The Sky Tonight

April 30, 2014

Search for life on exoplanets more difficult than thought
Toronto, Canada (SPX) May 01, 2014
A new study from the University of Toronto Scarborough suggests the search for life on planets outside our solar system may be more difficult than previously thought. The study, authored by a team of international researchers led by UTSC Assistant Professor Hanno Rein from the Department of Physical and Environmental Science, finds the method used to detect biosignatures on such planets, known as exoplanets, can produce a false positive result. The presence of multiple chemicals such as meth ... read more

Previous Issues

Apr 29

Apr 28

Apr 25

Apr 24

Apr 23

Proving uncertainty: New insight into old problem Nearly 90 years after Werner Heisenberg pioneered his uncertainty principle, a group of researchers from three countries has provided substantial new insight into this fundamental tenet of quantum p ... more		Alien planet's rotation speed clocked for first time Tired of the nine-to-five, the eight-hour work day? At least Earth's 24-hour day leaves some time for eating and sleeping. On Beta Pictoris b, the alien planet with only eight hours in its day, there'd only be time for work, work, work. ... more		Star Is Discovered To Be a Close Neighbor of the Sun and the Coldest of Its Kind A "brown dwarf" star that appears to be the coldest of its kind - as frosty as Earth's North Pole - has been discovered by a Penn State University astronomer using NASA's Wide-field Infrared Surve ... more
				Astronomical Forensics Uncover Planetary Disks in NASA's Hubble Archive Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have applied a new image processing technique to obtain near-infrared scattered light photos of five disks observed around young stars in the Mikulski ... more		Asteroids as Seen From Mars; A Curiosity Rover First A new image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is the first ever from the surface of Mars to show an asteroid, and it shows two: Ceres and Vesta. These two - the largest and third-largest bodie ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Seven Samples from the Solar System's Birth by Aaron L. Gronstal for a href="http://www.astrobio.net/">Astrobiology Magazine /a> At this year's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), scientists reported that, after eight painstaking ... more		Cosmic illusion revealed: Gravitational lens magnifies supernova A team of researchers led by Robert Quimby at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) has announced the discovery of a galaxy that magnified a background, Ty ... more		EU leaders plot defence boost in shadow of Denmark drones Germany wants to allow military to shoot down drones Leaked info: China's Taiwan invasion plans get help from Russia		X-class Flare Erupts from Sun on April 24 The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 8:27 p.m. EDT on April 24, 2014. Images of the flare were captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Solar flares are powerful b ... more
				Metabolism may have started in our early oceans before the origin of life The chemical reactions behind the formation of common metabolites in modern organisms could have formed spontaneously in the earth's early oceans, questioning the events thought to have led to the o ... more		Physicist demonstrates dictionary definition was dodgy It is the defining moment that demonstrates a QUT physicist was correct in pointing out a 99-year-old mistake to one of the world's most authoritative dictionaries. QUT Senior Lecturer in Phys ... more

UAV Payloads 2014, 24 - 25 June - London, UK

International Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures From Space Environment

Startup in the Land of the Rising Sun; A Japanese Solar Venture - by Bradley L. Bartz

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

A new key to unlocking the mysteries of physics? Quantum turbulence The recent discovery of the Higgs boson has confirmed theories about the origin of mass and, with it, offered the potential to explain other scientific mysteries. But, scientists are continual ... more		Big data poses great challenges and opportunities for databases Advances in the technology frontier have resulted in major disruptions and transformations in the massive data processing infrastructures. For the past three decades, classical database management s ... more		Philippines quake kills dozens as injured overwhelm hospitals Typhoon Bualoi inflicts death, lasting floods on Vietnam Moldova backs EU in elections marred by Russian interference		Economics = MC2 A portrait of the modern physics startup For much of the 20th century, many of the technological innovations that drove U.S. economic growth emerged from "idea factories" housed within large companies - research units like Bell Labs or Xe ... more
				Space terrorism, floating debris pose threats to US The United States is increasingly vulnerable to space terrorism, according to a new report, as it is more reliant on its satellites and other installations in space to conduct national security oper ... more		Solved: Mysteries of a Nearby Planetary System's Dynamics Mysteries of one of the most fascinating nearby planetary systems now have been solved, report authors of a scientific paper to be published by the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical ... more

Dwarf planet 'Biden' identified in an unlikely region of our solar system

Planet X myth debunked

WISE Finds Thousands Of New Stars But No Planet X

Metabolism may have started in our early oceans before the origin of life

Search for life on exoplanets more difficult than thought

Impact glass stores biodata for millions of years

Alien planet's rotation speed clocked for first time

Seven Samples from the Solar System's Birth

Astronomical Forensics Uncover Planetary Disks in NASA's Hubble Archive

Traces of recent water on Mars

Drill Here? NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Inspects Site

Mission to Mars

	Professional and Amateur Astronomers Join Forces Long before the term "citizen science" was coined, the field of astronomy has benefited from countless men and women who study the sky in their spare time. These amateur astronomers devote hours exp ... more		Bright Points in Sun's Atmosphere Mark Patterns Deep In Its Interior Like a balloon bobbing along in the air while tied to a child's hand, a tracer has been found in the sun's atmosphere to help track the flow of material coursing underneath the sun's surface. ... more		Curiosity spots asteroids from the surface of Mars For the first time, NASA's Curiosity rover has captured images of an asteroid from the surface of Mars - two of them, in fact. ... more		An Earth-sized planet that might hold liquid water In a dim and faraway solar system, astronomers have for the first time discovered a rocky, Earth-sized planet that might hold liquid water-a necessary ingredient for life as we know it. The pl ... more

Worlds most powerful centrifuge begins operations in China

Physicists tighten the net on elusive dark matter

SATNUS completes third NGWS flight campaign with autonomous systems integration

Unique pair of hidden black holes discovered by XMM-Newton		Sun Emits a Mid-level Solar Flare		MESSENGER Completes Its 3,000th Orbit of Mercury, Sets Mark for Closest Approach		Astronomers discover Earth-sized planet in habitable zone		High-Voltage Transmission Lines to Act as Antenna in First-of-its-Kind NASA Space-Weather Project
Liquid spacetime		ESA's weightless plants fly on a Dragon		Spiders in Space Weave a Web of Scientific Inspiration for Spider-Man Fans		A Star's Early Chemistry Shapes Life-Friendly Atmospheres		Impact glass stores biodata for millions of years

NASA's MMS Observatories Stacked For Testing

Physicists consider implications of recent revelations about the universe's first light

First Potentially Habitable Earth-Sized Planet Confirmed By Gemini And Keck Observatories

Filling the gap between quantum and classical world

Upside-down planet reveals new method for studying binary star systems

Vitamin B3 Might Have Been Made in Space, Delivered to Earth by Meteorites

European astronomers spot pair of supermassive black holes

A cross-section of the Universe

Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI

John C. Houbolt, Unsung Hero of the Apollo Program, Dies at Age 95

Astronomers: 'Tilt-a-worlds' could harbor life

Information storage for the next generation of plastic computers

NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface

Odd Tilts Could Make More Worlds Habitable

Searching for dark energy with neutrons

A study in scarlet

Planet Kepler 186 is good parallel to Earth, but there is little chance to detect life

New Study Outlines 'Water World' Theory of Life's Origins

B3: the vitamin from outer space

Physicists discover new type of particle using Large Hadron Collider

Free Newsletters - Space - Defense - Environment - Energy

Buy Advertising

Media Advertising Kit

Editorial & Other Enquiries

Privacy statement

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.