Friday, February 28, 2014

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News


Closest, brightest supernova in decades is also a little weird

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:24 AM PST

The closest and brightest supernova in decades, SN 2014J, brightens faster than expected for Type Ia supernovae, the exploding stars used to measure cosmic distances, according to astronomers. Another recent supernova also brightened faster than expected, suggesting that there is unsuspected new physics going on inside these exploding stars. The finding may also help physicists improve their use of these supernovae to measure cosmic distance.

NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:33 PM PST

NASA's Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new planets. These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system. Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. This discovery marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.

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