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Hot Topic
Deep Space
New Planets
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| Hunting for Planets in the Dark |
| Topic: New Planets |
11/19/09 |
| A proposed space mission that aims to measure dark energy could also detect planets that current surveys are unable to find. |
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| Double Discovery: Super-Earth and Ocean World |
| Topic: New Planets |
04/23/09 |
| Researchers have made two amazing discoveries regarding the Gliese 581 system. The star is orbited by the lightest exoplanet ever found, less than twice the mass of the Earth. One of the other planets in this system, a super-Earth, orbits within the star’s habitable zone. Astronomers may have found a solar system where alien life is possible. |
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| Starlight, Star Bright |
| Topic: New Planets |
03/09/09 |
| On March 6, NASA launched Kepler, a telescope that will search for distant Earths by studying 100,000 stars simultaneously. But to examine the atmospheres of distant Earths for signs of life, says Sara Seagar of MIT, NASA may need to build a fleet of hundreds of tiny orbiting telescopes. |
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| Cutting Life Short |
| Topic: New Planets |
10/23/08 |
| Imagine a solar system where a life-bearing planet is slowly pulled in closer to its star. If life could survive the ensuing climate change, it would provide a clear example of the Gaia hypothesis in action. |
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| Predicting Planets |
| Topic: New Planets |
10/15/07 |
| Finding new planets around distant stars has become commonplace. But now a team of astronomers has succeeded in predicting the orbit of a planet that hadn’t yet been discovered. The last time that happened was more than 150 years ago. |
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| Off-Center Optimism for a Planet |
| Topic: New Planets |
06/23/05 |
| A dust ring around the bright star Fomalhaut is off-center, suggesting a planet may be orbiting the star. Visible images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope show details of this dust ring staring back at us from space. |
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| Just How |
| Topic: New Planets |
06/15/05 |
| In the land rush known as extrasolar planet hunting, the most prized real estate is advertised as "Earth-like." On Monday, June 13, scientists raced to plant their flag on a burning hunk of rock orbiting a red star. |
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| Extrasolar Planets: A Matter of Metallicity |
| Topic: New Planets |
10/11/04 |
| The 130 extrasolar planets discovered so far are in solar systems very different from our own, in which life-bearing planets like Earth are unlikely to exist. But an obscure characteristic of these planets and their stars has led astronomers to predict that our galaxy is brimming with solar systems like ours. |
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| Coming Soon: |
| Topic: New Planets |
09/29/04 |
| Most of the extrasolar planets discovered to date are gas giants like Jupiter, but their orbits are either much closer to their parent stars or are highly eccentric. Planet hunters are on the verge of confirming the discovery of Jupiter-size planets with Jupiter-like orbits. |
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| Cosmic Cowboy |
| Topic: New Planets |
08/05/04 |
| A brand of researcher can now breathe life into the aura of a patient nomad who searches the horizon for signs of a new world. McDonald Observatory astronomer Bill Cochran discusses how a West Texas telescope has begun chalking up discoveries of extrasolar planets. |
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