Icy exoplanet brings astronomers closer to home

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Artistacutes Impression of the Newly Found Exoplanet
Artist's Impression of the Newly Found Exoplanet

Major Scientific Discovery on Extrasolar Planets
Using a relatively new planet-hunting technique that can spot worlds one-tenth the mass of our own, researchers have discovered a potentially rocky, icy body that may be the smallest planet yet found orbiting a star outside our solar system. The discovery suggests the technique, gravitational microlensing, may be an exceptional technology for finding distant planets with traits that could support life.


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All News summaries for January 25, 2006

A new era in search for 'sister Earths'?

5 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Research presented at a recent astronomical conference is being hailed as ushering in a new era in the search for Earth-like planets by showing that they are more numerous than previously thought and that ...

'Impressionist' Spacecraft to View Solar System's Invisible Frontier

6 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- At the edge of our solar system in December 2004, the Voyager 1 spacecraft encountered something never before experienced during its then 26-year cruise through the solar system — an invisible ...

NASA Successfully Tests Parachute for Ares Rocket

6 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and industry engineers have successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue parachute for the Ares I rocket. The drogue parachute is designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent first-stage ...

Partial Solar Eclipse visible from the UK on the morning of 1st August

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
On 1st August 2008 there will be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible from Canada, northern Greenland, Svalbard, the Barents Sea, Russia, Mongolia and China. From the whole of the British Isles observers will see a partial ...

Rising energy, food prices major threats to wetlands as farmers eye new areas for crops

Jul 25, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Critical food shortages and growing demand for bio-fuels and hydro-electricity due to high fossil fuel prices rank among the greatest threats today to the preservation of precious wetlands worldwide as farmers and developers ...
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