Here's another hope for finding life on another planet. Water vapour detected in Exoplanet's atmosphere.

Discovery Outside of our solar system

In a first, water found on earth-like planet beyond our solar system

Is there life on planets outside our solar system? How did stars and galaxies form in the earliest years of the universe? How do black holes shape galaxies? Scientists are expected to explore those and other fundamental questions about the universe when they peer deep into the night sky using a new telescope planned for the summit of Hawaii's tallest mountain. But the Thirty Meter Telescope is a decade away from being built. And Native Hawaiian protesters have tried to thwart the start of construction by blocking a road to the mountain. They say installing yet another observatory on Mauna Kea's peak would further defile a place they consider sacred. The large size of the telescope's mirror means it would collect more light, allowing it to see faint, far-away objects such as stars and galaxies dating back as long as 13 billion years. Hundreds of demonstrators are gathered at the base of Hawaii's tallest mountain to protest the construction of a giant telescope on land that some Native Hawaiians consider sacred. Groups of activists sang and prayed at the base of the mountain on Sunday afternoon. They declared the area, which is well off the highway at the intersection of the mountain's access road, a place of refuge and safety.

A plan to build the world's largest telescope, Hawaiians protest it's build

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/nasa-spacecraft-makes-historic-flyby-of-ultima-thule-distant-world-ever-studied-187648">NASA's New Horizons explorer</a> successfully "phoned home" on Tuesday after a journey to the most distant world ever explored by humankind, a frozen rock at the edge of the solar system that scientists hope will uncover secrets to its creation.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/nasa-spacecraft-breaks-record-for-smallest-space-object-ever-orbited-187693">The nuclear-powered space probe</a> has travelled 4 billion miles (6.4 billion km) to come within 2,200 miles (3,540 km) of Ultima Thule, an apparently peanut-shaped, 20-mile-long (32-km-long) space rock in the uncharted heart of the Kuiper Belt. The belt is a ring of icy celestial bodies just outside Neptune's orbit.

Engineers at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland cheered when the spacecraft's first signals came through the National Aeronautic and Space Agency's Deep Space Network at 10:28 am EST (1528 GMT).

"We have a healthy spacecraft," Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman declared.

The spacecraft will ping back more detailed images and data from Thule in the coming days, NASA said. &nbsp;

Launched in January 2006, New Horizons embarked on its 4 billion-mile journey toward the solar system’s edge to study the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons.

"Last night, overnight, the United States spacecraft New Horizons conducted the farthest exploration in the history of humankind, and did so spectacularly," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern told a news conference at the Johns Hopkins facility in Laurel, Maryland.

An image of Thule, sent overnight and barely more detailed than previous images, deepens the mystery of whether Thule is a single rock shaped like an asymmetrical peanut or actually two rocks orbiting each other, "blurred together because of their proximity," Stern said.

During a 2015 fly-by, the probe found Pluto to be slightly larger than previously thought. In March, it revealed methane-rich dunes on the icy dwarf planet’s surface.

Now 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) beyond Pluto for its second mission into the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons will study the makeup of Ultima Thule's atmosphere and terrain in a months-long study to seek clues about the formation of the solar system and its planets.

Scientists had not discovered Ultima Thule when the probe was launched, according to NASA, making the mission unique in that respect. In 2014, astronomers found Thule using the Hubble Space Telescope and the following year selected it for New Horizon's extended mission.&nbsp;

As the probe flies 2,200 miles (3,540 km) above Thule's surface, scientists hope it will detect the chemical composition of its atmosphere and terrain in what NASA says will be the closest observation of a body so remote.&nbsp;

"We are straining the capabilities of this spacecraft, and by tomorrow we'll know how we did," Stern told reporters on Monday. "There are no second chances for New Horizons."

While the mission marks the farthest close encounter of an object within our solar system, NASA's Voyager 1 and 2, a pair of deep-space probes launched in 1977, have reached greater distances on a mission to survey extrasolar bodies. Both probes are still operational.

Launched in January 2006, New Horizons embarked on its 4 billion-mile journey toward the solar system’s edge to study the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons.

NASA's New Horizons explorer successfully "phoned home" on Tuesday after a journey to the most distant world ever explored by humankind, a frozen rock at the edge of the solar system that scientists hope will uncover secrets to its creation. The nuclear-powered space probe has travelled 4 billion miles (6.4 billion km) to come within 2,200 miles (3,540 km) of Ultima Thule, an apparently peanut-shaped, 20-mile-long (32-km-long) space rock in the uncharted heart of the Kuiper Belt. The belt is a ring of icy celestial bodies just outside Neptune's orbit. Engineers at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland cheered when the spacecraft's first signals came through the National Aeronautic and Space Agency's Deep Space Network at 10:28 am EST (1528 GMT). "We have a healthy spacecraft," Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman declared. The spacecraft will ping back more detailed images and data from Thule in the coming days, NASA said. Launched in January 2006, New Horizons embarked on its 4 billion-mile journey toward the solar system’s edge to study the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons. "Last night, overnight, the United States spacecraft New Horizons conducted the farthest exploration in the history of humankind, and did so spectacularly," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern told a news conference at the Johns Hopkins facility in Laurel, Maryland. An image of Thule, sent overnight and barely more detailed than previous images, deepens the mystery of whether Thule is a single rock shaped like an asymmetrical peanut or actually two rocks orbiting each other, "blurred together because of their proximity," Stern said. During a 2015 fly-by, the probe found Pluto to be slightly larger than previously thought. In March, it revealed methane-rich dunes on the icy dwarf planet’s surface. Now 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) beyond Pluto for its second mission into the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons will study the makeup of Ultima Thule's atmosphere and terrain in a months-long study to seek clues about the formation of the solar system and its planets. Scientists had not discovered Ultima Thule when the probe was launched, according to NASA, making the mission unique in that respect. In 2014, astronomers found Thule using the Hubble Space Telescope and the following year selected it for New Horizon's extended mission. As the probe flies 2,200 miles (3,540 km) above Thule's surface, scientists hope it will detect the chemical composition of its atmosphere and terrain in what NASA says will be the closest observation of a body so remote. "We are straining the capabilities of this spacecraft, and by tomorrow we'll know how we did," Stern told reporters on Monday. "There are no second chances for New Horizons." While the mission marks the farthest close encounter of an object within our solar system, NASA's Voyager 1 and 2, a pair of deep-space probes launched in 1977, have reached greater distances on a mission to survey extrasolar bodies. Both probes are still operational.

NASA space probe 'phones home' in landmark mission to solar system's edge

A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away.

The US space agency will ring in the New Year with a live online broadcast to mark historic flyby of the mysterious object in a dark and frigid region of space known as the Kuiper Belt at 12:33 am January 1 (local time).

A guitar anthem recorded by legendary Queen guitarist Brian May - who also holds an advanced degree in astrophysics - will be released just after midnight to accompany a video simulation of the flyby, as NASA commentators describe the close pass on www.Nasa.Gov/nasalive.

Real-time video of the actual flyby is impossible since it takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spaceship, named New Horizons, and another six hours for the response to arrive.

But if all goes well, the first images should be in hand by the end of New Year's Day.

And judging by the latest tweet from Alan Stern, the lead scientist on the New Horizons mission, the excitement among team members is palpable.

"IT'S HAPPENING!! Flyby is upon us! @NewHorizons2015 is healthy and on course! The farthest exploration of worlds in history!" he wrote on Saturday.

Scientists are not sure what Ultima Thule (pronounced TOO-lee) looks like - whether it is round or oblong or even if it is a single object or a cluster.

It was discovered in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, and is believed to be 12-20 miles (20-30 kilometers) in size.

Scientists decided to study it with New Horizons after the spaceship, which launched in 2006, completed its main mission of flying by Pluto in 2015, returning the most detailed images ever taken of the dwarf planet.

"At closest approach we are going to try to image Ultima at three times the resolution we had for Pluto," said Stern.

"If we can accomplish that it will be spectacular." Hurtling through space at a speed of 32,000 miles (51,500 kilometers) per hour, the spacecraft aims to make its closest approach within 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of the surface of Ultima Thule.

The flyby will be fast, at a speed of nine miles (14 kilometers) per second. Seven instruments on board will record high-resolution images and gather data about its size and composition.

Ultima Thule is named for a mythical, far-northern island in medieval literature and cartography, according to NASA.

"Ultima Thule means 'beyond Thule' - beyond the borders of the known world - symbolising the exploration of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons is performing, something never before done," the US space agency said in a statement.

According to project scientist Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, mankind didn't even know the Kuiper Belt - a vast ring of relics from the formation days of the solar system - existed until the 1990s. "This is the frontier of planetary science," said Weaver.

"We finally have reached the outskirts of the solar system, these things that have been there since the beginning and have hardly changed - we think. We will find out."

Despite the partial US government shutdown, sparked by a feud over funding for a border wall with Mexico between President Donald Trump and opposition Democrats,

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine vowed that the US space agency would broadcast the flyby.

Normally, NASA TV and NASA's website would go dark during a government shutdown.

NASA will also provide updates about another spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, that will enter orbit around the asteroid Bennu on New Year's Eve, Bridenstine said.

A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.

A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away. The US space agency will ring in the New Year with a live online broadcast to mark historic flyby of the mysterious object in a dark and frigid region of space known as the Kuiper Belt at 12:33 am January 1 (local time). A guitar anthem recorded by legendary Queen guitarist Brian May - who also holds an advanced degree in astrophysics - will be released just after midnight to accompany a video simulation of the flyby, as NASA commentators describe the close pass on www.Nasa.Gov/nasalive. Real-time video of the actual flyby is impossible since it takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spaceship, named New Horizons, and another six hours for the response to arrive. But if all goes well, the first images should be in hand by the end of New Year's Day. And judging by the latest tweet from Alan Stern, the lead scientist on the New Horizons mission, the excitement among team members is palpable. "IT'S HAPPENING!! Flyby is upon us! @NewHorizons2015 is healthy and on course! The farthest exploration of worlds in history!" he wrote on Saturday. Scientists are not sure what Ultima Thule (pronounced TOO-lee) looks like - whether it is round or oblong or even if it is a single object or a cluster. It was discovered in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, and is believed to be 12-20 miles (20-30 kilometers) in size. Scientists decided to study it with New Horizons after the spaceship, which launched in 2006, completed its main mission of flying by Pluto in 2015, returning the most detailed images ever taken of the dwarf planet. "At closest approach we are going to try to image Ultima at three times the resolution we had for Pluto," said Stern. "If we can accomplish that it will be spectacular." Hurtling through space at a speed of 32,000 miles (51,500 kilometers) per hour, the spacecraft aims to make its closest approach within 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of the surface of Ultima Thule. The flyby will be fast, at a speed of nine miles (14 kilometers) per second. Seven instruments on board will record high-resolution images and gather data about its size and composition. Ultima Thule is named for a mythical, far-northern island in medieval literature and cartography, according to NASA. "Ultima Thule means 'beyond Thule' - beyond the borders of the known world - symbolising the exploration of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons is performing, something never before done," the US space agency said in a statement. According to project scientist Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, mankind didn't even know the Kuiper Belt - a vast ring of relics from the formation days of the solar system - existed until the 1990s. "This is the frontier of planetary science," said Weaver. "We finally have reached the outskirts of the solar system, these things that have been there since the beginning and have hardly changed - we think. We will find out." Despite the partial US government shutdown, sparked by a feud over funding for a border wall with Mexico between President Donald Trump and opposition Democrats, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine vowed that the US space agency would broadcast the flyby. Normally, NASA TV and NASA's website would go dark during a government shutdown. NASA will also provide updates about another spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, that will enter orbit around the asteroid Bennu on New Year's Eve, Bridenstine said.

NASA spaceship zooms toward farthest world ever photographed

Is Mercury's core liquid or solid, and why -- on the smallest planet in our solar system -- is it so big? What can the planet closest to the Sun tell us about how our solar system came into being?

An unmanned European-Japanese space mission, dubbed BepiColombo, blasted off early Saturday morning from French Guiana, to probe these and other mysteries.

"BepiColombo is coming like a white knight with better and more precise data," said Alain Doressoundiram, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory.

"To understand how Earth was formed, we need to understand how all rocky planets formed," including Venus and Mars, he told AFP.&nbsp;

"Mercury stands apart and we don't know why."

First, however, the suite of instruments on board the Ariane 5 rocket will have to travel seven years and nine million kilometres (5.6 million miles) to reach their destination.

In a statement after the launch, ArianeGroup said the satellite had successfully escaped Earth's gravity field and was beginning its long journey where it will reach speeds of up to 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) an hour.

According to Pierre Bousquet, an engineer at France's National Centre for Space Research and head of the French team contributing to the mission, Mercury is "abnormally small," leading to speculation that it survived a massive collision in its youth.

"A huge crater visible on its surface could be the scar left over from that encounter," Bousquet told AFP. Finding out if this is true is on BepiColombo's "to do" list.

Going hot and cold&nbsp;

This scenario would explain why Mercury's core accounts for a whopping 55 percent of its mass, compared to 30 percent for Earth.

Mercury is also the only rocky planet orbiting the Sun beside our own to have a magnetic field.

Magnetic fields are generated by a liquid core but given its size, Mercury's should have grown cold and solid by now, as did Mars.

This anomaly might be due to some feature of the core's composition, something BepiColombo's instruments will measure with much greater precision than has been possible so far.

On its surface, Mercury is a planet of extremes, vacillating between hot days of about 430 degrees Celsius (more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit) to super-frosty nights of minus 180C (minus 290F).&nbsp;

Those days and nights last nearly three Earth months each.

Earlier missions have detected evidence of ice in the deepest recesses of the planet's polar craters.

Scientists speculate that this may have accumulated from comets crashing onto Mercury's surface.

"If the presence of ice is confirmed, it means that some of those water samples date back nearly to the origin of the solar system," Doressoundiram said.

Lashed by solar winds&nbsp;

Mercury is 58 million kilometres (36 million miles) from the Sun, nearly three times closer than Earth.

"The planet is whipped by solar winds," a constant torrent of ionised particles bombarding the surface at 500 kilometres per second, said Bousquet.

The scientists will be able to study the impact of these winds -- 10 times stronger than the ones hitting Earth's atmosphere -- on Mercury's magnetic field.

The BepiColombo mission will deploy two spacecraft. The Mercury Planet Orbiter, built by ESA, will investigate planet's surface and interior composition.

The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, made by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will study the region of space around the planet that is influenced by its magnetic field. &nbsp;&nbsp;

The mission will also look for tectonic activity, and seek to understand why spectroscopic observations show no iron even if it is thought to be one of the planet's major component elements.

Compared to Mars, Venus, and Saturn, Mercury has barely been explored. Only two spacecraft have ever paid it a visit.&nbsp;

NASA's Mariner 10 did three flybys in 1974 and 1975, providing the first up-close images. More than 30 years later, NASA's Messenger did the same, before settling into orbit around Mercury in 2011.

The new mission is named after Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo, a brilliant Italian mathematician and engineer who first understood the relationship between Mercury’s rotation and orbit.

Is Mercury's core liquid or solid, and why -- on the smallest planet in our solar system -- is it so big? What can the planet closest to the Sun tell us about how our solar system came into being?

Is Mercury's core liquid or solid, and why -- on the smallest planet in our solar system -- is it so big? What can the planet closest to the Sun tell us about how our solar system came into being? An unmanned European-Japanese space mission, dubbed BepiColombo, blasted off early Saturday morning from French Guiana, to probe these and other mysteries. "BepiColombo is coming like a white knight with better and more precise data," said Alain Doressoundiram, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory. "To understand how Earth was formed, we need to understand how all rocky planets formed," including Venus and Mars, he told AFP. "Mercury stands apart and we don't know why." First, however, the suite of instruments on board the Ariane 5 rocket will have to travel seven years and nine million kilometres (5.6 million miles) to reach their destination. In a statement after the launch, ArianeGroup said the satellite had successfully escaped Earth's gravity field and was beginning its long journey where it will reach speeds of up to 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) an hour. According to Pierre Bousquet, an engineer at France's National Centre for Space Research and head of the French team contributing to the mission, Mercury is "abnormally small," leading to speculation that it survived a massive collision in its youth. "A huge crater visible on its surface could be the scar left over from that encounter," Bousquet told AFP. Finding out if this is true is on BepiColombo's "to do" list. Going hot and cold This scenario would explain why Mercury's core accounts for a whopping 55 percent of its mass, compared to 30 percent for Earth. Mercury is also the only rocky planet orbiting the Sun beside our own to have a magnetic field. Magnetic fields are generated by a liquid core but given its size, Mercury's should have grown cold and solid by now, as did Mars. This anomaly might be due to some feature of the core's composition, something BepiColombo's instruments will measure with much greater precision than has been possible so far. On its surface, Mercury is a planet of extremes, vacillating between hot days of about 430 degrees Celsius (more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit) to super-frosty nights of minus 180C (minus 290F). Those days and nights last nearly three Earth months each. Earlier missions have detected evidence of ice in the deepest recesses of the planet's polar craters. Scientists speculate that this may have accumulated from comets crashing onto Mercury's surface. "If the presence of ice is confirmed, it means that some of those water samples date back nearly to the origin of the solar system," Doressoundiram said. Lashed by solar winds Mercury is 58 million kilometres (36 million miles) from the Sun, nearly three times closer than Earth. "The planet is whipped by solar winds," a constant torrent of ionised particles bombarding the surface at 500 kilometres per second, said Bousquet. The scientists will be able to study the impact of these winds -- 10 times stronger than the ones hitting Earth's atmosphere -- on Mercury's magnetic field. The BepiColombo mission will deploy two spacecraft. The Mercury Planet Orbiter, built by ESA, will investigate planet's surface and interior composition. The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, made by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will study the region of space around the planet that is influenced by its magnetic field. The mission will also look for tectonic activity, and seek to understand why spectroscopic observations show no iron even if it is thought to be one of the planet's major component elements. Compared to Mars, Venus, and Saturn, Mercury has barely been explored. Only two spacecraft have ever paid it a visit. NASA's Mariner 10 did three flybys in 1974 and 1975, providing the first up-close images. More than 30 years later, NASA's Messenger did the same, before settling into orbit around Mercury in 2011. The new mission is named after Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo, a brilliant Italian mathematician and engineer who first understood the relationship between Mercury’s rotation and orbit.

Mercury mission to explore origin of Solar System

A NASA rover has detected a bonanza of organic compounds on the surface of Mars and seasonal fluctuations of atmospheric methane in findings released on Thursday that mark some of the strongest evidence ever that Earth's neighbour may have harboured life.

But National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists emphasized there could be nonbiological explanations for both discoveries made by the Curiosity rover at a site called Gale crater, leaving the issue of Martian life a tantalizing but unanswered question.

Three different types of organic molecules were discovered when the rover dug just 2 inches (5 cm) into roughly 3.5 billion-year-old mudstone, a fine-grained sedimentary rock, at Gale crater, apparently the site of a large lake when ancient Mars was warmer and wetter than the desolate planet it is today.

Curiosity also measured an unexpectedly large seasonal cycle in the low levels of atmospheric methane. About 95 per cent of the methane in Earth's atmosphere is produced from biological activity, though the scientists said it is too soon to know if the Martian methane also is related to life.

Organic molecules are the building blocks of life, though they can also be produced by chemical reactions unrelated to life. The scientists said it is premature to know whether or not the compounds were created in biological processes.

Whether anywhere other than Earth has harboured life, perhaps even in microbial form, is one of the paramount questions in science.

"There are three possible sources for the organic material," said astrobiologist Jennifer Eigenbrode of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "The first one would be life, which we don't know about. The second would be meteorites. And the last one is geological processes, meaning the rock-forming processes themselves."

The rover, which has allowed scientists to explore whether Mars ever boasted conditions conducive to life, in 2014 made the first definitive detection of organic molecules, also in Gale crater rock formed from ancient lake sediment - but it was a much more limited set of compounds.

"What the organic detections in the rock do is to add to the story of habitability. It tells us that this ancient environment on Mars could have supported life," Eigenbrode said. "Everything that was needed to support life was there. But it doesn't tell us that life was there."

Christopher Webster, an atmospheric science research fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said it is possible existing microbes are contributing to the Martian atmospheric methane.

"With this new data, we again cannot rule out the microbial activity as a potential source," Webster said.

The amount of methane peaked at the end of summer in the northern hemisphere at about 2.7 times the level of the lowest seasonal amount.

The scientists were surprised to find organic compounds, especially in the amounts detected, considering the harsh conditions, including the bombardment of solar radiation on the Martian surface. After drilling, Curiosity heats the rock samples, releasing the compounds.

Referring to the findings regarding organic compounds and methane, Webster said, "They hint at an earlier time on Mars when water was present and the existence of primitive life forms was possible."

The scientists hope to find better preserved organic compounds with Curiosity or other rovers that would allow them to check for chemical signatures of life.

The research was published in the journal Science.

Whether anywhere other than Earth has harboured life, perhaps even in microbial form, is one of the paramount questions in science

A NASA rover has detected a bonanza of organic compounds on the surface of Mars and seasonal fluctuations of atmospheric methane in findings released on Thursday that mark some of the strongest evidence ever that Earth's neighbour may have harboured life. But National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists emphasized there could be nonbiological explanations for both discoveries made by the Curiosity rover at a site called Gale crater, leaving the issue of Martian life a tantalizing but unanswered question. Three different types of organic molecules were discovered when the rover dug just 2 inches (5 cm) into roughly 3.5 billion-year-old mudstone, a fine-grained sedimentary rock, at Gale crater, apparently the site of a large lake when ancient Mars was warmer and wetter than the desolate planet it is today. Curiosity also measured an unexpectedly large seasonal cycle in the low levels of atmospheric methane. About 95 per cent of the methane in Earth's atmosphere is produced from biological activity, though the scientists said it is too soon to know if the Martian methane also is related to life. Organic molecules are the building blocks of life, though they can also be produced by chemical reactions unrelated to life. The scientists said it is premature to know whether or not the compounds were created in biological processes. Whether anywhere other than Earth has harboured life, perhaps even in microbial form, is one of the paramount questions in science. "There are three possible sources for the organic material," said astrobiologist Jennifer Eigenbrode of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "The first one would be life, which we don't know about. The second would be meteorites. And the last one is geological processes, meaning the rock-forming processes themselves." The rover, which has allowed scientists to explore whether Mars ever boasted conditions conducive to life, in 2014 made the first definitive detection of organic molecules, also in Gale crater rock formed from ancient lake sediment - but it was a much more limited set of compounds. "What the organic detections in the rock do is to add to the story of habitability. It tells us that this ancient environment on Mars could have supported life," Eigenbrode said. "Everything that was needed to support life was there. But it doesn't tell us that life was there." Christopher Webster, an atmospheric science research fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said it is possible existing microbes are contributing to the Martian atmospheric methane. "With this new data, we again cannot rule out the microbial activity as a potential source," Webster said. The amount of methane peaked at the end of summer in the northern hemisphere at about 2.7 times the level of the lowest seasonal amount. The scientists were surprised to find organic compounds, especially in the amounts detected, considering the harsh conditions, including the bombardment of solar radiation on the Martian surface. After drilling, Curiosity heats the rock samples, releasing the compounds. Referring to the findings regarding organic compounds and methane, Webster said, "They hint at an earlier time on Mars when water was present and the existence of primitive life forms was possible." The scientists hope to find better preserved organic compounds with Curiosity or other rovers that would allow them to check for chemical signatures of life. The research was published in the journal Science.

NASA rover data shows Mars had the ingredients needed for life

A recent study done by scientists in America has shown that days on earth are getting longer and in million years from now, a day will last 25 hours on earth.

However, the process will take 200 million years in stretching hours of the day to 25 hours from 24.

The study done by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has said that the reason of this is the moon as it is moving away from the earth, affecting the earth spins on its axis.

According to the research, currently,&nbspthe moon is pulling away at the rate of 3.82 centimetres a year. The scientists further said that over a few billion years it Moon has slowly moved away from the earth slowing the earth's spin.

Researchers at Durham University and the United Kingdom's nautical almanac office also said that the day is lengthening by two milliseconds every 100 years and getting an extra minute in a day will take 6.7 million years.

They studied some 1.4 billion-year-old rock layers in northern China, known as the xiamaling formation, to determine what the earth was doing at the point in history, including the length of its days and distance from the moon. &nbsp &nbsp

According to the research, 1.4 billion years ago a day on earth used to last for 18 hours.

The scientists'&nbspconclusions came through a new tool which combined astronomical theory, geologic data and a sophisticated statistical approach. &nbspIt enabled them to account for the uncertainty in the earth-moon relationship when studying rock samples. &nbsp 
&nbsp

The study done by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has said that the reason of this is the moon as it is moving away from the earth, affecting the earth spins on its axis

A recent study done by scientists in America has shown that days on earth are getting longer and in million years from now, a day will last 25 hours on earth. However, the process will take 200 million years in stretching hours of the day to 25 hours from 24. The study done by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has said that the reason of this is the moon as it is moving away from the earth, affecting the earth spins on its axis. According to the research, currently,&nbspthe moon is pulling away at the rate of 3.82 centimetres a year. The scientists further said that over a few billion years it Moon has slowly moved away from the earth slowing the earth's spin. Researchers at Durham University and the United Kingdom's nautical almanac office also said that the day is lengthening by two milliseconds every 100 years and getting an extra minute in a day will take 6.7 million years. They studied some 1.4 billion-year-old rock layers in northern China, known as the xiamaling formation, to determine what the earth was doing at the point in history, including the length of its days and distance from the moon. According to the research, 1.4 billion years ago a day on earth used to last for 18 hours. The scientists'&nbspconclusions came through a new tool which combined astronomical theory, geologic data and a sophisticated statistical approach. &nbspIt enabled them to account for the uncertainty in the earth-moon relationship when studying rock samples.

In million years, days on earth will last for 25 hours

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, launched on Wednesday, will "hunt for planets around some of the closest and brightest stars" read NASA's tweet.&nbsp;

The first-of-its-kind mission will aim at finding worlds beyond our solar system, including some that could support life.

Equipped with 4 cameras, TESS will hover across the entire sky for unknown worlds.&nbsp;

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How many worlds exist outside our solar system? <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA_TESS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASA_TESS</a> launched from planet Earth today at 6:51pm ET to hunt for planets around some of the closest & brightest stars. TESS will use 4 cameras to search nearly the entire sky for unknown worlds. More: <a href="https://t.co/5hUW3XhaTo">https://t.co/5hUW3XhaTo</a> <a href="https://t.co/xuH5q0wqN9">pic.twitter.com/xuH5q0wqN9</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/986762078852698113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2018</a></blockquote>
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“We are thrilled TESS is on its way to help us discover worlds we have yet to imagine, worlds that could possibly be habitable, or harbor life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “With missions like the James Webb Space Telescope to help us study the details of these planets, we are ever the closer to discovering whether we are alone in the universe.”

TESS is on a mission to find thousands of new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars. According to NASA, the spacecraft will begin its work after approximately 60 days of check-out and instrument testing.

The spacecraft, during its two-year survey mission, will map the southern sky during its first year of observations and the northern sky during the second year covering nearly 85 percent of the sky.

NASA TESS lifted off at 6:51 pm EDT on Wednesday mounted on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US. 
&nbsp;

TESS is on a mission to find thousands of new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, launched on Wednesday, will "hunt for planets around some of the closest and brightest stars" read NASA's tweet. The first-of-its-kind mission will aim at finding worlds beyond our solar system, including some that could support life. Equipped with 4 cameras, TESS will hover across the entire sky for unknown worlds. How many worlds exist outside our solar system? @NASA_TESS launched from planet Earth today at 6:51pm ET to hunt for planets around some of the closest & brightest stars. TESS will use 4 cameras to search nearly the entire sky for unknown worlds. More: https://t.co/5hUW3XhaTo pic.twitter.com/xuH5q0wqN9 — NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2018 × “We are thrilled TESS is on its way to help us discover worlds we have yet to imagine, worlds that could possibly be habitable, or harbor life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “With missions like the James Webb Space Telescope to help us study the details of these planets, we are ever the closer to discovering whether we are alone in the universe.” TESS is on a mission to find thousands of new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars. According to NASA, the spacecraft will begin its work after approximately 60 days of check-out and instrument testing. The spacecraft, during its two-year survey mission, will map the southern sky during its first year of observations and the northern sky during the second year covering nearly 85 percent of the sky. NASA TESS lifted off at 6:51 pm EDT on Wednesday mounted on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US.

NASA TESS launch: One-of-its-kind mission to hunt for new, habitable planets

French President France Emmanuel Macron to&nbsp;arrive in New Delhi on Friday on a four-day state visit.&nbsp;

Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/macron-heads-to-india-seeking-to-avoid-trudeau-errors-35033">Macron heads to India, seeking to avoid Trudeau errors</a>

Travelling with his wife Brigitte and delegation of businessmen and ministry officials, Macron will tour India from March 9 to March 12

Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that &quot;the visit of President Macron is aimed at strengthening the bilateral economic, political and strategic dimension of our engagement&quot;.

Macron will also hold bilateral talks with Narendra Modi on Saturday in order to enhance and cooperate defence. maritime, security and energy-related sectors.

The&nbsp;issues like terrorism, climate change, sustainable growth and development, infrastructure, smart urbanization, science and technology cooperation will take centre stage during the discussions.

Macron will also chair the International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit on Sunday.

Macron is also expected to make a visit to Taj Mahal and on Monday he will be heading to Varanasi with Narendra Modi.

Macron last visited India in 2016 when he was invited to be the chief guest of Republic Day celebrations. 
&nbsp;

Travelling with his wife Brigitte and delegation of businessmen and ministry officials, Macron will stay in India from March 9 to March 12

French President France Emmanuel Macron to arrive in New Delhi on Friday on a four-day state visit. Also read: Macron heads to India, seeking to avoid Trudeau errors Travelling with his wife Brigitte and delegation of businessmen and ministry officials, Macron will tour India from March 9 to March 12 Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that "the visit of President Macron is aimed at strengthening the bilateral economic, political and strategic dimension of our engagement". Macron will also hold bilateral talks with Narendra Modi on Saturday in order to enhance and cooperate defence. maritime, security and energy-related sectors. The issues like terrorism, climate change, sustainable growth and development, infrastructure, smart urbanization, science and technology cooperation will take centre stage during the discussions. Macron will also chair the International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit on Sunday. Macron is also expected to make a visit to Taj Mahal and on Monday he will be heading to Varanasi with Narendra Modi. Macron last visited India in 2016 when he was invited to be the chief guest of Republic Day celebrations.

French President Emmanuel Macron to arrive in Delhi today on four-day visit

The interior of Jupiter is just as intriguing as the planet&#39;s dazzling surface, with a swirling mixture of liquid hydrogen and helium at its centre, vast atmospheric jet streams and exotic gravitational properties, scientists said on Wednesday. 
 
Data from NASA&#39;s Juno spacecraft, orbiting the solar system&#39;s largest planet since 2016, is providing researchers with what they called unprecedented insight into Jupiter&#39;s internal dynamics and structure. Until now, scientists have had scant information about what lies below Jupiter&#39;s thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds. 
 
&quot;Juno is designed to look beneath these clouds,&quot; said planetary science professor Yohai Kaspi of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who led part of the research using Juno&#39;s new measurements of Jupiter&#39;s gravity. 
 
&quot;On Jupiter, a gaseous planet without a solid surface, we can only gather information from orbit,&quot; added aerospace engineering professor Luciano Iess of the Sapienza University of Rome, who also led part of the research. 
 
Jupiter is a type of planet called a gas giant, as opposed to rocky planets like Earth and Mars, and its composition is 99 percent hydrogen and helium. Juno&#39;s data showed that as you go deeper under the surface, Jupiter&#39;s gas becomes ionized and eventually turns into a hot, dense metallic liquid. 
 
The scientists said Jupiter&#39;s jet streams, related to the familiar stripes on its surface, plunge some 1,800 miles (3,000 km) below cloud level, and that its deep interior is comprised of a fluid hydrogen and helium mixture that rotates as if it were a solid body. 
 
&quot;The very centre may contain a core made of high-pressure and high-temperature rocks and perhaps water, but it is believed to be fluid as well, not solid,&quot; said planetary scientist Tristan Guillot of the Universite Cote d&#39;Azur in Nice, another of the research leaders.

Juno&#39;s data showed a small but significant asymmetry between the gravitational field of Jupiter&#39;s northern and southern hemispheres, driven by the immense jet streams. The deeper the jets streams go, the more mass they contain, exerting a strong effect on Jupiter&#39;s gravitational field, Kaspi said. 
 
Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun, dwarfs the solar system&#39;s other planets, measuring about 89,000 miles (143,000 km) in diameter at its equator, compared with Earth&#39;s diameter of about 8,000 miles (12,750 km). It is big enough that 1,300 Earths could fit inside it.

The research was published in the journal Nature.

Data from NASA's Juno spacecraft, orbiting the solar system's largest planet since 2016

The interior of Jupiter is just as intriguing as the planet's dazzling surface, with a swirling mixture of liquid hydrogen and helium at its centre, vast atmospheric jet streams and exotic gravitational properties, scientists said on Wednesday. Data from NASA's Juno spacecraft, orbiting the solar system's largest planet since 2016, is providing researchers with what they called unprecedented insight into Jupiter's internal dynamics and structure. Until now, scientists have had scant information about what lies below Jupiter's thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds. "Juno is designed to look beneath these clouds," said planetary science professor Yohai Kaspi of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who led part of the research using Juno's new measurements of Jupiter's gravity. "On Jupiter, a gaseous planet without a solid surface, we can only gather information from orbit," added aerospace engineering professor Luciano Iess of the Sapienza University of Rome, who also led part of the research. Jupiter is a type of planet called a gas giant, as opposed to rocky planets like Earth and Mars, and its composition is 99 percent hydrogen and helium. Juno's data showed that as you go deeper under the surface, Jupiter's gas becomes ionized and eventually turns into a hot, dense metallic liquid. The scientists said Jupiter's jet streams, related to the familiar stripes on its surface, plunge some 1,800 miles (3,000 km) below cloud level, and that its deep interior is comprised of a fluid hydrogen and helium mixture that rotates as if it were a solid body. "The very centre may contain a core made of high-pressure and high-temperature rocks and perhaps water, but it is believed to be fluid as well, not solid," said planetary scientist Tristan Guillot of the Universite Cote d'Azur in Nice, another of the research leaders. Juno's data showed a small but significant asymmetry between the gravitational field of Jupiter's northern and southern hemispheres, driven by the immense jet streams. The deeper the jets streams go, the more mass they contain, exerting a strong effect on Jupiter's gravitational field, Kaspi said. Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun, dwarfs the solar system's other planets, measuring about 89,000 miles (143,000 km) in diameter at its equator, compared with Earth's diameter of about 8,000 miles (12,750 km). It is big enough that 1,300 Earths could fit inside it. The research was published in the journal Nature.

NASA's Juno spacecraft strips Jupiter down to its underwear

Scientists have confirmed nearly 100 new planets outside our solar system, bringing the total number of exoplanets found using NASA&rsquo;s K2 mission to almost 300.

&ldquo;We started out analysing 275 candidates, of which 149 were validated as real exoplanets. In turn, 95 of these planets have proved to be new discoveries,&rdquo; said Andrew Mayo, a doctoral student at the Technical University of Denmark.

&ldquo;This research has been underway since the first K2 data release in 2014,&rdquo; said Mayo, the main author of the research published in the Astronomical Journal.

Mayo and his colleagues analysed hundreds of signals of potential exoplanets to determine which signals were created by exoplanets and which were caused by other sources.

&ldquo;We found that some of the signals were caused by multiple star systems or noise from the spacecraft. But we also detected planets that range from sub-Earth-sized to the size of Jupiter and larger,&rdquo; said Mayo.

One of the planets detected was orbiting a very bright star. The Kepler spacecraft was launched in 2009 to hunt for exoplanets in a single patch of sky, but in 2013, a mechanical failure crippled the telescope. However, astronomers and engineers devised a way to repurpose and save the space telescope by changing its field of view periodically.

This solution paved the way for the follow-up K2 mission, which is still ongoing as the spacecraft searches for exoplanet transits.These transits can be found by registering dips in light caused by the shadow of an exoplanet as it crosses in front of its host star. The dips are indications of exoplanets, which must then be examined more closely in order to confirm their nature.The first planet orbiting a star similar to our own sun was detected in 1995. Today some 3,600 exoplanets have been found, ranging from rocky Earth-sized planets to large gas giants like Jupiter.

&ldquo;We validated a planet on a 10-day orbit around a star called HD 212657, which is now the brightest star found by either the Kepler or K2 missions to host a validated planet. Planets around bright stars are important because astronomers can learn a lot about them from ground-based observatories,&rdquo; said Mayo.

&ldquo;Exoplanets are a very exciting field of space science. As more planets are discovered, astronomers will develop a much better picture of the nature of exoplanets which in turn will allow us to place our own solar system into a galactic context,&rdquo; he said.

Mayo and his colleagues analysed hundreds of signals of potential exoplanets to determine which signals were created by exoplanets and which were caused by other sources

Scientists have confirmed nearly 100 new planets outside our solar system, bringing the total number of exoplanets found using NASA’s K2 mission to almost 300. “We started out analysing 275 candidates, of which 149 were validated as real exoplanets. In turn, 95 of these planets have proved to be new discoveries,” said Andrew Mayo, a doctoral student at the Technical University of Denmark. “This research has been underway since the first K2 data release in 2014,” said Mayo, the main author of the research published in the Astronomical Journal. Mayo and his colleagues analysed hundreds of signals of potential exoplanets to determine which signals were created by exoplanets and which were caused by other sources. “We found that some of the signals were caused by multiple star systems or noise from the spacecraft. But we also detected planets that range from sub-Earth-sized to the size of Jupiter and larger,” said Mayo. One of the planets detected was orbiting a very bright star. The Kepler spacecraft was launched in 2009 to hunt for exoplanets in a single patch of sky, but in 2013, a mechanical failure crippled the telescope. However, astronomers and engineers devised a way to repurpose and save the space telescope by changing its field of view periodically. This solution paved the way for the follow-up K2 mission, which is still ongoing as the spacecraft searches for exoplanet transits.These transits can be found by registering dips in light caused by the shadow of an exoplanet as it crosses in front of its host star. The dips are indications of exoplanets, which must then be examined more closely in order to confirm their nature.The first planet orbiting a star similar to our own sun was detected in 1995. Today some 3,600 exoplanets have been found, ranging from rocky Earth-sized planets to large gas giants like Jupiter. “We validated a planet on a 10-day orbit around a star called HD 212657, which is now the brightest star found by either the Kepler or K2 missions to host a validated planet. Planets around bright stars are important because astronomers can learn a lot about them from ground-based observatories,” said Mayo. “Exoplanets are a very exciting field of space science. As more planets are discovered, astronomers will develop a much better picture of the nature of exoplanets which in turn will allow us to place our own solar system into a galactic context,” he said.

NASA discovers 100 new planets beyond our solar system

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/asteroid-apophis-to-cause-massive-destruction-on-earth-in-2036-says-nasa-24666">NASA</a>&#39;s Kepler Space Telescope, for the first time, has discovered an eighth planet in an alien solar system, the agency announced on Thursday.

Similar to the sun, other stars can have large amounts of planets orbiting it.

The star and its solar system were previously detected by the Kepler space telescope.

A team of astronomers had found two new worlds using Google`s artificial intelligence technology previously.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/nasa-working-on-high-speed-space-internet-13756">NASA</a> said, &quot;Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence, and demonstrates new ways of analysing Kepler data.

&quot;Kepler-90i is the smallest of the planets in that alien solar system.

The new planet is estimated to be about 30% larger than Earth, is &#39;not a place you`d like to visit,&#39; explains Andrew Vanderburg, astronomer and NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin.

Kepler Space Telescope&nbsp;was launched in 2009 and has made many discoveries about the planets beyond our solar system including identifying close to 4,034 planet candidates, 2,335 of which have been verified as exoplanets. 30 of those exoplanets have found to be similar in size to Earth, orbiting in their star&#39;s habitable zone.&nbsp;

(With inputs from ANI)

The space agency's Kepler Space Telescope, for the first time, has discovered an eighth planet in an alien solar system

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, for the first time, has discovered an eighth planet in an alien solar system, the agency announced on Thursday. Similar to the sun, other stars can have large amounts of planets orbiting it. The star and its solar system were previously detected by the Kepler space telescope. A team of astronomers had found two new worlds using Google`s artificial intelligence technology previously. NASA said, "Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence, and demonstrates new ways of analysing Kepler data. "Kepler-90i is the smallest of the planets in that alien solar system. The new planet is estimated to be about 30% larger than Earth, is 'not a place you`d like to visit,' explains Andrew Vanderburg, astronomer and NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin. Kepler Space Telescope was launched in 2009 and has made many discoveries about the planets beyond our solar system including identifying close to 4,034 planet candidates, 2,335 of which have been verified as exoplanets. 30 of those exoplanets have found to be similar in size to Earth, orbiting in their star's habitable zone. (With inputs from ANI)

NASA finds another solar system with eight planets

A dark, reddish and cigar-shaped object that zipped through our solar system from outer space last month is nothing like any cosmic body seen before, say scientists who have classified it as the first interstellar asteroid.

Last month the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawai&#39;i picked up a faint point of light moving across the sky.

It initially looked like a typical fast-moving small asteroid, but additional observations over the next couple of days allowed its orbit to be computed fairly accurately.

The orbit calculations revealed beyond any doubt that this body did not originate from inside the solar system, like all other asteroids or comets ever observed, but instead had come from interstellar space.

Although originally classified as a comet, observations from revealed no signs of cometary activity after it passed closest to the Sun in September. The object was reclassified as an interstellar asteroid and named &#39;Oumuamua.

The name, which was chosen by the Pan-STARRS team, is of Hawaiian origin and reflects the way this object is like a messenger sent from the distant past to reach out to us, researchers said.

The asteroid is up to 400 metres long and highly- elongated - perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide.

That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date, scientists said.

While its elongated shape is quite surprising, and unlike asteroids seen in our solar system, it may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed.

When the &#39;Oumuamua was spotted, it had already passed its closest point to the Sun and was heading back into interstellar space, researchers said.

European Southern Observatory (ESO)&#39;s Very Large Telescope (VLT) was immediately called into action to measure the object&#39;s orbit, brightness and colour more accurately than smaller telescopes could achieve.

Combining the images from various telescopes, astronomers led by Karen Meech from Institute for Astronomy in the US found that &#39;Oumuamua varies dramatically in brightness by a factor of ten as it spins on its axis every 7.3 hours.

&quot;This unusually large variation in brightness means that the object is highly elongated: about ten times as long as it is wide, with a complex, convoluted shape,&quot; said Meech.

&quot;We also found that it has a dark red colour, similar to objects in the outer Solar System, and confirmed that it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it,&quot; she said.

These properties suggest that &#39;Oumuamua is dense, possibly rocky or with high metal content, lacks significant amounts of water or ice, and that its surface is now dark and reddened due to the effects of irradiation from cosmic rays over millions of years. It is estimated to be at least 400 metres long.

Preliminary orbital calculations suggested that the object had come from the approximate direction of the bright star Vega, in the northern constellation of Lyra.

However, even travelling at a breakneck speed of about 95,000 kilometres per hour, it took so long for the interstellar object to make the journey to our Solar System that Vega was not near that position when the asteroid was there about 300,000 years ago.

&#39;Oumuamua may well have been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with the Solar System.

Astronomers estimate that an interstellar asteroid similar to &#39;Oumuamua passes through the inner Solar System about once per year, but they are faint and hard to spot so have been missed until now.

It is only recently that survey telescopes, such as Pan- STARRS, are powerful enough to have a chance to discover them.

Observations from revealed no signs of cometary activity after it passed closest to the Sun in September and was henceforth reclassified as an interstellar asteroid and named 'Oumuamua'

A dark, reddish and cigar-shaped object that zipped through our solar system from outer space last month is nothing like any cosmic body seen before, say scientists who have classified it as the first interstellar asteroid. Last month the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawai'i picked up a faint point of light moving across the sky. It initially looked like a typical fast-moving small asteroid, but additional observations over the next couple of days allowed its orbit to be computed fairly accurately. The orbit calculations revealed beyond any doubt that this body did not originate from inside the solar system, like all other asteroids or comets ever observed, but instead had come from interstellar space. Although originally classified as a comet, observations from revealed no signs of cometary activity after it passed closest to the Sun in September. The object was reclassified as an interstellar asteroid and named 'Oumuamua. The name, which was chosen by the Pan-STARRS team, is of Hawaiian origin and reflects the way this object is like a messenger sent from the distant past to reach out to us, researchers said. The asteroid is up to 400 metres long and highly- elongated - perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date, scientists said. While its elongated shape is quite surprising, and unlike asteroids seen in our solar system, it may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed. When the 'Oumuamua was spotted, it had already passed its closest point to the Sun and was heading back into interstellar space, researchers said. European Southern Observatory (ESO)'s Very Large Telescope (VLT) was immediately called into action to measure the object's orbit, brightness and colour more accurately than smaller telescopes could achieve. Combining the images from various telescopes, astronomers led by Karen Meech from Institute for Astronomy in the US found that 'Oumuamua varies dramatically in brightness by a factor of ten as it spins on its axis every 7.3 hours. "This unusually large variation in brightness means that the object is highly elongated: about ten times as long as it is wide, with a complex, convoluted shape," said Meech. "We also found that it has a dark red colour, similar to objects in the outer Solar System, and confirmed that it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it," she said. These properties suggest that 'Oumuamua is dense, possibly rocky or with high metal content, lacks significant amounts of water or ice, and that its surface is now dark and reddened due to the effects of irradiation from cosmic rays over millions of years. It is estimated to be at least 400 metres long. Preliminary orbital calculations suggested that the object had come from the approximate direction of the bright star Vega, in the northern constellation of Lyra. However, even travelling at a breakneck speed of about 95,000 kilometres per hour, it took so long for the interstellar object to make the journey to our Solar System that Vega was not near that position when the asteroid was there about 300,000 years ago. 'Oumuamua may well have been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with the Solar System. Astronomers estimate that an interstellar asteroid similar to 'Oumuamua passes through the inner Solar System about once per year, but they are faint and hard to spot so have been missed until now. It is only recently that survey telescopes, such as Pan- STARRS, are powerful enough to have a chance to discover them.

Unique cigar-shaped object is first interstellar asteroid

The ESO (European Southern Observatory) said it had discovered the planet, Ross 128b, orbiting a star within the constellation of Virgo and it is comparatively &quot;close&quot;&nbsp;at just 11 light years outside the Solar System.

One light year is equivalent to 9.46 trillion kilometres (5.85 trillion miles).

But in inter-galactic terms that is not so far, says Xavier Bonfils, an astronomer for the French CNRS research centre at the Grenoble Observatory for Sciences of the Universe.

&quot;Ross 128b is very close, which will allow us to see it with a telescope such as E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope) in construction for 2025,&quot; Bonfils told AFP.

Researchers say Ross 128b could potentially harbour life, as it has a similar mass to that of Earth -- a multiple of 1.35 -- and &quot;its surface temperature could equally be close to that of Earth&quot;.

Such conditions could potentially support liquid water, indispensable to life as we know it. The next step will be to see if the atmosphere contains traces of water, dioxygen or methane.

Several thousand exoplanets have been discovered to date but only around 50 are considered to be potentially habitable.

The European Southern Observatory said it had discovered the planet, Ross 128b, orbiting a star within the constellation of Virgo and it is comparatively 'close' at just 11 light years outside the Solar System

The ESO (European Southern Observatory) said it had discovered the planet, Ross 128b, orbiting a star within the constellation of Virgo and it is comparatively "close" at just 11 light years outside the Solar System. One light year is equivalent to 9.46 trillion kilometres (5.85 trillion miles). But in inter-galactic terms that is not so far, says Xavier Bonfils, an astronomer for the French CNRS research centre at the Grenoble Observatory for Sciences of the Universe. "Ross 128b is very close, which will allow us to see it with a telescope such as E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope) in construction for 2025," Bonfils told AFP. Researchers say Ross 128b could potentially harbour life, as it has a similar mass to that of Earth -- a multiple of 1.35 -- and "its surface temperature could equally be close to that of Earth". Such conditions could potentially support liquid water, indispensable to life as we know it. The next step will be to see if the atmosphere contains traces of water, dioxygen or methane. Several thousand exoplanets have been discovered to date but only around 50 are considered to be potentially habitable.

New planet could support life: Observatory

Aliens could be everywhere. There are at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy alone, and at least 20 per cent of them could be habitable. Even if a tiny fraction of those planets &ndash; less than one percent of one percent &ndash; evolved life, there would still be tens of thousands of planets with aliens in our vicinity. But if we want to figure out where to start looking for these neighbours, we need to understand what they might be like and where they might thrive.

Ultimately, we want to understand as much as possible about an extraterrestrial species before we encounter it. And yet, making predictions about aliens is hard. The reason is simple: we have only one example &ndash; life on Earth &ndash; to extrapolate from. Just because eyes and limbs have evolved many times on Earth doesn&rsquo;t mean they&rsquo;ll appear even once elsewhere. Just because we are made of carbon and coded by DNA doesn&rsquo;t mean aliens will be &ndash; they could be silicon-based and coded by &ldquo;XNA&rdquo;.

However, as my colleagues and I argue in our new study, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, there is another approach to making predictions about aliens that get around this problem. That is to use evolutionary theory as a guiding principle. The theory of natural selection allows us to make predictions that don&rsquo;t depend on the details of Earth and so will hold even for eyeless, nitrogen-breathing aliens.

Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection long before we knew what DNA was, how mutations appeared, or even how traits were passed on. It is remarkably simple and requires just a few ingredients to work: variation (some giraffes have longer necks than others), the heritability of that variation (long-necked giraffes have long-necked babies) and differential success linked to the variation (long-necked giraffes eat more leaves and have more babies).

Darwin&rsquo;s aliens

In our paper, we use evolutionary theory to make a number of predictions about aliens. First, we argue that aliens will undergo natural selection. This is something often either taken for granted or assumed to be an unknown. We show that there are firm theoretical grounds for believing that aliens will undergo (or have undergone) natural selection.

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Illustration of levels of complexity. A) A simple replicating molecule. B) Cell-like entity. C) An alien. (Others)
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This is because &ldquo;apparent design&rdquo; is what sets life apart from non-life &ndash; such as a single-celled organism from inert rocks. Living things have many intricate parts fine-tuned for the common purpose of replicating the organism. The only way to achieve this apparent design, or adaptedness, the only way to get a life, is through natural selection.

So as aliens are highly likely to undergo natural selection, we can make some predictions about what they will be like. In particular, our predictions are about complex aliens. By complexity, we mean anything more complex than, say, a virus.

Even a bacterial cell has intricate parts that work together to achieve goals, like moving and eating. In other words, most &ldquo;aliens&rdquo; we would be interested in finding, or even able to find, are complex. That&rsquo;s because the only things so simple that they could have arisen without natural selection would be molecules, which are both physically hard to detect and hard to distinguish from the background of inert molecules. They&rsquo;d also be transient &ndash; without natural selection making them fitter they&rsquo;d disappear. Even if we did find them, we probably wouldn&rsquo;t even classify them as life.

Complexity on Earth has arisen through a handful of something called &ldquo;major transitions in individuality&rdquo;. These occur when independent organisms come together to form a new type of individual. On Earth, genes came together to form genomes, single-celled organisms formed multi-cellular organisms, like us. In some rare cases, multi-cellular organisms, like insects, have formed societies that act as &ldquo;superorganisms&rdquo; themselves. These events are rare, and require extreme evolutionary conditions to occur.

We argue that complex aliens will, too, have undergone major transitions, as this is likely the only way to advance beyond a simple replicating molecule. Because the conditions for major transitions to occur are rare, and because they are quite well understood from an evolutionary perspective, this allows us to say something about the makeup of aliens.

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Illustration of a complex alien that comprises a hierarchy of entities, where each lower level collection of entities has aligned evolutionary interests. (Others)
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In particular, just as you and I are made up of cells which are made up of nuclei and mitochondria (the breathing engine of the cell) which are made up of genes, aliens will be a similar nested hierarchy of units. Aliens might not be made of &ldquo;cells&rdquo; as we think of them, but they will be made up of parts which were once free-living, and those parts, in turn, will be too &ndash; all the way down to the aliens&rsquo; hereditary material (whatever it is). Our parts have mechanisms in place that keep all the parts working together to make an organism.

For example, our cells all start as one single cell (the &ldquo;zygote&rdquo;), and this means all our cells are clones, which is why they cooperate to make us. Aliens will have similar ways of enforcing cooperation between their internal parts, at each level of units.

Aliens may not have two legs or any legs at all, but their structure, from an evolutionary standpoint, will be much more familiar than we might have thought. By familiar, I don&rsquo;t mean superficially familiar. They may look, on the surface, wildly different from anything on Earth. But they will be similar on a more fundamental level: their bodies will be constructed in the same way (formerly free-living parts within formerly free-living parts), and they will have undergone a similar evolutionary history (independent organisms cooperating to form new, higher level organisms).

There is much more work to be done to understand what aliens might be like and where we might find them. And the tantalising question &ndash; &ldquo;Are we alone?&rdquo; &ndash; remains unanswered. But, as we have shown, if we&rsquo;re not alone, perhaps we understand more about the makeup of our neighbours than science fiction would have us believe.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-evolutionary-theory-can-teach-us-about-the-appearance-of-aliens-86719" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

Image Credit: Shutterstock and Helen S. Cooper

There is much more work to be done to understand what aliens might be like and where we might find them

Aliens could be everywhere. There are at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy alone, and at least 20 per cent of them could be habitable. Even if a tiny fraction of those planets – less than one percent of one percent – evolved life, there would still be tens of thousands of planets with aliens in our vicinity. But if we want to figure out where to start looking for these neighbours, we need to understand what they might be like and where they might thrive. Ultimately, we want to understand as much as possible about an extraterrestrial species before we encounter it. And yet, making predictions about aliens is hard. The reason is simple: we have only one example – life on Earth – to extrapolate from. Just because eyes and limbs have evolved many times on Earth doesn’t mean they’ll appear even once elsewhere. Just because we are made of carbon and coded by DNA doesn’t mean aliens will be – they could be silicon-based and coded by “XNA”. However, as my colleagues and I argue in our new study, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, there is another approach to making predictions about aliens that get around this problem. That is to use evolutionary theory as a guiding principle. The theory of natural selection allows us to make predictions that don’t depend on the details of Earth and so will hold even for eyeless, nitrogen-breathing aliens. Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection long before we knew what DNA was, how mutations appeared, or even how traits were passed on. It is remarkably simple and requires just a few ingredients to work: variation (some giraffes have longer necks than others), the heritability of that variation (long-necked giraffes have long-necked babies) and differential success linked to the variation (long-necked giraffes eat more leaves and have more babies). Darwin’s aliens In our paper, we use evolutionary theory to make a number of predictions about aliens. First, we argue that aliens will undergo natural selection. This is something often either taken for granted or assumed to be an unknown. We show that there are firm theoretical grounds for believing that aliens will undergo (or have undergone) natural selection. Illustration of levels of complexity. A) A simple replicating molecule. B) Cell-like entity. C) An alien. (Others) × This is because “apparent design” is what sets life apart from non-life – such as a single-celled organism from inert rocks. Living things have many intricate parts fine-tuned for the common purpose of replicating the organism. The only way to achieve this apparent design, or adaptedness, the only way to get a life, is through natural selection. So as aliens are highly likely to undergo natural selection, we can make some predictions about what they will be like. In particular, our predictions are about complex aliens. By complexity, we mean anything more complex than, say, a virus. Even a bacterial cell has intricate parts that work together to achieve goals, like moving and eating. In other words, most “aliens” we would be interested in finding, or even able to find, are complex. That’s because the only things so simple that they could have arisen without natural selection would be molecules, which are both physically hard to detect and hard to distinguish from the background of inert molecules. They’d also be transient – without natural selection making them fitter they’d disappear. Even if we did find them, we probably wouldn’t even classify them as life. Complexity on Earth has arisen through a handful of something called “major transitions in individuality”. These occur when independent organisms come together to form a new type of individual. On Earth, genes came together to form genomes, single-celled organisms formed multi-cellular organisms, like us. In some rare cases, multi-cellular organisms, like insects, have formed societies that act as “superorganisms” themselves. These events are rare, and require extreme evolutionary conditions to occur. We argue that complex aliens will, too, have undergone major transitions, as this is likely the only way to advance beyond a simple replicating molecule. Because the conditions for major transitions to occur are rare, and because they are quite well understood from an evolutionary perspective, this allows us to say something about the makeup of aliens. Illustration of a complex alien that comprises a hierarchy of entities, where each lower level collection of entities has aligned evolutionary interests. (Others) × In particular, just as you and I are made up of cells which are made up of nuclei and mitochondria (the breathing engine of the cell) which are made up of genes, aliens will be a similar nested hierarchy of units. Aliens might not be made of “cells” as we think of them, but they will be made up of parts which were once free-living, and those parts, in turn, will be too – all the way down to the aliens’ hereditary material (whatever it is). Our parts have mechanisms in place that keep all the parts working together to make an organism. For example, our cells all start as one single cell (the “zygote”), and this means all our cells are clones, which is why they cooperate to make us. Aliens will have similar ways of enforcing cooperation between their internal parts, at each level of units. Aliens may not have two legs or any legs at all, but their structure, from an evolutionary standpoint, will be much more familiar than we might have thought. By familiar, I don’t mean superficially familiar. They may look, on the surface, wildly different from anything on Earth. But they will be similar on a more fundamental level: their bodies will be constructed in the same way (formerly free-living parts within formerly free-living parts), and they will have undergone a similar evolutionary history (independent organisms cooperating to form new, higher level organisms). There is much more work to be done to understand what aliens might be like and where we might find them. And the tantalising question – “Are we alone?” – remains unanswered. But, as we have shown, if we’re not alone, perhaps we understand more about the makeup of our neighbours than science fiction would have us believe. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Image Credit: Shutterstock and Helen S. Cooper

What evolutionary theory can teach us about the appearance of aliens

Our Earth may once have been a spinning, donut-shaped mass of hot, vapourised rock - called &quot;synestia&quot; - according to scientists who proposed the new type of planetary object.

Synestia is a spinning planetary object that forms as planet-sized objects smash into each other.

At one point early in its history, Earth was likely a synestia, said Sarah Stewart, scientist at the University of California Davis in the US.

Current theories of planet formation hold that rocky planets such as Earth, Mars and Venus formed early in the solar system when smaller objects smashed into each other. These collisions were so violent that the resulting bodies melted and partially vapourised, eventually cooling and solidifying to the nearly spherical planets we know today.

In the new study, researchers modeled what happens when the Earth-sized rocky planets collide with other large objects with high energy and momentum.

&quot;We looked at the statistics of giant impacts, and we found that they can form a completely new structure,&quot; Stewart said.

Researchers found that over a range of high temperatures and momenta, planet-sized bodies could form a new, much larger structure, an indented disk rather like a red blood cell or a donut with the center filled in. The object is mostly vaporised rock, with no solid or liquid surface.

They have dubbed the new object a &quot;synestia,&quot; from &quot;syn&quot; - meaning &quot;together&quot; - and &quot;Estia,&quot; the Greek goddess of architecture and structures.

The key to synestia formation is that some of the structure&#39;s material goes into orbit.

In a spinning, solid sphere, every point from the core to the surface is rotating at the same rate. However, in a giant impact, the material of the planet can become molten or gaseous and expands in volume.

If it gets big enough and is moving fast enough, parts of the object pass the velocity needed to keep a satellite in orbit, and that is when it forms a huge, disc-shaped synestia, according to the study. Most planets likely experience collisions that could form a synestia at some point during their formation, Stewart said.

For an object like Earth, the synestia would not last very long perhaps a hundred years before it lost enough heat to condense back into a solid object. However, synestia formed from larger or hotter objects such as gas giant planets or stars could potentially last much longer, she said.

The synestia structure also suggests new ways to think about lunar formation, researchers said.

The Moon is remarkably like Earth in composition, and most current theories about how the moon formed involve a giant impact that threw material into orbit. However, such an impact could have instead formed a synestia from which the Earth and Moon both condensed, Stewart said.

No one has yet observed a synestia directly, but they might be found in other solar systems once astronomers start looking for them alongside rocky planets and gas giants, she said.

(PTI)

Scientists say the Earth could have been formed from planetary objects colliding with each other

Our Earth may once have been a spinning, donut-shaped mass of hot, vapourised rock - called "synestia" - according to scientists who proposed the new type of planetary object. Synestia is a spinning planetary object that forms as planet-sized objects smash into each other. At one point early in its history, Earth was likely a synestia, said Sarah Stewart, scientist at the University of California Davis in the US. Current theories of planet formation hold that rocky planets such as Earth, Mars and Venus formed early in the solar system when smaller objects smashed into each other. These collisions were so violent that the resulting bodies melted and partially vapourised, eventually cooling and solidifying to the nearly spherical planets we know today. In the new study, researchers modeled what happens when the Earth-sized rocky planets collide with other large objects with high energy and momentum. "We looked at the statistics of giant impacts, and we found that they can form a completely new structure," Stewart said. Researchers found that over a range of high temperatures and momenta, planet-sized bodies could form a new, much larger structure, an indented disk rather like a red blood cell or a donut with the center filled in. The object is mostly vaporised rock, with no solid or liquid surface. They have dubbed the new object a "synestia," from "syn" - meaning "together" - and "Estia," the Greek goddess of architecture and structures. The key to synestia formation is that some of the structure's material goes into orbit. In a spinning, solid sphere, every point from the core to the surface is rotating at the same rate. However, in a giant impact, the material of the planet can become molten or gaseous and expands in volume. If it gets big enough and is moving fast enough, parts of the object pass the velocity needed to keep a satellite in orbit, and that is when it forms a huge, disc-shaped synestia, according to the study. Most planets likely experience collisions that could form a synestia at some point during their formation, Stewart said. For an object like Earth, the synestia would not last very long perhaps a hundred years before it lost enough heat to condense back into a solid object. However, synestia formed from larger or hotter objects such as gas giant planets or stars could potentially last much longer, she said. The synestia structure also suggests new ways to think about lunar formation, researchers said. The Moon is remarkably like Earth in composition, and most current theories about how the moon formed involve a giant impact that threw material into orbit. However, such an impact could have instead formed a synestia from which the Earth and Moon both condensed, Stewart said. No one has yet observed a synestia directly, but they might be found in other solar systems once astronomers start looking for them alongside rocky planets and gas giants, she said. (PTI)

Early Earth may have been donut-shaped: study

A rare &quot;dwarf planet&quot; 18 times smaller than Earth, has been discovered in the distant solar system on an eccentric orbit far beyond Neptune, astronomers said today. 
 
Dubbed RR245, the icy world is currently about 9.7 billion kilometres from the Sun - 65 times further than Earth, said astronomer Jean-Marc Petit of France&#39;s CNRS research institute. 
 
&quot;But its orbit is very elliptical, and it will be 19 billion km at its furthest point from our star,&quot; he told AFP. 
 
At the closest approach on its 700-year orbit, the planet will pass the Sun at a distance of some five billion km. 
 
Dwarf planets fall into a six-year-old category of celestial bodies. 
 
They are smaller than ordinary planets and orbit the Sun at a much greater distance, travelling in a zone littered with other objects like asteroids. 
 
There are thought to be dozens of them in our solar system, but only a handful have been identified so far. 
 
They include Eris and Ceres, as well as Pluto - which was downgraded from a full planet to a dwarf planet in a 2006 decision that remains contested to this day. 
 
Most dwarf planets are small and dark, said team member Michele Bannister of the University of Victoria in Canada. 
 
&quot;It is really exciting to find one which is big and bright enough for us to study,&quot; she said in a statement issued by the CNRS. 
 
RR245 was first spotted in February this year, in images taken in September 2015 by Outer Solar System Origin Survey (OSSOS), an international project to scope out distant worlds. 
 
Its diameter has been estimated at about 700 km, compared to Earth&#39;s more than 12,700 km. 
 
The discoverers of RR245 have the right to propose a name for their find. 
 
New planetary monickers have to be approved by nomenclature panel in the International Astronomical Union (IAU). 
 
(AFP)

The planet has been discovered in the distant solar system on an orbit far beyond Neptune. It is 18 times smaller than Earth

A rare "dwarf planet" 18 times smaller than Earth, has been discovered in the distant solar system on an eccentric orbit far beyond Neptune, astronomers said today. Dubbed RR245, the icy world is currently about 9.7 billion kilometres from the Sun - 65 times further than Earth, said astronomer Jean-Marc Petit of France's CNRS research institute. "But its orbit is very elliptical, and it will be 19 billion km at its furthest point from our star," he told AFP. At the closest approach on its 700-year orbit, the planet will pass the Sun at a distance of some five billion km. Dwarf planets fall into a six-year-old category of celestial bodies. They are smaller than ordinary planets and orbit the Sun at a much greater distance, travelling in a zone littered with other objects like asteroids. There are thought to be dozens of them in our solar system, but only a handful have been identified so far. They include Eris and Ceres, as well as Pluto - which was downgraded from a full planet to a dwarf planet in a 2006 decision that remains contested to this day. Most dwarf planets are small and dark, said team member Michele Bannister of the University of Victoria in Canada. "It is really exciting to find one which is big and bright enough for us to study," she said in a statement issued by the CNRS. RR245 was first spotted in February this year, in images taken in September 2015 by Outer Solar System Origin Survey (OSSOS), an international project to scope out distant worlds. Its diameter has been estimated at about 700 km, compared to Earth's more than 12,700 km. The discoverers of RR245 have the right to propose a name for their find. New planetary monickers have to be approved by nomenclature panel in the International Astronomical Union (IAU). (AFP)

'Dwarf planet' discovered in distant solar system

Astronomers have discovered a planet unlike any other ever found, one that loops widely around one star that is locked in a gravitational embrace with two others in a triple-star system, creating a curious celestial ballet. 
 
The findings, published on Thursday in the journal Science, challenge current notions about what makes a planetary system viable. 
 
With three stars in the system, the massive planet would experience triple sunrises and triple sunsets during one season and all daylight in another. Since the planet&#39;s orbit is very long, each season lasts for hundreds of years. 
 
&quot;Depending on which season you were born in, you may never know what nighttime is like,&quot; lead researcher Kevin Wagner of the University of Arizona said. 
 
The planet, called HD 131399Ab, is about four times bigger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and is orbiting in a three-star system located about 340 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. 
 
Scientists are not sure how HD 131399Ab came to exist. It orbits its parent star about twice as far as Pluto circles the sun, needing 550 years to complete a single orbit. 
 
Astronomers have previously discovered planets in multi-star systems, but never one that circles a parent star with such a wide berth. It also is one of the few extrasolar planets - those outside our solar system - to be directly imaged by telescope. 
 
The planet&#39;s orbit is akin to the distance more typically seen when a star orbits another star, not a planet orbiting a star.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;This is the first planet that we&#39;ve found with an orbit that is comparable to that of the stars,&quot; Wagner said. 
 
If HD 131399Ab&#39;s orbit was just a bit wider, computer simulations show it could be gravitationally elbowed out of the system by the pair of smaller stars that orbit each other and the main star, which is about 80 per cent bigger than the sun. 
 
Though the planet is relatively young, around 16 million years old compared to the 4.5-billion-year-old Earth, it likely has had an eventful life. Scientists suspect it may have started off in a much closer orbit around two parent stars before it was gravitationally bounced to its extreme distance. 
 
Scientists plan additional observations to determine if the planet&#39;s orbit is actually stable. 
 
&quot;It is not clear how this planet ended up on its wide orbit in this extreme system ... but it shows there is more variety out there than many would have deemed possible,&quot; Wagner said. 
 
The planet was detected using the European Southern Observatory&#39;s Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. 
 
(Reuters)

The planet, called HD 131399Ab, would experience three sunrises and sunsets during one season and all daylight in another

Astronomers have discovered a planet unlike any other ever found, one that loops widely around one star that is locked in a gravitational embrace with two others in a triple-star system, creating a curious celestial ballet. The findings, published on Thursday in the journal Science, challenge current notions about what makes a planetary system viable. With three stars in the system, the massive planet would experience triple sunrises and triple sunsets during one season and all daylight in another. Since the planet's orbit is very long, each season lasts for hundreds of years. "Depending on which season you were born in, you may never know what nighttime is like," lead researcher Kevin Wagner of the University of Arizona said. The planet, called HD 131399Ab, is about four times bigger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and is orbiting in a three-star system located about 340 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. Scientists are not sure how HD 131399Ab came to exist. It orbits its parent star about twice as far as Pluto circles the sun, needing 550 years to complete a single orbit. Astronomers have previously discovered planets in multi-star systems, but never one that circles a parent star with such a wide berth. It also is one of the few extrasolar planets - those outside our solar system - to be directly imaged by telescope. The planet's orbit is akin to the distance more typically seen when a star orbits another star, not a planet orbiting a star. "This is the first planet that we've found with an orbit that is comparable to that of the stars," Wagner said. If HD 131399Ab's orbit was just a bit wider, computer simulations show it could be gravitationally elbowed out of the system by the pair of smaller stars that orbit each other and the main star, which is about 80 per cent bigger than the sun. Though the planet is relatively young, around 16 million years old compared to the 4.5-billion-year-old Earth, it likely has had an eventful life. Scientists suspect it may have started off in a much closer orbit around two parent stars before it was gravitationally bounced to its extreme distance. Scientists plan additional observations to determine if the planet's orbit is actually stable. "It is not clear how this planet ended up on its wide orbit in this extreme system ... but it shows there is more variety out there than many would have deemed possible," Wagner said. The planet was detected using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. (Reuters)

Astronomers spy giant planet that circles three suns

NASA&#39;s Juno spacecraft hurtled closer toward Jupiter on Friday, headed for a July 4 leap into polar orbit around the solar system&#39;s largest planet to analyse how it formed and helped set the stage for life on Earth. 
 
During a 20-month study, Juno is expected to circle the gas giant in 37 egg-shaped orbits to measure microwaves radiating from inside the planet&#39;s thick atmosphere, map its massive magnetic field and conduct other experiments. 
 
Scientists are particularly keen to learn how much water Jupiter contains, a key to unlocking the origins of the largest celestial body in the solar system after the sun. 
 
Jupiter currently orbits the sun at a distance about five times farther away than Earth, but it may have formed in a different location and migrated, gravitationally elbowing aside other planets along the way. 
 
&quot;Something happens that allows a star to be born and then afterwards the planets ... That eventually leads to us,&quot; said the mission&#39;s lead scientist, Scott Bolton, a space physicist with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. 
 
More than half of the material left over from the formation of the sun 4.6 billion years ago ended up in Jupiter, which has a circumference nearly 11 times bigger than Earth&#39;s and is itself orbited by 67 known moons. 
 
Jupiter is made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, the two simplest and most abundant elements in the universe, but the planet&#39;s enormous mass generates such high pressure that the materials behave in unexpected and unknown ways. 
 
&quot;We&#39;re working in a new environment,&quot; said Frances Bagenal, a planetary scientist with the University of Colorado in Boulder. &quot;We don&#39;t know the physics of how things work at these high pressures.&rdquo; 
 
The Juno probe is named for the ancient Roman goddess, who was the wife and sister of Jupiter, the mythological king of gods, and had the power to see through clouds. 
 
From vantage points as close as 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometres) from the planet&#39;s cloud tops, the spacecraft is to not only search for water but assess whether Jupiter possesses a dense core beneath its atmosphere. 
 
&quot;We&#39;re about to embark on an incredible journey,&quot; Bolton said during a news conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. 
 
Juno, careening toward Jupiter at more than 160,000 miles per hour (25,750 kph), over 200 times the speed of sound, has been programmed to fire its braking rocket at 11:18 pm EDT on Monday (0318 GMT on Tuesday) in order to slow its course. 
 
The rocket must be precisely positioned and burn for 35 minutes to reduce its speed enough to allow it to be captured by Jupiter&#39;s gravity and swing into orbit. 
 
&quot;If that doesn&#39;t all go just right, we fly past Jupiter,&quot; Bolton said. 
 
Only one other spacecraft, NASA&#39;s Galileo space probe, has orbited Jupiter, circling the planet for eight years before colliding with the gas giant in 2003. The first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter was NASA&#39;s Pioneer 10 in 1973. 
 
Juno, which will arrive at Jupiter after a journey of five years and nearly two billion miles (3.2 billion kilometres), is expected to end its mission as the Galileo probe did, crashing itself into the planet to avoid possible contamination of Jupiter&#39;s ocean-bearing moon, Europa, with any microbes carried by the spacecraft. 
 
(Reuters)

Scientists want to know how much water the planet contains to learn about the origins of the solar system's second largest celestial body

NASA's Juno spacecraft hurtled closer toward Jupiter on Friday, headed for a July 4 leap into polar orbit around the solar system's largest planet to analyse how it formed and helped set the stage for life on Earth. During a 20-month study, Juno is expected to circle the gas giant in 37 egg-shaped orbits to measure microwaves radiating from inside the planet's thick atmosphere, map its massive magnetic field and conduct other experiments. Scientists are particularly keen to learn how much water Jupiter contains, a key to unlocking the origins of the largest celestial body in the solar system after the sun. Jupiter currently orbits the sun at a distance about five times farther away than Earth, but it may have formed in a different location and migrated, gravitationally elbowing aside other planets along the way. "Something happens that allows a star to be born and then afterwards the planets ... That eventually leads to us," said the mission's lead scientist, Scott Bolton, a space physicist with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. More than half of the material left over from the formation of the sun 4.6 billion years ago ended up in Jupiter, which has a circumference nearly 11 times bigger than Earth's and is itself orbited by 67 known moons. Jupiter is made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, the two simplest and most abundant elements in the universe, but the planet's enormous mass generates such high pressure that the materials behave in unexpected and unknown ways. "We're working in a new environment," said Frances Bagenal, a planetary scientist with the University of Colorado in Boulder. "We don't know the physics of how things work at these high pressures.” The Juno probe is named for the ancient Roman goddess, who was the wife and sister of Jupiter, the mythological king of gods, and had the power to see through clouds. From vantage points as close as 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometres) from the planet's cloud tops, the spacecraft is to not only search for water but assess whether Jupiter possesses a dense core beneath its atmosphere. "We're about to embark on an incredible journey," Bolton said during a news conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Juno, careening toward Jupiter at more than 160,000 miles per hour (25,750 kph), over 200 times the speed of sound, has been programmed to fire its braking rocket at 11:18 pm EDT on Monday (0318 GMT on Tuesday) in order to slow its course. The rocket must be precisely positioned and burn for 35 minutes to reduce its speed enough to allow it to be captured by Jupiter's gravity and swing into orbit. "If that doesn't all go just right, we fly past Jupiter," Bolton said. Only one other spacecraft, NASA's Galileo space probe, has orbited Jupiter, circling the planet for eight years before colliding with the gas giant in 2003. The first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter was NASA's Pioneer 10 in 1973. Juno, which will arrive at Jupiter after a journey of five years and nearly two billion miles (3.2 billion kilometres), is expected to end its mission as the Galileo probe did, crashing itself into the planet to avoid possible contamination of Jupiter's ocean-bearing moon, Europa, with any microbes carried by the spacecraft. (Reuters)

NASA space probe to lift the veil on Jupiter

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