Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Eris dwarfs Pluto
Ex-planet Pluto suffers another demotion, as observations show that it's much less massive than Eris, another distant denizen of the outer solar system.
- Planetary Science
Shifting Ocean: Tipsy Mars may explain undulating shoreline
Evidence that Mars once had a vast ocean gains support from a proposal that the planet was tipped halfway over on its side several billion years ago.
- Astronomy
Galactic Émigré: Incoming dwarf galaxy could feed its larger kin
A dwarf galaxy at the periphery of the giant Andromeda galaxy may be a pristine building block for forming galaxies in the modern-day universe.
- Astronomy
Crash will determine solar system’s fate
The solar system already lies in the suburbs of the Milky Way, but the sun and its planets will be yanked even farther away about 5 billion years from now.
- Astronomy
Big Broadcast
A record-breaking radio burst from the sun last Dec. 6 temporarily overwhelmed scores of GPS receivers, highlighting the hazard of radio storms on Earth.
- Planetary Science
Powering Enceladus’ plumes
The action of Saturn's gravity is responsible for plumes of water vapor shooting out from cracks on the moon Enceladus.
- Planetary Science
Violent Past: Young sun withstood a supernova blast
A big bully pummeled the infant solar system, first by blasting it with a massive wind, then by exploding nearby, driving shock waves into the fledgling solar system and irrevocably altering its chemistry.
- Planetary Science
Water World: Extrasolar planet is loaded with hot ice
Astronomers have found a Neptune-size planet outside the solar system that's composed mainly of water solidified under high pressure.
- Astronomy
Stellar Spectacular: Brightest supernova
Astronomers have discovered the brightest stellar explosion ever observed, and it could be the first example of a rare type of supernova involving a freakishly massive star.
- Planetary Science
Liquid Center: Mercury has a molten core, radar reveals
Mercury is hot stuff: It's got a core that's at least partially molten, a new radar study of the planet's spin reveals.
- Planetary Science
A solar forecast
Solar activity, which waxes and wanes in an 11-year cycle, will most likely begin its next round in March 2008 and peak sometime between late 2011 and mid 2012.
- Planetary Science
In the Zone: Extrasolar planet with the potential for life
Astronomers this week announced that they had found Earth's closest known analog outside the solar system, an object with an average temperature that may allow water to be liquid on its surface.
