ScienceDaily: Astronomy News |
- Astronomers gear up to discover Earth-like planets
- 'Dust trap' around young star solves long-standing planet formation mystery
- Cassini sees precursors to aerosol haze on Saturn's largest moon, Titan
- Stars don't obliterate their planets (very often)
- NASA's Orion spacecraft proves sound under pressure
| Astronomers gear up to discover Earth-like planets Posted: 06 Jun 2013 04:08 PM PDT Dust clouds around stars are thought to hide many undiscovered planets with conditions suitable for life, but observations have been hampered by the fact that only the brightest such clouds can be detected with current technology. Astronomers are developing a technique to detect faint dust clouds, many of which might hide Earth-like planets. |
| 'Dust trap' around young star solves long-standing planet formation mystery Posted: 06 Jun 2013 11:05 AM PDT Astronomers have imaged a region around a young star where dust particles can grow by clumping together. This is the first time that such a dust trap has been clearly observed and modeled. It solves a long-standing mystery about how dust particles in discs grow to larger sizes so that they can eventually form comets, planets and other rocky bodies. |
| Cassini sees precursors to aerosol haze on Saturn's largest moon, Titan Posted: 06 Jun 2013 10:58 AM PDT Scientists working with data from NASA's Cassini mission have confirmed the presence of a population of complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, that later evolve into the components that give the moon a distinctive orange-brown haze. The presence of these complex, ringed hydrocarbons, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), explains the origin of the aerosol particles found in the lowest haze layer that blankets Titan's surface. Scientists think these PAH compounds aggregate into larger particles as they drift downward. |
| Stars don't obliterate their planets (very often) Posted: 06 Jun 2013 10:47 AM PDT Stars have an alluring pull on planets, especially those in a class called hot Jupiters, which are gas giants that form farther from their stars before migrating inward and heating up. Now, a new study using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope shows that hot Jupiters, despite their close-in orbits, are not regularly consumed by their stars. Instead, the planets remain in fairly stable orbits for billions of years, until the day comes when they may ultimately get eaten. |
| NASA's Orion spacecraft proves sound under pressure Posted: 06 Jun 2013 10:25 AM PDT After a month of being poked, prodded and pressurized in ways that mimicked the stresses of spaceflight, NASA's Orion crew module successfully passed its static loads tests on Wednesday. |
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