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Death of a Moon Created Saturn's Rings
Death of a Moon Created Saturn's Rings
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Dec 18, 2010 1:45 PM CST

Death of a Moon Created Saturn's Rings

Space murder led to iconic shape: astronomer

(Newser) - How did Saturn get its distinctive rings? Through the destruction of one of its moons, new research suggests. It was “a case of cosmic murder,” reports the Daily Mail : A Colorado astronomer argues that a layer of hydrogen gas drove many moons toward the planet. In the process,...

Alien Planet Discovered in Milky Way

HIP 13044B and its star originated in different galaxy

(Newser) - As planets go, HIP 13044B is one hell of a survivor. Astronomers say the planet—the first one originating from another galaxy ever found in the Milky Way—is part of a solar system that once belonged to a dwarf galaxy that was cannibalized by our own. The planet has...

New, Life-Sustaining Planet May Not Exist

Gliese 581g found only in minute, possibly incorrect measurements

(Newser) - US-based researchers may have gotten a tad carried away when they announced the discovery of a new, potentially life-sustaining planet a couple weeks back. Yesterday, a team of Switzerland-based astronomers said their own observations of star Gliese 581g didn’t back up the American team at all. “We do...

Tsunamis Spotted in Saturn's Rings

Rings may be remnants of smashed icy moon

(Newser) - Mile-high tsunamis of icy particles are endlessly rippling around Saturn's rings, scientists told the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Science meeting this week. Astronomers, using data from NASA's Cassini probe, believe the waves, which move up to 800 feet per day, are caused when gravity from the colossal moon...

Scientists Find Planet With Possibility of Sustaining Life

So-called Goldilocks planet is 20 light years away

(Newser) - Astronomers have announced the discovery of a planet with conditions that may be suitable for habitation. NASA reports that a team studying Gliese 581g for over a decade thinks it's in a zone where water could exist on the surface. Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy at UC Santa Cruz, says...

'Cannibal Star' Eats Neighbor
 'Cannibal Star' Eats Neighbor 
Sep 17, 2010 2:21 AM CDT

'Cannibal Star' Eats Neighbor

Hungry BP Piscium caught in the act

(Newser) - A "cannibal" star in the Pisces constellation appears to have gobbled up its neighbor and belched out a disc of dusty matter. X-Ray images revealed the remains of either a young star or a large planet inside BP Piscium, which has recently entered the expanding "red giant" phase...

Chile Quake Shifted Earth's Axis, Shortened Day

Moving masses of rock by several meters affects rotation

(Newser) - The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that hit Chile may have actually shifted the Earth's axis, shortening the length of a day, a NASA scientist says. Moving hundreds of kilometers of rock changes the earth's distribution of mass, and, in turn, changes the planet's rate of rotation. In this case, the...

'Ocean of Diamond' May Shimmer on Neptune, Uranus

Molten diamond experiment suggests that liquid space bling abounds

(Newser) - Vast oceans of liquid diamond with icebergs of solid diamond floating on the surface may exist on Uranus and Neptune. Scientists melting diamonds—which requires incredibly high pressure as well as temperatures—were surprised to discover that it behaves much like water in its molten state and believe that could...

Astronomers Find Watery Planet

Probably can't support life, but it's the closest find yet

(Newser) - Astronomers have found a planet made mostly of water, coming ever closer to finding something out there that could theoretically support life. This one, dubbed GJ 1214b, probably isn't it—it's way too hot and surrounded by superheated gases. But it's "the most watertight evidence so far for a...

Vast Ocean Once Covered Half of Mars

Valley network points to rainy, humid ancient planet

(Newser) - A single huge ocean fed by rivers once covered much of the northern half of Mars, according to a new analysis of the planet's network of valleys. The researchers say their computer analysis—which replaces maps hand-drawn from satellite images in the '90s—shows that Mars was once much rainier...

NASA Will Try to Free Rover Stuck on Mars

Spirit has been in a sand trap since April

(Newser) - Help is on the way, rover. NASA will attempt to free the Mars rover Spirit from its sand-trap prison on Monday. The plucky machine got stuck in April—“the equivalent of falling through the ice over a frozen pond," says a NASA official. Spirit has been exploring Mars...

32 New Exoplanets Discovered
 32 New Exoplanets Discovered 
Oct 20, 2009 3:23 AM CDT

32 New Exoplanets Discovered

New finds signal that cosmos harbors wealth of planets

(Newser) - European astronomers have discovered 32 new planets in other solar systems, bringing the total of known exoplanets to over 400. The planets—which range in size from five times the size of Earth to five times the size of Jupiter—were found circling a variety of stars. The new discoveries...

Mammoth Ring Found Around Saturn

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a colossal ring around Saturn, the biggest planetary ring yet found. It's enormous even by solar system standards: Among the analogies being used to make it clear to our little earthly minds is that it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it. "This thing is...

New Planet Expected to Crash and Burn

It defies laws of physics

(Newser) - Scientists in the UK have discovered a planet that defies the laws of physics, the Independent reports. WASP-18b, which is orbiting a star 1,000 light years from Earth, is so big and close to the sun that it should be pulled toward it. "The spin of the star...

Aussies to Zap Text Messages at Mystery Planet

(Newser) - An Australian science magazine is soliciting text messages to send to a mysterious planet more than 20 light-years away, Space.com reports. Called "Hello from Earth," the project aims to transmit 160-character missives to Gliese 581d, a so-called "Super Earth" discovered 2 years ago. "Will...

Saturn's Rings Vanish Today
 Saturn's Rings 
 Vanish Today 
Aug 11, 2009 2:14 AM CDT

Saturn's Rings Vanish Today

They'll be out of sight for three months

(Newser) - Saturn's rings will disappear from sight for three months starting today, Space.com reports. The rings, 170,000 miles long but only 30 feet thick, are visible because they reflect sunlight. But they vanish once every 15 years as equinoxes occur in its 30-year orbit and the rings are directly...

Mysterious Bright Spot Appears on Venus

Scientists suspect volcanic eruption

(Newser) - Astronomers are puzzling over a strange white spot that recently appeared in the clouds of Venus, the BBC reports. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft confirmed the spot, originally noticed by an amateur stargazer on July 19. Data suggests it appeared 4 days before that and has been...

Jupiter Slammed by Mystery Object

(Newser) - A massive mysterious object scientists believe may be a comet slammed into Jupiter yesterday, AP reports. The Earth-size impact "scar" left by the object was caught on NASA's powerful infrared telescope in Hawaii. The agency was alerted to the new mark on the planet by an amateur astronomer in...

Surprise: Mercury Has a Personality

(Newser) - Mercury's not such a dull planet after all. A new batch of papers in Science spells out evidence of a busy volcanic past and describes an unusual impact crater that would stretch from Boston to DC, reports Wired. The papers, which draw from the October flyby of NASA's Messenger craft,...

Scientists Spot End of World
 Scientists Spot End of World 
Apr 21, 2009 2:50 AM CDT

Scientists Spot End of World

Remains of solar systems discovered around dead stars

(Newser) - Astronomers looking at dead stars trillions of miles away believe they have glimpsed Earth's eventual fate, the Times of London reports. The scientists found that many white dwarfs—stars that swelled, burned out, and collapsed—are surrounded by a dust they think is the remnants of planets like ours destroyed...

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