Solar system

Mission reveals surprises about the planet Mercury

Last updated Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - 5:42pm

The smallest planet in the solar system keeps serving up big surprises. Scientists working on the Messenger mission to Mercury have found that the planet has unexpected inner layers and craters with tilted bottoms, and it may have been geologically active far later into its life than previously imagined.

Features, Mercury, Planets, Solar system, Space     Read more     Comments
This illustration provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows artist's renderings of planets Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f compared with Venus and the Earth. Scientists have found the two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere. The discovery shows that such planets exist and that they can be detected by the Kepler spacecraft, said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. They’re the smallest planets found so far outside the solar system. Scientists are seeking Earth-sized planets as potential homes for extraterrestrial life, said Fressin, who reports the new findings in a paper published online Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2011 by the journal Nature. (AP Photo/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

Two Earth-sized planets discovered

Last updated Wednesday, December 21, 2011 - 11:04am

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler mission has found the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. But they're too hot to support liquid water -- or life.

Features, Astronomers, Planets, Science, Solar system, Space, NASA     Read more     Comments
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