Ker Than for National Geographic News / October 15, 2009

Stevie Wonder may have been on to something when he sang about a ribbon in the sky

In a discovery that took astronomers by surprise, the first full-sky map of the solar system's edge—more than 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away—has revealed a bright "ribbon" of atoms called ENAs.

The solar system is surrounded by a protective "bubble" called the heliosphere.

The narrow ribbon snakes along this bubble's inner wall between Voyager 1 and 2, twin spacecraft that have been exploring the solar system's boundary since 2004 and 2007, respectively. (Related: "Voyager Probes Send Surprises From Solar System's Edge.")

Voyager data, taken from specific regions within the boundary zone, had offered no hint that the ribbon existed. But from its orbit around Earth, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft was able to give researchers a wider view.

IBEX team member Eric Christian, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, compared the Voyager spacecraft to weather stations on Earth.

"Can you imagine trying to determine the weather of the entire Earth from two weather stations? You can't do it," Christian told reporters at a press conference this afternoon.

Spotted here

COROT has found the smallest terrestrial planet ever detected outside the Solar System. The amazing planet is less than twice the size of Earth and orbits a Sun-like star. Its temperature is so high that it is possibly covered in lava or water vapour. ...Read More...

PASADENA, Calif. - Astronomers have announced the discovery of a fifth planet circling 55 Cancri, a star beyond our solar system. The star now holds the record for number of confirmed extrasolar planets orbiting in a planetary system.

»www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/new···106.html

Astronomers have found the most Sun-like star yet, and they say it is an ideal place to hunt for alien civilisations.
The star, called HIP 56948, lies a little more than 200 light years from Earth. Its size, mass, temperature, and chemical makeup are all so similar to the Sun's that no measurable differences could be found in high-resolution observations made by the 2.7-metre telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, US.

»space.newscientist.com/article.n···ws_rss20

British scientists expect that the first evidence of primitive alien life, such as microbes and vegetation, will emerge within 10 years, with more substantial finds following future space missions.

»www.guardian.co.uk/space/article···,00.html

By Bruce Gain and Kristen Philipkoski

Scientists seeking habitable planets beyond Earth scored a lucky hit last week with the discovery of Gliese 581c, the first yet found with an orbit in the so-called Goldilocks zone (not too hot, not too cold).

But confirming life there, and in other yet-to-be-discovered systems, will require a new generation of space telescopes capable of picking up "signatures" such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane. NASA and the European Space Agency are developing planet finders that will do just that by 2020, assuming funding comes through.

Story Continues

KOROLYOV, Russia (1010 WINS) -- An American billionaire who paid $25 million for a 13-day trip to outer space returned to Earth on Saturday in a space capsule that also carried a cosmonaut and a U.S. astronaut, making a soft landing on the Kazakh steppe.

Really Old Stars Perhaps Ideal for Advanced Civilizations

»www.space.com/searchforlife/0704···day.html

David Shiga

Bullet-like clumps of gas hurtle through the Orion stellar nursery at supersonic speed in a new image from the Gemini North observatory. The unusual structures are revealed in unprecedented detail by newly commissioned laser-equipped optics.

Agencies mull global plans for space exploration

»www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/15···oration/

By Seth Shostak
SETI Institute

“At what point would you abandon the search?”

That’s a question I get relatively frequently from folks who think that SETI may be a quixotic quest, as futile as searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. After all, modern efforts to find signals from extraterrestrial transmitters are now in their fifth decade.

For Jill Tarter, the revelation came when she was a child walking on a Florida Keys beach with her father. "I remember just looking and thinking that up there, somewhere around one of those stars, there's another little girl walking on the beach with her dad," Tarter said.

How could there not be, when the stars in the sky are as common as the grains of sand beneath her feet?

More here »www.signonsandiego.com/news/scie···dex.html

»www.guardian.co.uk/space/article···00.html

A European spacecraft took off today to spearhead the search for another "Earth" among the stars.

The Corot space telescope blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan shortly after 2.20pm.

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- An ancient astronomical calculator made at the end of the 2nd century BC was amazingly accurate and more complex than any instrument for the next 1,000 years, scientists said on Wednesday.

»www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/11/3···dex.html

I found this item in my local newspaper. I don't think you have to register to see this article, though the site might like you to.

»www.spaceref.com/calendar/calend···id=4200

...this is not an announcement about finding a signal from ET, the face on Mars, or anything else. It is far more mundane. Details of the announcement were released - under press embargo - to reporters last week...

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON Oct 11, 2006 (AP)— Just a little more than a year ago, the small spot on Jupiter was a pale white; now it matches the reddish hue of its bigger sibling, the Great Red Spot, and boasts 400 mph winds, according to new data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Both spots are actually fierce storms in Jupiter's atmosphere. While the red spot at three times the size of Earth is much more noticeable, strange things are happening to the smaller spot.

Continued here

»today.reuters.com/news/articlene···s&rpc=22

»techfreep.com/zero-gravity-surge···cess.htm

»www.space.com/businesstechnology···ion.html