Two Earth-like planets orbiting a stable mature sun-like star some 300 light-years from Earth appear to have recently suffered a violent collision, leaving astronomers scratching their heads as to what could have triggered such a massive event and questioning whether such a collision could happen in our own solar system. While the astronomers – from […]
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of a “blizzard” of particles in a disk around a young star, shedding light on the process by which planets form from tiny dust grains. They were detected in a disk encircling the 12-million-year-old star AU Microscopii which is 32 light-years distant in the southern constellation of Microscopium. […]
NASA scientists say that more than one-third of the giant planet systems recently detected outside Earth’s solar system may harbor Earth-like planets. Even more astonishing, they say that it’s quite likely that these Earth-like planets would have deep oceans with the potential for life. The new projections come from calculations centered on gas giant planetary […]
After nearly two years on the surface of Mars, the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity have returned a wealth of valuable information from their wanderings. But the pace of their explorations is painfully slow, covering only a few miles since their mission began. Orbiters can certainly cover the surface of a planet much more quickly, […]
