Thursday, September 5, 2013

ScienceDaily: Stars News

ScienceDaily: Stars News


Blue light observations indicate water-rich atmosphere of super-Earth

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 06:32 AM PDT

Astronomers and planetary scientists have observed planetary transits of super-Earth GJ 1214 b (Gilese 1214 b). The team investigated whether this planet has an atmosphere rich in water or hydrogen. The observations show that the sky of this planet does not show a strong Rayleigh scattering feature, which a cloudless hydrogen-dominated atmosphere would predict. When combined with the findings of previous observations in other colors, this new observational result implies that GJ 1214 b is likely to have a water-rich atmosphere.

Bizarre alignment of planetary nebulae

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 06:32 AM PDT

The final stages of life for a star like our Sun result in the star blowing its outer layers out into the surrounding space, forming objects known as planetary nebulae in a wide range of beautiful and striking shapes. One type of such nebulae, known as bipolar planetary nebulae, create ghostly hourglass or butterfly shapes around their parent stars. A new study by astronomers now shows surprising similarities between some of these nebulae: many of them line up in the sky in the same way.

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