astronomy

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Milky Way Has 17B Planets the Size of Ours

And that's a conservative estimate

(Newser) - Before we start feeling too special about our home planet, scientists have a message: There are at least 17 billion planets the size of Earth in the Milky Way alone, Space.com reports. About 17% of our galaxy's stars have Earth-size exoplanets closely orbiting them—so 100 billion stars...

Prediction: We'll Discover 1st 'Earth Twin' in 2013

With 50B planets in Milky Way, astronomers think big discovery looms

(Newser) - With more than 800 exoplanets identified since 1995, many astronomers are predicting that 2013 will be the year that the first truly Earth-like planet is spotted, reports Space . Scientists have gotten ever closer to finding an alien Earth in recent years, identifying several in the right temperature range and others...

Tonight: 2 Meteor Showers?
 Tonight: 2 Meteor Showers? 
Dec 13, 2012 4:57 AM CST

Tonight: 2 Meteor Showers?

Geminid is one of year's biggest

(Newser) - Tonight's Geminid meteor shower—one of the year's two biggest—could bring 100 shooting stars per hour, and that's just the beginning. Tonight's sky may actually host two meteor showers, the second spawned by the comet Wirtanen, USA Today reports. That second shower hasn't yet...

'Homeless' Planet Seen Adrift in Deep Space

It's cold, young, and doesn't orbit a star

(Newser) - Astronomers have identified a "homeless" planet for the first time and given it a rather un-catchy label: CFBDSIR2149. This young and very cold planet is drifting about 100 light-years away with a group of roughly 30 stars, but isn't orbiting any of them—which makes its blue light...

Meteor Shower Tonight
 Meteor Shower Tonight 
Nov 16, 2012 3:24 PM CST

Meteor Shower Tonight

Leonids peak overnight

(Newser) - The Leonid meteor shower is making its annual November visit, and it peaks overnight tonight, reports ABC News . The Leonids generally aren't the most spectacular of shows, but patient sky-watchers will likely be rewarded given the young moon. If you can't get outside, NASA plans a live feed...

Astronomers Spot Oldest Galaxy Yet

It's 13.3 billion years old, nearly as old as the universe

(Newser) - Our universe is a mind-boggling 13.7 billion years old, and now astronomers say they have found a galaxy that has been around since the universe was a spry 420 million years old, reports LiveScience . Called MACS0647-JD, the 13.3-billion-year-old galaxy is tiny, cosmically speaking, just 600 light years wide...

Astrophysicist &#39;Finds&#39; Superman&#39;s Planet Krypton
 Astrophysicist 
 'Finds' Superman's 
 Planet Krypton 
in case you missed it
Nov 10, 2012 7:22 AM CST

Astrophysicist 'Finds' Superman's Planet Krypton

Neil deGrasse Tyson gives DC Comics a hand

(Newser) - OK, the planet Krypton still isn't real—but now we know where it would be if it existed. Using data from DC Comics, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has found a spot in space for Superman's home planet, the New York Post reports. "One of our staffers reached...

Scientists Glimpse Universe's First Stars

The glow is almost as old as time itself

(Newser) - Star light, star bright, the first stars have actually been glimpsed—or at least their light has, reports Space.com . Astronomers in California studied massive black holes, called blazars, that give off huge amounts of light while swallowing up matter—and were able to separate out a glow from what...

Now We Know the Distance Between Stars

Measurement of cosmic 'fog' reveals it to be 4,150 light-years

(Newser) - Here's an astronomer's quote to try to wrap your head around, courtesy of PhysOrg : "The optical and ultraviolet light from stars continues to travel throughout the universe even after the stars cease to shine, and this creates a fossil radiation field we can explore using gamma rays...

Planet Spotted in Solar System Next-Door

But Earth-sized Alpha Centauri planet is too hot for life

(Newser) - Excited astronomers have spotted an Earth-sized planet as close as it is possible to find one outside our solar system. The rocky planet discovered by a European team circles one of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system, the sun's nearest neighbor at just 4.4 light years...

'Tatooine-Like' Planet Found With 4 Suns

Astronomers discover world about 5K light-years away

(Newser) - Luke Skywalker would not consider this a big deal, but some of us earthlings are getting excited. Astronomers have discovered a Tatooine-like planet that orbits two suns and is also orbited by two other stars, Space.com reports. Called PH1, the gas giant is about six times bigger than Earth...

Comet Far Brighter Than Moon on Its Way

ISON should be easy to spot in daylight

(Newser) - Peer at the night sky just over a year from now, and you may spot a comet that's 15 times brighter than the moon. Comet ISON, due to be at its brightest on Nov. 28, 2013, will be so luminous that you should be able to see it in...

Jupiter Takes New Hit for the Team

 Jupiter Takes New Hit 
 for the Team 
in case you missed it
Sep 15, 2012 12:43 PM CDT

Jupiter Takes New Hit for the Team

Flash believed to be collision with asteroid or comet

(Newser) - For the third time in four years, Jupiter appears to have been hit by something big enough to have done a lot of damage to our planet or any other unlucky enough to be in its way. A flash on Jupiter captured by amateur astronomers is believed to have been...

Don't Forget: Blue Moon Tonight

Sorry, it won't be blue, though

(Newser) - A reminder for those who missed it: A blue moon will grace the skies tonight, although Space.com has a primer for those who might be mistakenly expecting a change in the moon's color. While dust particles in the atmosphere can in fact make the moon at times appear...

Strange New Kind of Galaxy Spotted

Infrared survey uncovers 'menagerie of hidden objects'

(Newser) - After two years of scanning the night sky, NASA's WISE infrared telescope has spotted millions of supermassive black holes and a type of galaxy never seen before. The hot, dust-obscured galaxies—hot DOGs—are very rare. Each emits as much light as 100 trillion suns, hidden behind a vast...

Cosmic Mystery: Why Is the Sun So Round?

It's one of the roundest objects ever measured

(Newser) - The sun is round... too round, say scientists. The giant star that bathes us in light is one of the most perfectly round objects ever measured. If it were shrunk to the size of a beach ball, the difference between the sun's widest and thinnest diameters would be slighter...

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

It should be a great show this year

(Newser) - It's time for the annual Perseid meteor shower, and this year's will be especially good. A waning crescent moon means that the moon won't block viewing, and the peak is on tonight—so go ahead and stay up late to watch. Between midnight and dawn, about 80...

Oldest Spiral Galaxy Shocks Astronomers

'Grand-design' spiral formed only 3B years after Big Bang

(Newser) - An ancient galaxy has flabbergasted astronomers. The perfectly formed spiral galaxy was born eons ago, a mere 3 billion years after the Big Bang. But this galaxy type was considered impossible so early on, when the cosmos was too chaotic to mold a "grand-design" spiral. How did it appear?...

Moon No. 5 Found for Pluto
 Moon No. 5 Found for Pluto 
Jul 12, 2012 5:33 AM CDT

Moon No. 5 Found for Pluto

Just 6 miles across, P5 is Pluto's smallest moon yet

(Newser) - It's not a chapter in the Twilight series, but it is a new moon: astronomers have discovered a tiny fifth satellite revolving around distant Pluto, reports Space.com . One year after P4 was announced, now the Hubble Telescope has spied a fifth moon. Pluto's biggest moon, Charon, is...

How to Watch Tonight's Asteroid Flyby

Huge near-Earth asteroid 2012 LZ1 is approaching

(Newser) - An unusually large and bright asteroid will fly by Earth tonight, and astronomers believe it will come close enough to be caught on camera, Space.com reports. 2012 LZ1, which was only discovered this week, is between 1,000 and 2,300 feet wide and, at its closest, is expected...

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