planets – Page 2 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Astronomers Find Bounty of Failed Stars

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Sciencealeks scholz, astronomical oddballs, brown dwarfs, Chile, dublin institute of advanced studies, eth zurich, failed stars, garching, gas clouds, Germany, giant planets, hawaii, ireland, jupiter, koraljka muzic, mariangela bonavita, motohide tamura, ngc 1333, optical and infrared wavelengths, planets, ray jayawardhana, rho ophiuchi star, sonyc, stars, subaru telescope, substellar objects in nearby young clusters, switzerland, university of toronto, very large telescope, vincent geers, vlt

*One youngster only six times heftier than Jupiter*

TORONTO, ON – A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has discovered over two dozen new free-floating brown dwarfs, including a lightweight youngster only about six times heftier than Jupiter, that reside in two young star clusters. What’s more, one cluster contains a surprising surplus of them, harbouring half as many of these astronomical oddballs as normal stars.

“Our findings suggest once again that objects not much bigger than Jupiter could form the same way as stars do. In other words, nature appears to have more than one trick up its sleeve for producing planetary mass objects,” says Professor Ray Jayawardhana, Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics at the University of Toronto and leader of the international team that made the discovery. (more…)

Sun and Planets Constructed Differently, Analysis from Nasa Mission Suggests

By Guest PostJuly 3, 2011Sciencebernard marty, centre national de la recherche scientifique, dugway, earth, gaseous nebula, genesis mission, george jarzebinski, heavy elements, isotopes, isotopic composition of oxygen, kevin mckeegan, martian, megasims, NASA, neutrons, o 16, oxygen and nitrogen, oxygen atoms, oxygen on mars, Paris, planets, protons, rocky planet, roger wiens, secondary ion mass spectrometer, solar material, solar system, solar wind, sun, utah, utah test and training range, veronika heber

The sun and the solar system’s rocky inner planets, including the Earth, may have formed differently than previously thought, according to UCLA scientists and colleagues analyzing samples returned by NASA’s Genesis mission.

The data from Genesis, which collected material from the solar wind blowing from the sun, reveal differences between the sun and planets with regard to oxygen and nitrogen, two of the most abundant elements in our solar system, the researchers report in two studies in the June 24 issue of the journal Science. And although the differences are slight, the research could help determine how our solar system evolved. (more…)

Why Some Planets Orbit the Wrong Way; Extrasolar Insights into Our Solar System

By Guest PostMay 14, 2011Scienceastronomers, astrophysicist, beverly berger, eccentric, extrasolar planets, extrasolar systems, frederic a rasio, gravitational coupling, gravitational perturbations, hot jupiter, jupiter's orbit, jupiters, lynette cook, NASA, national science foundation, orbital mechanics, planetary system, planets, solar system, star formation, universe

More than 500 extrasolar planets–planets that orbit stars other than the sun–have been discovered since 1995. But only in the last few years have astronomers observed that in some of these systems, the star is spinning one way and the planet is orbiting that star in the opposite direction.

“That’s really weird, and it’s even weirder because the planet is so close to the star,” said Frederic A. Rasio, a theoretical astrophysicist at Northwestern University. “How can one be spinning one way and the other orbiting exactly the other way? It’s crazy. It so obviously violates our most basic picture of planet and star formation.” (more…)

Four Planets Huddle Up Before Dawn Next Week

By Guest PostMay 8, 2011Scienceanimation, beautiful astronomical photos, binoculars, ecliptic, jupiter, mars, mcdonald observatory, mercury, moon, page sky almanac, planets, sky, skymaps, skywatching events, stardate magazin, venus

AUSTIN, Texas — Four of the five planets visible to the unaided eye huddle quite close together in the pre-dawn sky next week, according to the editors of StarDate magazine.

On the morning of May 10, Venus and Jupiter will stand side by side, quite low in the east, as dawn brightens. If you have a horizon clear of buildings and trees, they will be easy to spot. They are the brightest objects in the night sky after the moon. Venus is the brighter of the two. Jupiter is to its left. (more…)

Go Ask ALICE: Learning About the Big Bang

By Guest PostDecember 15, 20101 commentSciencea lead ion collider experiment, alice, bang, big, big bang, CERN, european organization for nuclear research, galaxies, geneva, john harris, Large Hadron Collider, lhc, particle accelerator, particles, planets, soup, stars, switzerland, universe, yale

Nearly 14 billion years ago, the universe began with a bang — a big one.

Scientists believe that the universe and everything within it began as an extremely hot, dense “soup” that eventually gave rise to galaxies, stars, planets and life and that continues to expand to this day.

Now scientists around the world are pushing back the frontiers of our understanding about the moment the universe was born using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a giant particle accelerator at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) near Geneva, Switzerland. (more…)

The crowded universe

By ShamsJune 18, 2008ScienceChile, La Silla Observatory, light years, Mars Phoenix Lander, NASA, planets, universe

That’s how it starts. Astronomers found planets that though very hot to have life on, but beliefs that we are not alone may come true someday while spotting some pretty cute creatures walking light-years away. 🙂

(more…)

Tag Archives: planets