A possibly Earth-like planet has been discovered in a (relatively) nearby star! Exciting times indeed.

The seasons of the Earth are caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis, not the distance from the Earth to the Sun. From approximately September 21st to March 21st, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, thus receiving less hours of daylight, hence it is winter. At the same time, the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, ( Read more... )

The Japanese/ESA satellite Solar-B which launched sucessfully recently has now been named: Hinode ("hee-no-day"). This means "sunrise" in Japanese. It's predecesor, Yohkoh, which means "sunbeam" (initially Solar-A), was unfortunately lost a few years ago (when we say "lost", we really mean that an unfortunate trail of circumstances led to it's ( Read more... )

It has finally been decreed - the solar system contains only 8 true planets: Pluto is not one. It is now officially a "dwarf planet", a whole new classification. A planet has the following definition:

A "planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so ( Read more... )

This is a fascinating set of images that shows the relative sizes of planets, the Sun and stars in 3D - quite amazing! [I saw it linked in astronomy.]

Ever wondered where spacecraft such as the Voyagers and Cassini are? Well, many of these are tracked by the NASA Deep Space Network, the facility in charge of controlling and communicating with many robotic missions ( Read more... )

There is a solar eclipse today, totality (a complete eclipse) being visible from the very eastern edge of Brazil, across Africa then across the Middle East and on into south west Russia.


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