’... More »

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space • extraterrestrial life • Saturn • solar system • moon • organic compounds • Enceladus • geyser

New Solar System Sparks Hope for
Other Life

Maybe we're not alone, say astronomers

Feb 15, 08 4:10 AM CST
(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... More »

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astronomy • planet • space • extraterrestrial life • solar system

Mercury 'Spider Crater' Spotted

Probe reveals never-before-seen side of Mercury

Jan 31, 08 10:19 AM CST
(Newser) - NASA's first probe to Mercury in more than 30 years has made some spectacular finds, including a mysterious new crater dubbed "the spider," Space.com reports. The network of cracks radiating from the impact crater photographed by the probe is like nothing else ever seen in the solar... More »

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NASA • solar system • Mercury • Messenger • crater • volcanic activity

Solar System Is Dented: Voyager

Intrepid spacecraft finds strange bulges in the heliosphere

Dec 11, 07 9:18 AM CST
(Newser) - Far out in space, a violent boundary zone marks the point where our solar system ends and outer space begins. NASA's Voyager 2 has now confirmed what its sister ship indicated: that this region is squashed and uneven, Space.com reports. This shock wave "sloshes back and forth like... More »

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NASA • space • solar system • cosmic rays • solar wind • cosmology • Voyager 1 • Voyager 2

Planet Found Orbiting Star

Gas giant is 45 times the size of Earth

Nov 6, 07 10:28 PM CST
(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... More »

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astronomy • planet • space • solar system • Cancri 55

NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket

First 'interplanetary' spaceship to visit two asteroids

Sep 27, 07 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - This morning NASA launched a spacecraft that's headed to the asteroid belt, where it will get a close-up look at the belt's largest bodies, asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.  It's NASA’s first multi-target mission, and Dawn, which one engineer called “the first real interplanetary spaceship,... More »

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NASA • solar system • asteroid • asteroid belt • Dawn • Vesta • Ceres

When the Sun Dies, Earth Might Not

Just-discovered planet survived; so there's hope for the old globe

Sep 13, 07 3:32 AM CDT
(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... More »

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planet • Earth • sun • solar system • life

Crop of New Planets Means Better Chance of Life

Rapid discovery of planets outside our solar system ups odds one has liquid water

May 29, 07 7:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers who've spotted 28 new planets in the past year are gaining confidence that other solar systems may be able to support life like ours. One researcher estimated that there are probably "tens of billions" of planets with habitable conditions, most important of which is hospitality to water. More »

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astronomy • planet • space • solar system • universe • exoplanet

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