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Recent Discoveries

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Breaking News

Soil at Viking Landing Sites May Have Contained Carbon-based Chemical Building Blocks of Life   New study shows that when perchlorate is added to desert soil containing organics, chlorine compounds like what was found at the Viking Mars landers result.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News Release of September 3, 2010.

Richest Planetary System Discovered   Astronomers using European Southern Observatory instruments have discovered at least 5 planets orbiting the distant Sun-like star HD 10180.  For complete report, see the European Southern Observatory news report of August 24, 2010. 

Cosmic Lens Used to Probe Dark Energy for First Time   Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope and a massive galaxy cluster as a magnifying lens were able to help measure the mysterious force known as Dark Energy.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News Release of August 19, 2010.

Raisin' Mountains on Saturn's Moon Titan   Scientists believe they have figured out how the mountains on Titan form.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News and Features article of August 12, 2010.

Hundreds of New Views from Telescope Orbiting Mars   A new set of images has been taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  For complete report and links to the new images, see the NASA/JPL News and Features article of August 4, 2010. 

Odds for Life Better in Photosynthesis Zones   Scientists are developing a new method to determine where Earth-like planets with life might be located.  For complete report on this scientific endeavor, see the Astrobiology Magazine news article of July 22, 2010.

Cassini Sees Moon Building Giant Snowballs in Saturn Ring   New images from Cassini spacecraft show icy particles in Saturn's F ring clump into giant snowballs as the moon Prometheus makes multiple swings by the ring.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News and Features report of July 20, 2010.

Single Star Count Ups Odds of ET   New survey shows that Sun-like star systems are more likely to have just a single star and fewer multiple star systems.  For complete report, see the New Scientist article of July 16, 2010.

Dust Disk Found Around Massive Star   New discovery may answer the question on how massive stars are born.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News Release of July 14, 2010.

Saturn Propellers Reflect Solar System Origins   Scientists observe a new class of moons in the rings of Saturn that create distinctive propeller-shaped gaps in ring material.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News Release article of July 8, 2010.

 

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Recent News Articles

 

Newly Discovered Extrasolar Planet May be Capable of Holding Water   The Corot satellite, led by the French Space Agency CNES, has discovered an extrasolar planet called Corot-9b that is temperate enough to maintain liquid water.  For complete report, see the European Space Agency news release of March 18, 2010.

 

NASA-Funded Research Suggests Venus is Geologically Active   Scientists for the first time have detected clear signs of recent lave flows on the surface of Venus indicating that the planet may still be geologically active today.  For complete report, see the JPL News & Features article of April 8, 2010.

 

Herschel Reveals Ripening Stars Near Rosette Nebula   The Herschel Space Observatory has uncovered a cosmic garden of young stars where each are expected to grow to 10 times the mass of our sun.  For complete report, see the JPL News and Features article of April 12, 2010.

 

Six Exoplanets Discovered Were Found to Orbit Parent Star in Opposite Direction   This new discovery provides serious challenges to current theories of planet formation.  For complete report, see the European Southern Observatory science release of April 13, 2010

 

NASA's Cassini Sees Powerful Lightning Storms on Saturn   NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured images of lightning on Saturn and this has allowed scientists to create the first movie showing lightning flashes on another planet.  For complete report, see the JPL News and Features article of April 14, 2010. 

 

NASA - The Mysterious Molasses Markings of Pluto  Data from Hubble images reveal that Pluto to be a icy molasses-colored world with a surprising amount of activity.  For complete report, see the Science at NASA news article of April 19, 2010. 

 

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Delivers Stunning First Images   The recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory is returning new images that confirm an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our sun's dynamic processes.  For complete report, see the NASA News article of April 21, 2010.

 

Astronomers Find Water on Surface of Asteroid   Astronomers have found evidence of water ice and organic material on the asteroid 24 Themis.  For complete report, see the Scientific Blogging news report of April 28, 2010.

 

Ancient City of Galaxies Looks Surprisingly Modern   Astronomers have unearthed what may be the most distant, primitive cluster of galaxies ever found.  For complete report, see the Cal Tech  news report of May 12, 2010.

 

Big Mystery - Jupiter Loses a Stripe   The planet Jupiter has lost one of its main cloud bands.  For complete report, see the NASA Science News article of May 20, 2010.

 

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Helps Solves Mysteries of the Martian Ice Cap   The Shallow Radar or SHARAD instrument aboard the Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed subsurface geology of events that took place in the northern ice cap of Mars.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News release of May 26, 2010.

 

NASA Rover Finds Clue to Mars' Past and Environment for Life   Rocks examined by NASA's Spirit Mars Rover hold evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been favorable for life.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News and Features article of June 3, 2010.

 

Have We Discovered Evidence for Life on Titan?   Results from Cassini spacecraft show a depletion of hydrogen and acetylene at the surface of Titan.  These findings makes it interesting for astrobiology.  For complete report, see the Ciclops.org article of June 7, 2010.

 

Zooming In on an Infant Solar System   Astronomers have observed for the first time solar systems in the making in great detail.  For complete report, see the University of Arizona News report of June 10, 2010.

 

Jupiter Impact: Mystery of the Missing Debris   On June 3, a comet or an asteroid struck Jupiter's cloud tops and disintegrated but strangely enough left no debris to be found.  For complete report, see the NASA Science News article of June 11, 2010.

 

New CU-Boulder Study Indicates an Ancient Ocean May Have Covered One-Third of Mars   A vast ocean likely covered one-third of Mars some 3.5 billion years ago.  For complete report, see the University of Colorado-Boulder news report of June 13, 2010.

 

Hunting for Fossils on Europa   News report focuses on the prospect of finding evidence of past life on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.  For complete report, see the Astrobiology Magazine news article of June 17, 2010.

 

Astronomers Discover Star-Studded Galaxy Tail   NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has discovered a galaxy tail studded with bright knots of new stars - offers new insight on how stars form.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News and Features article of June 17, 2010.

 

Scientists Report that Moon Has More Water Than Previously Thought   Latest findings show that there in more than enough water in lunar rocks to fill the Great Lakes here on Earth.  For complete report, see the CNN News article of June 17, 2010.

 

New Clues Suggest Wet Era on Early Mars Was Global   Minerals seen in northern Martian craters suggest that in early Mars history conditions for life was favorable there and not just in the southern parts of the planet.  For complete report, see the NASA/JPL News Release article of June 24, 2010