Ocean Planets on the Brink of Detection
Feb 02, 2007 |
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Imagine a world with no land at all, merely the impenetrable depths of a seething ocean. Models of planet formation predict the existence of such worlds, even though our own solar system has none. Indeed, ...
Terrestrial Planet Formation in Binary Star Systems
Jan 26, 2007 |
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The list of confirmed extrasolar planets keeps growing, and has now passed two hundred members — almost all of which are gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. But the hunt is on for Earth-like worlds! With the successful launch ...
Geologists Provide New Evidence for Reason Behind Rise of Life in Cambrian Period
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 07, 2006 |
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Geologists have uncovered evidence in the oil fields of Oman that explains how Earth could suddenly have changed 540 million years ago to favor the evolution of the single-celled life forms to the multicellular forms we know ...
Possible Signs of Liquid Water Flowing on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 06, 2006 |
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NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven years.
Cassini Image Shows Saturn Draped in a String of Pearls
Oct 11, 2006 |
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Saturn appears dressed to the nines, "wearing" a strand of "pearls" in a stunning infrared image from the Cassini spacecraft that showcases a meteorological phenomenon.
Researchers find new information about Earth's origins
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 05, 2006 |
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Two Dartmouth researchers have learned more about the origins and makeup of the solar nebula, the large gaseous cloud thought to have spawned the solar system. Mukul Sharma, assistant professor of Earth sciences, ...
SMART-1 impacts Moon (Update 2)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 03, 2006 |
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At 07:42:22 CEST (05:42:22 UT) today, the SMART-1 spacecraft impacted the Moon's surface as planned, ending ESA's first solar-powered mission to another celestial body and Europe's first mission to the Moon. ...
Planet Earth may have 'tilted' to keep its balance
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 25, 2006 |
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Imagine a shift in the Earth so profound that it could force our entire planet to spin on its side after a few million years, tilting it so far that Alaska would sit at the equator. Princeton scientists have ...
Researchers Study Formation Of Chemical Precursors to Life
Aug 07, 2006 |
3.9 / 5 (31) |
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In just two years of work, an international research team has discovered eight new complex, biologically-significant molecules in interstellar space using the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green ...
Mars' dust storms may produce peroxide snow
Jul 31, 2006 |
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The planet-wide dust storms that periodically cloak Mars in a mantle of red may be generating a snow of corrosive chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide, that would be toxic to life, according to two new studies ...
A simple survey yields a cosmic conundrum
Jul 31, 2006 |
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A survey of galaxies observed along the sightlines to quasars and gamma-ray bursts--both extremely luminous, distant objects--has revealed a puzzling inconsistency. Galaxies appear to be four times more common in the direction ...
Pre-life molecules present in comets
Jul 26, 2006 |
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Evidence of atomic nitrogen in interstellar gas clouds suggests that pre-life molecules may be present in comets, a discovery that gives a clue about the early conditions that gave rise to life, according to researchers from ...
Cassini finds evidence for hydrocarbon lakes on Titan
Jul 25, 2006 |
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The Cassini spacecraft, using its radar system, has discovered very strong evidence for hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. Dark patches, which resemble terrestrial lakes, seem to be sprinkled all over the high latitudes ...
Models show one nearby star system could host Earth-like planet
Jul 24, 2006 |
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The steady discovery of giant planets orbiting stars other than our sun has heightened speculation that there could be Earth-type worlds in nearby planetary systems capable of sustaining life. Now researchers running computer ...
Engineers envision exploring Mars with mini probes
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 18, 2006 |
4.9 / 5 (22) |
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MIT engineers and scientist colleagues have a new vision for the future of Mars exploration: a swarm of probes, each the size of a baseball, spreading out across the planet in every direction.
