“BBC News has an article detailing NASA’s replacement for the much-loved Hubble telescope. The $4.5 billion telescope will be placed in orbit 1.5 million km from Earth and will be almost three times the size of the Hubble. It is set to launch in 2013. They also plan to service the Hubble in 2008.”
(Dec 23, 2005) NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has helped discover new rings and two small moons orbiting Uranus. The largest ring is twice the size of the planet’s previously known rings, and went undiscovered until now because they’re so far away from the planet. Scientists think that particles in these rings are slowly spiraling away from Uranus, so there must be some source constantly replenishing them with new material.
Good news to all space geeks and SETI freaks! I say we send a probe immedately!
MAUNA KEA (December 20, 2005) Astronomers at W. M. Keck Observatory have found – for the first time – some of the basic compounds necessary to build organic molecules and one of the bases found in DNA within the inner regions of a planet-forming disk. The object, known as “IRS 46,” is located in the Milky Way galaxy, about 375 light years from Earth, in the constellation Ophiuchus. The results will be published in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“We see prebiotic organic molecules in comets and the gas giant planets in our own solar system and wonder, where did these chemicals come from?â€? said Dr. Marc Kassis, support astronomer at the W. M. Keck Observatory. “The Spitzer Space Telescope is letting us study these young stellar objects in new and revealing ways, giving us exciting clues about where life may form in the universe.”
The two organic compounds found — acetylene and hydrogen cyanide — are commonly found in our own solar system, such as the atmospheres of the giant gas planets, the icy surfaces of comets, and the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Another carbon-containing species detected, carbon dioxide, is widespread in the atmospheres of Venus, the Earth, and Mars.
Read the full story:
Precursor to Proteins, DNA Found in Stellar Disk
JohnnyNapalm writes “The Aggie Daily News is reporting today that the first mirrors have been cast for the world’s largest telescope. The result of cooperation from some of the foremost institutions in education and science in the nation, the Giant Magellan Telescope stands to operate at a resolution 10 times larger than the Hubble. The project, set to be constructed in Chile, is slated for completion in 2016.”
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