#Star twinkles could help pin down planet sizes Twinkle twinkle little star and show us just how little you are.
Starlight captured by the Kepler space telescope has revealed that the amount a star flickers is tied to its size offering a better way to measure a wide variety of stars and their associated planets.
Kepler was designed to spot transits the periodic dips in a star's brightness indicating that a planet has passed in front of it.
Figuring out the properties of stars is vital to planet surveys. When a planet transits a star the amount of light it blocks is used to calculate its size.
That can help to pinpoint whether it is rocky like Earth or gassy like Jupiter as long as the star's size is known.
and therefore the planets that they host so many worlds currently deemed Earthlike may turn out to be too big.
Still the flicker method could be put to use on NASA's next planet hunter the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) due to launch in 2017.
Earlier studies had suggested that a nearby star Gliese 667c had three planets only one of which might support life.
But the very presence of multiple planets made their precise number hard to tease out.
They found evidence for up to seven worlds including three rocky planets in the star's habitable zone where temperatures should suit life.
which can detect how a star is tugged back and forth by the gravity of an orbiting planet.
The five strongest signals were from planets between 1. 94 and 5. 94 times the mass of Earth making them all likely to be rocky.
Larger rockets would take you pretty quickly from one planet to the other one to two months at most says Anglada-Escudé.
when they claimed to have found the first potentially habitable rocky planet around the star Gliese 581 a discovery others were unable to confirm.
#Dust devils around stars may help planets grow A dusty tornado around a young star could help solve a lingering conundrum:
how do massive planets grow from tiny grains of debris? Planets abound across the galaxy
and astronomers have seen young stars ringed by dusty discs from which planets are assumed to form.
But the steps in between have been unclear. The standard picture is that inside a dust disc grains smaller than a few micrometres will clump together until they grow into rocky bodies up to 10 times the mass of Earth.
At about the distance of the Kuiper belt the region past Neptune where comets are born the would-be planet cores can't get much bigger than a millimetre.
Now observations made with the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) in Chile show that the star Oph IRS 48 probably has just such a vortex in the outer regions of its planet-forming disc.
We really hope that in the next coming years we're going to find similar dust traps around other stars where they are close enough to the star that they can form a planet she says.
even if the planet's early transformation into a cold dry hostile world meant life never got started there.
and you had been on the planet you would have been able to drink it says rover project scientist John Grotzinger.
The planet also only briefly had a magnetic field to protect its surface from cosmic radiation
and you had been on the planet you would have been able to drink it. The rover's Sample Analysis at Mars instrument (SAM) also found carbon dioxide and hints of other carbon-based molecules in the drilled sample.
The next drill scoop will have to wait until the planet comes back into Range in the meantime the science team has plenty of data to fuel new discoveries and daydreams.
#Curiosity's first drilling hints at Martian mining NASA's Curiosity rover bored into a Martian rock on 9 february and pulled out its first sample of the planet's insides to ingest
with the ultimate goal of ringing the planet with satellites that will allow anyone, anywhere,
for viewing faint objects that are close to brighter objects for example, a faint planet next to a bright star.
which can be scaled to work even at the most distant planets. And the ground receiver is based on arrays of small inexpensive telescopes that are coupled fiber to highly efficient superconducting nanowires a photon counting technology that was brought to its high state of maturity by joint MIT and Lincoln Lab teams.
Hydrogen is virtually everywhere on the planet, but the element is bonded typically with other elements
Later on sky cities wafting through the Venusian atmosphere (oxygen is a lifting gas on that planet so technically a simple Nitrogen/Oxygen atmosphere
and the small satellite carrying the planet-viewing telescope so that it could launch more missions more frequently.
but it does highlights that we still don't know everything about the surface of our own planet.
#Planet Without A Star Found â##We have seen never before an object free-floating in space that that looks like this.
It has all the characteristics of young planets found around other stars but it is drifting out there all aloneâ#stated team leader Michael Liu who is with the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. â
and now we know they do. â#The planet is about 80 light-years from Earth
There is a planet in orbit around Beta pictoris itself but PSO J318. 5-22 has a lower mass
Astronomers uncovered the planet which is six times the mass of Jupiter while looking for brown dwarfs
#One In Five Sun-Like Stars Have Earthlike Planets Back in February a team at Harvard announced they had found a possible Earthlike planet just 13 lightyears away.
The#study detailed the prevalence of these planets orbiting red dwarf stars and found#that about 15 percent have Earth-size planets within habitable zones.
However if you're stargazing from your backyard with only your eyes to guide you you wouldn't be able to see these cooler smaller stars.#
and one-thousandth as bright as the sun. But in this week's PNAS Online Early Edition a team of researchers from#University of California at#Berkeley released a study that looks at how common Earth-size planets
or about one in five stars have these Earth-size planets within the habitable zone. The habitable zone includes orbits where planets receive the same amount of stellar energy from a star as the Earth receives from the sun. Earth-size planets include those that are between one and two times the size of Earth.
Perhaps the most exciting prospect of the study is the finding that#the closest potential Earthlike planet is only 12 lightyears away.
Using data from Kepler lead author Erik Petigura and his team analyzed 42000 G -and K-type stars visible to the naked eye from Earth.
Indeed earlier this year Petigura published another paper that investigated the prevalence of planets as small as Earth but only those within the orbit of Mercury much closer to the star than Earth's orbit.
which house planets that have lukewarm temperatures similar to Earth. Out of those 42000 stars the team found 603 planets 10 of which fit the bill for orbit
and size#similar to Earth's. But if left it at that there would be a significant number#of planets unaccounted for.
So using custom-built software called TERRA Petigura corrected for the challenges associated with finding all of the planets orbiting stars in the Kepler field
and reached a total of 8000 Earthlike planets. I have been working a lot of late nights coming home after dark.
And around this of year the constellation Cygnus is high overhead and I've been looking up at these stars quite a bit Petigura says.
and wondering how many of those stars have planets that are in some way like the Earth. And learning more about planets with similar positioning
and properties to Earth could of course aid in scientists'search for life and even future habitable sites.
Viruses are the most abundant entities on the planet and among the most mysterious. Mya Breitbart a microbial ecologist at the University of South Florida has figured out how to quickly decipher what they are and
Her contributions have been pivotal in unmasking the enormous diversity of viruses on the planet says Curtis Suttle a marine virologist at the University of British columbia.
With the data he has collected thus far Schmale has built a model of atmospheric circulation that shows large sections of air sweeping across the face of the planet like waves across an ocean transporting dust and microbes thousands of miles.
practically anything on the planet certainly sperm cells even skin cells (as this reseach so obviously shows.
what lies beneath our planet s waters has remained somewhat of a mystery. So far only 10 percent of the seafloor has been mapped at high resolution leaving researchers pretty eager to know what s going on in that other 90 percent.
We know more about these other planets than we know about the sea floor. We need to try to make high resolution maps everywhere.#
it now stands as the largest collection of open-source hardware on the planet. Nothing on the site is patented
In addition the researchers also developed a way for the robots to learn how to roll on their own with the help of evolutionary algorithms which is valuable for robots operating by themselves on another planet where the rules for movement might differ from those On earth.
Late 2014 A first-person shooter module is set to be introduced. 2015 A planet-side social module will be added allowing players to explore cities. 2015 The single-player military campaign Squadron 42
For example Planet labs an earth imaging startup lost 26 small satellites that were on board. Orbital stated that the payload is insured
Good for business, good for the environment What if your business practices and operation can help save our planet?
Theye one of the weirdest organisms on the planet, and we keep coming up with unexpected uses for them.
Actually, some people think mushrooms aren from this planet at all. Really. Now comes word that researchers at Researchers at the University of California,
"Based on the good results we had on planet Earth, the next step is to see how it behaves in a space environment,
there's only one of them on the planet and when you upgrade it it's a new piece of equipment with new idiosyncrasies,
Khazendar said. lthough it fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it bad news for our planet.
NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future.
and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.
Already this year, wee seen a $50m investment into drone maker 3d Robotics and a $95m investment into microsatellite company Planet Labs, both of which count agriculture as key early market opportunities.
In Planet Four, players are assigned the task of identifying and measuring features on the surface of the southern polar region of Mars
#Nasa Finds Liquid Water On Mars In a Mars-related press conference this morning NASA has announced that nder certain circumstancesliquid water has been found on Mars. ars is not the dry arid planet that we thought of in the past,
and unearthed clay minerals after drilling Martian rock again suggesting an aquatic environment in the planet past.
The rover has measured also radiation levels with a view to assessing the feasibility of humans spending time on the planet.
NASA scientists said today enabling the liquid water to exist for longer before either freezing as the temperature on the planet drops,
The presence of liquid water on Mars could also help any future human mission to the planet
and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,
of rain across the planet if all of the wetness were wrung out of the air. That idea cannot be ruled entirely out
With this information the telescope is able to direct itself towards various objects in space including planets, galaxies, asteroids and stars automatically.
and Christopher Bader & Dominik Kolb from Deskriptiv) develop concepts of wearables capable of augmenting human capabilities and making life possible on inhospitable planets.
However, long before extra-planetary manufacturing, on-site manufacturing will prove useful to produce useful tools in remote areas of our own planet.
#Save the Planet While You Swim in the 3d printed Spongesuit Bikini As our oceans become more and more polluted by our habits of wasting
They used a robotic system developed at SSRL to study the crystals at SLAC's LCLS, an X-ray laser that is one of the brightest sources of X-rays on the planet.
using probably the simplest nervous system on the planet"."He told the BBC:""I would urge extreme caution about extrapolating this work to other species-especially mice or humans."
estimated Reuters. U k. Health Secretary Jeremy hunt said Sunday he was pleased xceptionally that we will be the first country on the planet to have a nationwide Men B vaccination program. e had a stand-off really for the best part of
or more than three for every person on the planet, will be connected to the internet by the end of 2020.
Scientists Enlist E coli To Make Planet-Saving Plastic Out Of Practically Nothing The Intertubes have buzzing with news of a new way to make plastic without using petroleum or petrochemicals.
Mr Shawyer is excited more about Emdrive potential to save this planet rather than reach new ones.
or escapes into intergalactic space and travels until it hits something such as another star, planet, or very occasionally a telescope mirror.'
reaching 12 miles (20 km) above the planet's surface. The space tower would be more than 20 times the height of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
The technology, funded by the National Science Foundation, allows for natural clays found readily all over the planet to be turned into reliable masonry products and offers a sustainable alternative to traditional concrete masonry,
Tao likens the process to techniques used to discover exoplanets--new planets beyond our solar system.
what is the biggest indication to date that the planet either has supported already life, or can support life in the future.
it appears to dry up in the planet fall season only to start up again the following Mars year.
desert planet, said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA Mars Exploration Program at the agency headquarters in Washington. t seems that the more we study Mars,
as long as humans have been tooling around on planet earth, cancer has been nipping at our heelsnd brains, stomachs, kidneys, and so on.
in turn bringing down planet-warming emissions. But for the first time in nearly half a century, that synchrony between economic growth and energy-related emissions seems to have been broken
and sensing for robots used to explore the moon and planets. It also could be incorporated readily into most smartphones.
and likely exponentially more existing on the planet today. Determining an accurate number would require billions more dollars
RSL occur in many different locations on Mars, from equatorial regions up to the planet's middle latitudes.
No planet is steeped more in myth and misconception than Mars. This quiz will reveal how much you really know about some of the goofiest claims about the red planet."
The features point to the possibility that simple life-forms could exist on the planet's surface now.
Something unknown happened in the planet's history causing it to change. However today's revelation confirms that Mars has harbored water in the past,
what flowing water means in relation to the planet's history and what it could also mean for the potential for life.
which shows how scientists were able to study the RSLS on the planet's surface.
Also, water on Mars could aid in the human exploration of the planet. Water on Mars would be a crucial resource for astronauts visiting the planet or for long-term colonists.
Of course scientists will need to study the nature of the water to know the full implications.
If the planet's CO2 levels rise much higher than they are today, it may even be necessary to remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere to make the planet livable.
Long and his colleagues describe how the new materials--diamine-appended MOFS--work in this week's issue of the journal Nature("Cooperative insertion of CO2 in diamine-appended metal-organic frameworks".
#Astronomers discover'young Jupiter'exoplanet The first planet detected by the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) from an international team of astronomers,
Discovery image of the planet 51 Eridani b with the Gemini Planet Imager taken in the near-infrared light on December 18 2014.
J. Rameau, Udem and C. Marois, NRC Herzberg) The finding could serve as a decoder ring for astronomers to understand how planets formed around our sun
They are both members of the international Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey (GPIES) team which is dedicated to imaging and characterising exoplanets, planets discovered outside of earths solar system.
The new planet is called 51 Eridani b. The GPI is a new astronomy instrument operated by an international collaboration headed by Bruce Macintosh, a Professor of Physics in the Kavli Institute at Stanford.
The exoplanet is the'faintest'one on record, and also shows the strongest methane signature ever detected on an alien planet,
which should yield additional clues as to how the planet formed. The key to the solar system?
What makes 51 Eridani particularly interesting is that it also harbours dust and ice in the planetary system,"explains Professor Metchev.
Finding dust around a star is like seeing a large signpost that tells us there might be a planet,
and destroy each other, usually pushed around by a large planet like 51 Eridani b. Metchev adds,"
"The two belts the asteroid and the cometary belt around 51 Eridani fall on either side of the newly discovered planet 51 Eridani b."The overall structure bears striking resemblance to our own Solar system,
with Jupiter as the most massive planet orbiting between a belt of asteroids and a belt of comets,"explains Metchev."
young planets orbiting bright stars. NASA's Kepler mission indirectly discovers planets by the loss of starlight
when a planet blocks a star.""To detect planets, Kepler sees their shadow; GPI sees their glow,
"says Macintosh.""What GPI does is referred to as direct imaging.""The astronomers use adaptive optics to sharpen the image of a star,
and then block out the starlight. Any remaining incoming light is analyzed then, the brightest spots indicating a possible planet.
After GPI was installed on the 8-meter Gemini South Telescope in Chile, the team set out to look for planets orbiting young stars.
To date, the astronomers have looked at nearly 100 stars.""51 Eridani is only 20 million years old,
and this is exactly what made the direct detection of the planet possible, explains Macintosh.""When planets coalesce, material falling into the planet releases energy and heats it up.
Over the next hundred millions years they radiate that energy away, mostly as infrared light,"says Macintosh.
Even though the light from the planet is very faint nearly a million times fainter than its star subsequent observations revealed that it is roughly twice the mass of Jupiter.
Other directly-imaged planets are five times the mass of Jupiter or more. In addition to being the faintest planet ever imaged
it's also the coldest 400 Celsius (C), whereas others are around 700 C and features the strongest atmospheric methane signal on record.
point to a planet that is very much what models suggest Jupiter was like in its infancy."
"This is the first one that really looks like a planet.""Of course, it's not exactly like Jupiter.
The planet is so young and still has a temperature of 400 C, which is hot enough to melt lead."
it signifies that this planet is well on its way to becoming a cousin of our own familiar Jupiter,
so that the faint light coming from a planet orbiting that star can be observed with better contrast
--and then analyze the planet's light to learn about its composition and other characteristics,
In 1972, NASA Mariner 9 spacecraft discovered evidence of erosion features on Mars that implicated the presence of water at some point in the planet past.
or about 1/2, 500th of an inch, of rain across the planet if all of the wetness were wrung out of the air.
And the more communication satellite constellations circulating our planet, the closer we get to a more connected world d
#MIT Invention Turns Salt water Into Drinking water Using Solar power From plants to people, every living thing on this planet needs water.
and protect our planet for future generations"said EPA Administrator Gina Mccarthy.""Today's announcement presents a major environmental, social and public health opportunity for the U s,
and we can have distributed food and fuel across the planet, he told Hall at the ABC
the space agency says images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have revealed compelling evidence of liquid brines flowing across the planet's surface.
the summer months on Mars see a shallow subsurface flow of briny water coming down from the planet's canyons and crater walls.
then these sites would be prime candidates for landing spots on the first manned mission to the planet."
"Based on the good results we had on planet Earth, the next step is to see how it behaves in a space environment,
inspection of shiny parts and sensing for robots used to explore the moon and planets.
They used a robotic system developed at SSRL to study the crystals at SLAC's LCLS, an X-ray laser that is one of the brightest sources of X-rays on the planet.
such as another star, a planet, or, very occasionally, a telescope mirror.""Astronomers have known that the universe is slowly fading out since the late 1990s.
A Red-hot Young Jupiter Around Distant Star (Infographic) Astronomers have photographed directly a planet not unlike Jupiter orbiting 51 Eridani, a sunlike star 96 light-years from Earth.
The planet, 51 Eridani b, still glows with the heat of its formation. Scientists used the Gemini Planet Imager, an instrument on the Gemini South telescope in Chile,
to make the discovery. The Gemini Planet Imager is designed an instrument specifically for directly imaging exoplanets around distant stars s
#Saltwater lamp could replace dangerous kerosene lights The majority of inhabitants on the Philippines7000 islands do not have access to electricity.
The team took advantage of an offering for Early Science using the Gemini Planet Imager to study infrared light scattered off dust grains in the disk around the binary system V4046 Sgr.
The coronagraph is represented by the black filled circles. he Gemini Planet Imager allows us to study nearby planet forming disks in sufficient detail that we can obtain direct-image evidence for young planets in orbits similar to those of the giant planets
(or planets) at some 4-12 times the Earth-Sun distance (approximately between Jupiter and Uranus,
The destruction of the Amazon is bad news for the whole planet. Let start with the good news part of the story,
They found the aurora not from a planet, but from a low-mass star at the boundary between stars and brown dwarfs.
The discovery reveals a major difference between the magnetic activity of more-massive stars and that of brown dwarfs and planets,
are objects more massive than planets, yet too small to trigger the thermonuclear reactions at their cores that power stars.
The aurora the scientists observed from LSR J1835+3259 appears powered by a little-understood dynamo process similar to that seen on larger planets in our Solar system.
which causes the Earth auroral displays the planet magnetic field interacting with the solar wind. hat we see on this object appears to be the same phenomenon wee seen on Jupiter, for example,
Still, Mckenna said he is encouraged by the prospect of discoveries that could ultimately benefit the planet. t shows that it physically possible to take known enzymes such as carbonic anhydrase
Benner, who works with NASA trying to find life on other planets, suggests that synthetic biology might also improve the ability to detect new earthly life forms. aybe they exist on earth,
increasing chance of alien life Mars has long been known as our barren sister planet but today,
NASA scientists have announced they have found flowing water on the red desert planet. NASA and the Nature Geoscience journal released their findings on a Live Stream announcement stating that the long,
and cater walls during the summer months on Mars. Eventually these dark streaks dry up as the planet's surface cools in autumn.
To this day, Earth is still the only planet in the known universe with liquid H2o on its surface
which is hardly a representative sample for the three billion or so women on the planet. The study also leaves out mention of other factors.
By contrast all of the planet's gas and oil deposits are thought to total about 200-300 gigatons of carbon.
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