Twin Keck telescopes probe dual dust disks
Astronomers using the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have explored one of the most compact dust disks ever resolved around another star. If placed in our own solar...
View ArticleZooming in on an infant solar system
A team led by University of Arizona astronomer Joshua Eisner has observed in unprecedented detail the processes giving rise to stars and planets in nascent solar systems.
View ArticleOxygen isotope analysis tells of the wandering life of a dust grain 4.5...
Scientists have performed a micro-probe analysis of the core and outer layers of a pea-sized piece of a meteorite some 4.57 billion years old to reconstruct the history of its formation, providing the...
View ArticleDark fireworks on the sun
On June 7, 2011, Earth-orbiting satellites detected a flash of X-rays coming from the western edge of the solar disk. Registering only "M" (for medium) on the Richter scale of solar flares, the blast...
View ArticleThe water reservoir in a young planetary system
(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers once thought that the process of star formation was more-or-less controlled by the simple coalescence of material by gravity, leading eventually to a new star. But they...
View ArticleStar's 'cry' heralds new era for testing relativity
(Phys.org) -- Last year, astronomers discovered a quiescent black hole in a distant galaxy that erupted after shredding and consuming a passing star. Now researchers have identified a distinctive X-ray...
View ArticleMagnetic turbulence trumps collisions to heat solar wind
(Phys.org) -- New research, led by University of Warwick physicist Dr Kareem Osman, has provided significant insight into how the solar wind heats up when it should not. The solar wind rushes outwards...
View ArticleAsteroid belts of just the right size are friendly to life
(Phys.org)—Solar systems with life-bearing planets may be rare if they are dependent on the presence of asteroid belts of just the right mass, according to a study by Rebecca Martin, a NASA Sagan...
View ArticleVenus transit and lunar mirror could help astronomers find worlds around...
(Phys.org)—On 6 June 2012 Venus passed directly between the Earth and the Sun, in a so-called transit where the planet appears as a silhouette against the solar disk, something that will not happen...
View ArticleUnlocking the mystery behind Saturn's moonlets
(Phys.org)—Research by Loughborough University physicists casts new light on Saturn's moonlets – and could help solve some of the mysteries surrounding planet formation.
View ArticleNew simulation shows disk anomalies around stars may not be planets after all
(Phys.org) —Two researchers affiliated with several research centers in the U.S. have built a computer simulation that casts doubt on the claim of many recent exoplanet discoveries. In their paper...
View ArticleDrastic chemical change occurring in birth of planetary system: Has the solar...
A new star is formed by gravitational contraction of an interstellar molecular cloud consisting of gas and dust. In the course of this process, a gas disk (protoplanetary disk), whose size is on the...
View ArticleWater in the solar system predates the Sun
Water was crucial to the rise of life on Earth and is also important to evaluating the possibility of life on other planets. Identifying the original source of Earth's water is key to understanding how...
View ArticleSwarms of Pluto-size objects kick-up dust around adolescent Sun-like star
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may have detected the dusty hallmarks of an entire family of Pluto-size objects swarming around an adolescent version of our...
View ArticleNew clues from the dawn of the solar system
A research group in the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has found evidence in meteorites that hint at the discovery of a previously unknown region within the swirling disk of dust and gas known as...
View ArticleComplex organic molecules discovered in infant star system
For the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of complex organic molecules, the building blocks of life, in a protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star, suggesting once again that the...
View ArticleIn the realm of eternal ice
On 6 November 2010, the light of the star known as NOMAD1 0856-0015072 in the Cetus constellation dimmed. What had happened? A dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system had moved in front of the...
View ArticleAstronomers peer into the 'amniotic sac' of a planet-hosting star
Astronomers have successfully peered through the 'amniotic sac' of a star that is still forming to observe the innermost region of a burgeoning solar system for the first time.
View ArticleThe minimum mass of a proto-solar system disk
Astronomers estimate that at the time the Solar system formed, its proto-planetary disk contained the equivalent of about twenty Jupiter-masses of gas and dust. This so-called "minimum mass solar...
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