NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted a massive, nearly invisible ring around Saturn.The ring’s orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet’s main ring plane. The bulk of it starts about 3.7 million miles (6 million km) away from the planet and extends outward another 7.4 million miles (12 million km). Its diameter is equivalent [...]
Thirty-two planets have been discovered outside Earth’s solar system through the use of a high-precision instrument installed at a Chilean telescope, an international team announced. The existence of the so-called exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — was announced at the European Southern Observatory/Center for Astrophysics, University of Porto conference in Porto, Portugal, according [...]
Scientists have just released images of the brightest stellar explosion recorded. The supernova, known as SN 2006gy, was believed to be about 150 times as massive as the sun. The explosion could help astronomers better understand how the first generation of stars in the universe died. “This supernova stands out as the brightest supernova that’s [...]
Planet-seekers who have spotted 28 new planets orbiting other stars in the past year say Earth’s solar system is far from unique and there could be billions of habitable planets. The most recent planet discoveries bring the number of known exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — to 236, the researchers told a meeting [...]
The Mars rover Spirit has uncovered the strongest evidence yet that the planet used to be wetter than previously thought, scientists reported Monday. The robot analyzed a patch of soil in Gusev Crater and found it unusually rich in silica. The presence of water would have been necessary to produce such a large silica deposit, [...]