The Sky Tonight

May 18, 2016

Hunting for Hidden Life on Worlds Orbiting Old, Red Stars
Ithaca NY (SPX) May 18, 2016
All throughout the universe, there are stars in varying phases and ages. Planetary diversity suggests that around other stars, initially frozen worlds could be the size of Earth and provide habitable conditions once the star becomes older. The oldest detected Kepler planets (exoplanets found using NASA's Kepler telescope) are about 11 billion years old. Our Sun is currently 4.6 billion years old. Astronomers usually looked at middle-aged stars like our Sun, but to find habitable worlds, one needs ... read more

Previous Issues

May 17

May 16

May 13

May 12

May 11

Other Suns Got the Right Spin Astrophysicists from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have for the first time measured the rotation periods of stars in a cluster ne ... more		We'll Leave the Lights on for You Looking up at the night sky - expansive and seemingly endless, stars and constellations blinking and glimmering like jewels just out of reach - it's impossible not to wonder: Are we alone? For ... more		What sparks one of the most explosive processes in the universe Scientists are making new discoveries about a process that causes some of the most explosive events in the universe. At the same time, they are answering questions about Earth's magnetosphere - the ... more
				Physicists measure van der Waals forces of individual atoms for the first time Physicists at the Swiss Nanoscience Institute and the University of Basel have succeeded in measuring the very weak van der Waals forces between individual atoms for the first time. To do this, they ... more		Manchester astronomers detect helium-3 4000 light years away A team of astronomers from The University of Manchester, together with collaborators from the Centro de Astrobiologia and the Deep Space Network, Spain and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexic ... more

Space Tech Expo - Design - Build - Test - Pasadena CA - May 24-26, 2016

Simons observatory will investigate the early universe Princeton University researchers will have an integral role in the Simons Observatory, a new astronomy facility in South America recently established with a $38.4 million grant from the Simons Found ... more		Hubble spies a spiral snowflake Together with irregular galaxies, spiral galaxies make up approximately 60 percent of the galaxies in the local universe. However, despite their prevalence, each spiral galaxy is unique - like snowf ... more		U.S. defense in free fall Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		Chandra movie captures expanding debris from stellar explosion When the star that created this supernova remnant exploded in 1572, it was so bright that it was visible during the day. And though he wasn't the first or only person to observe this stellar spectac ... more
				Amateurs prepare big-picture perspective to support Juno Some of the world's leading amateur and professional astronomers are meeting on 12-13 May to prepare for a campaign of ground-based global observations in support of NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter. ... more		Small blue galaxy could shed new light on Big Bang, IU astronomers say A faint blue galaxy about 30 million light-years from Earth and located in the constellation Leo Minor could shed new light on conditions at the birth of the universe. Astronomers at Indiana Univers ... more

Human 2 Mars Conference May 17-19 2016 - Washington DC

Transition from Operations to Decommissioning by Preparing a Safe, Cost-Effective Shut Down and Waste Management Strategy

The World's Largest Commercial Drone Conference and Expo - Sept 7-9 - Las Vegas

Directed Energy And Next Generation Munitions - 20-22 June - Washington DC

Exoplanets' Orbits Point to Planetary Migration The four planets of the Kepler-223 star system seem to have little in common with the planets of Earth's own solar system. And yet a new study shows that the Kepler-223 system is trapped in an orbit ... more		MMS Puts Magnetic Reconnection Under the Microscope A team led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has made the first direct detection of the source of magnetic reconnection. Analyzing data from NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, scie ... more		GUARDIAN Tsunami Detection Tech Catches Wave in Real Time Galileo daughter mission named Celeste to strengthen navigation resilience How quantum computers can be validated when solving unsolvable problems		Close-up Hubble images show new details of comet Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Comet 252P/LINEAR just after a close encounter with Earth on March 21. The close proximity to the comet offered scientists new insi ... more
Star Has Four Mini-Neptunes Orbiting in Lock Step A four-planet system observed several years ago by the Kepler spacecraft is actually a rarity: Its planets, all miniature Neptunes nestled close to the star, are orbiting in a unique resonance that ... more		Did Star Formation Regulation Change as the Universe Evolved An international team led by scientists at the Subaru Telescope and Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich in Switzerland used the W. M. Keck Observatory to study the role of star formati ... more		Metal Content in Early Galaxies Challenges Star Forming Theory An International team led by scientists at ETH Zurich in Switzerland used the W. M. Keck Observatory to study the role of star formation rates in metal contents of distant galaxies. What they discov ... more		Spacecraft fly through magnetic phenomenon to understand space weather For the first time, spacecraft have flown through the heart of a magnetic process that controls Earth's space weather and geomagnetic storms. The Earth is surrounded by a magnetic bubble, called the ... more

	NASA directly observes fundamental process of nature for 1st time Like sending sensors up into a hurricane, NASA has flown four spacecraft through an invisible maelstrom in space, called magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection is one of the prime drivers of s ... more		How light is detected affects the atom that emits it Flick a switch on a dark winter day and your office is flooded with bright light, one of many everyday miracles to which we are all usually oblivious. A physicist would probably describe what is hap ... more

Ohio State scientists advance focus on nuclear propulsion

Mixing neutrinos of colliding neutron stars changes how merger unfolds

China launches experimental satellites to enhance mobile space internet

Dartmouth announces new way to explore mathematical universe		Nuclear physics' interdisciplinary progress		A quasiparticle collider		Asteroid Mining - What the Heck		Synchronized planets reveal clues to planet formation
Kepler space telescope finds another 1284 exo planets		Building compact particle accelerators		Atomic force microscope reveals molecular ghosts		Exploring the mathematical universe		Intense wind found in neighborhood of a black hole

The hard knock life of Saturn's Epimetheus

Observing how microbes adapt in a spaceflight environment

When neutron stars emit gravitational waves

Comet craters - literal melting pots for life on Earth

Swept Up in the Solar Wind

Natural Causes, Not Aliens, Explain Mystery Star's Behavior

Sun's magnetic field during the grand minimum is in fact at its maximum

NASA says 1,284 new planets found by Kepler telescope

Enceladus jets: surprises in starlight

Silicate stardust traces histories of dust in the galaxy

Airbus Defence and Space to lead TeSeR, next EU project to clean up space

First global topographic model of Mercury

'Starspot' images give insights into early sun

Accelerating complex computer simulations: thinking beyond ones and zeros

Stochastic resonance, chaos transfer shown in microresonator

NASA sounding-rocket missions will explore coronal nanoflares

Three potentially habitable worlds found around nearby ultracool dwarf star

NMSU investigates phenomenon crucial for solar flare production

The 2016 Transit of Mercury

Scientists discover potentially habitable planets

Buy Advertising

Media Advertising Kit

Editorial & Other Enquiries

Privacy statement

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - 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.