Rocky planets a few times heavier than Earth that were thought might be life-friendly may lack a protective magnetic field that originates from an iron core that is at least partly molten. A simulation of super-Earths between a few times and 10 times Earth’s mass suggests that high pressures will keep the core solid… Continue reading
From afar, this nebula looks like an eagle, but a closer look however reveals the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell of dust, where a whole cluster of new stars is being … Continue reading
Since my previous weekly stargazing calendar issues have been a bit too much American-centered I have decided to make a few changes. From now on I will use the constellations as reference points instead of concepts that are relative to … Continue reading
America’s current plans for human space exploration seem horribly slow, considering we won’t leave Earth’s orbit until 2025 and won’t reach Mars until 2035. Worse than that, solar radiation spikes could keep us grounded for decades more. Continue reading
This nebula known technically as NGC 6960 but nicknamed the “Witch’s Broom Nebula” is an expanding cloud of debris that gains its colors by sweeping up and exciting existing nearby gas. The nebula was created by a supernova explosion about … Continue reading
This week the Moon will be a thin crescent, so it will be a much better week for stargazing. Here are the astronomical events worth seeing this week: November 1, 2010: November evenings are excellent times to watch the Milky … Continue reading
By now you may have heard the report that as many as 1/4 of all the sun-like stars in the Milky Way may have Earth-like worlds. Briefly, astronomers studied 166 stars within 80 light years of Earth, and did a survey of the planets they found orbiting them. Continue reading
This is a fairly old picture of the Sun since it has been taken on September 14, 1997 by the space-based SOHO observatory. It represents a massive solar eruption. Such a phenomenon occurs when magnetic fields arching from the solar … Continue reading
This week stargazing calendar lacks the excitement of last week (a comet and a meteor shower), but there are still a few events worth seeing: October 26, 2010: The star Aldebaran, the orange “eye” of the Taurus constellation will line … Continue reading
The Director of NASA’s Ames Center, Pete Worden has announced an initiative to move space flight to the next level. This plan, dubbed the “Hundred Year Starship,” has received $100,000 from NASA and $1 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Continue reading
