Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
Debates over definition of planet continue and inspire
Planetary science is in the midst of a revolution. As recently as the early 1990s, “the planets” consisted of just nine famous objects in our solar system that every school kid learned to recognize by name and appearance. But then, advances in astronomical technology unleashed an explosion of new planetary discoveries on two fronts. One […]
- Space
First detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet
Moving one step closer to finding the fingerprints of life in a habitable planet beyond the solar system, astronomers have for the first time detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet.
- Physics
Standard model gets right answer for proton, neutron masses
Correct calculation strengthens theory of quark-gluon interactions in nuclear particles.
- Space
Water-ice deposits found beneath Martian hills
Using radar from an orbiting spacecraft to penetrate the hidden recesses of Mars, planetary prospectors have uncovered vast reserves of water-ice buried beneath rocky debris.
- Space
Misplaced muons either mundane or monumental
During an experiment in Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator, a group of elementary particles called muons showed up in a strange place. Physicists are considering the likely implications.
- Space
Extrasolar planetary system makes pictorial debut
The first images of a planetary system beyond the solar system are released, while the Hubble Space Telescope snaps a shot of likely planet orbiting a nearby star.
-
- Space
Half-life (more or less)
Physicists are stirred by claims that the sun may change what’s unchangeable—the rate of radioactive decay.
- Space
Hubble repair mission delayed yet again
Even as the Hubble Space Telescope was able to snap an image after several weeks of idling, a mission to visit and upgrade Hubble suffered another delay.
- Space
MESSENGER glimpses Mercury’s Western hemisphere, new features
The results are in from MESSENGER’s second flyby of Mercury, one of the least-explored planets in the solar system.
- Astronomy
Double the rubble: Nearby star system has two asteroid belts
Epsilon Eridani hosts an inner asteroid belt and planet arranged like those in the solar system.
-
