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News | Archive (27 August 2007)
Jupiter: Friend or Foe?
— 17:51 GMT | AstronomyThe traditional belief that Jupiter acts as a celestial shield, deflecting asteroids and comets away from the inner Solar System, has been challenged by the first in a series of studies evaluating the impact risk to the Earth posed by different groups of object. On Friday 24th August at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Dr Jonathan Horner presented a study of the impact hazard posed to Earth by the Centaurs, the parent population of the Jupiter Family of comets (JFCs). The results show that the presence of a Jupiter-like planet in the Solar System does not necessarily lead to a lower impact rate at the Earth…
Could the icy plumes of Enceladus pose a hazard to Cassini?
— 17:51 GMT | AstronomyOn 12th March 2008, Cassini will swing by Saturn's moon Enceladus at an altitude of less than 100 kilometres at the point of closest approach. This will give scientists and unprecedented opportunity to study the plumes of water vapour emanating from the 'tiger stripe' fissures near the moon's south pole, but it has also given the Cassini team pause for thought as to whether ice grains lofted by the jets could damage the spacecraft…
How snakes survive starvation
— 17:51 GMT | BiologyStarving snakes employ novel survival strategies not seen before in vertebrates, according to research conducted by a University of Arkansas biologist. These findings could be used in conservation strategies to determine the health of snake populations. 'These animals take energy reduction to a whole new level,' said Marshall McCue, a graduate student in biological sciences in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. He reported his findings in the journal Zoology…
Astronomers pioneer new method for probing exotic matter
— 17:51 GMT | AstronomyUsing European and Japanese/NASA X-ray satellites, astronomers have seen Einstein's predicted distortion of space-time around three neutron stars, and in doing so they have pioneered a groundbreaking technique for determining the properties of these ultradense objects. Neutron stars contain the most dense observable matter in the universe. They cram more than a sun's worth of material into a city-sized sphere, meaning a few cups of neutron-star stuff would outweigh Mount Everest. Astronomers use these collapsed stars as natural laboratories to study how tightly matter can be crammed under the most extreme pressures that nature can offer…
Pro-Am collaboration to unveil the atmosphere of Venus
— 14:27 GMT | AstronomyResults from an ongoing collaboration between amateur astronomers and the European Space Agency to support the Venus Express mission will be presented at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam on Wednesday 22nd August. Silvia Kowollik, from the Zollern-Alb Observatory in Germany and one of the participants in the project, said, 'This is the first time there's been a European collaboration between amateur astronomers and scientists. In the United States, they have a long tradition and a lot of experience in this kind of work. In Europe we are just starting…
Calculating the biomass of Martian soil
— 14:27 GMT | AstronomyA new interpretation of data from NASA's Viking landers indicates that 0.1% of the Martian soil tested could have a biological origin. Dr Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, believes that the subfreezing, arid Martian surface could be home to organisms whose cells are filled with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. In a presentation at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam on Friday 24th August, Dr Houtkooper will describe how he has used data from the Gas Exchange (GEx) experiment, carried by NASA's Viking landers, to estimate the biomass in the Martian soil…
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Hartley 2 visible in night sky
Pinwheel of star birth