Pulverized planet dust may lie around double stars - August 24 Tight double-star systems might not be the best places for life to spring up, according to a new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The infrared observatory spotted a surprisingly large amount of dust around three mature, close-orbiting star pairs. Where did the dust come from? Astronomers say it might be the aftermath of tremendous planetary collisions....Read More
NASA has cool tools to share with armchair astronauts at the 2011 South By Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas. Here's how you can help make that happen.
A new type of El Niño is becoming more common and progressively stronger, according to a new NASA/NOAA study that has potential implications for long-term weather forecasting.
Solar system similar to ours? Richest planetary system discovered - August 24 Astronomers have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180. The researchers also have tantalizing evidence that two other planets may be present, one of which would have the lowest mass ever found. This would make the system similar to our Solar System in terms of the number of planets (seven as compared to the Solar System?s eight planets). Furthermore, the team also found evidence that the distances of the planets from their star...Read More
Self-cleaning technology from Mars can keep terrestrial solar panels dust free - August 23 Find dusting those tables and dressers a chore or a bore? Dread washing the windows? Imagine keeping dust and grime off objects spread out over an area of 25 to 50 football fields. That's the problem facing companies that deploy large-scale solar power installations, and scientists have now developed a possible solution -- self-dusting solar panels -- based on technology developed for space missions to Mars....Read More
Ancient galaxy cluster still producing stars - August 23 In ongoing observations of one of the universe's earliest, most distant cluster of galaxies using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that a significant fraction of those ancient galaxies are still actively forming stars....Read More
