Topic: American Astronomical Society
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Hubble
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day 06/25
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Hunt for asteroids near earth way too slow, study says
Astronomers should dramatically ramp up the sky surveys, not only to better prepare for threats to Earth but also to exploit asteroids' contents, scientists say.
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Do Pluto's moons pose risks for NASA spacecraft? (+video)
Scientists are planning a new route for NASA's New Horizons space probe as it approaches a potentially perilous path toward Pluto. They aim to chart a safe, but interesting course.
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Bizarre alien 'Tatooine' orbits two suns, in four-star solar system
The alien planet, called PH1, is a gas giant planet slightly bigger than Neptune.
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Amazing planets: mini solar system, 'Star Wars' lookalike among new finds
The catalogue of newly found planets is becoming richer by the day. By one new estimate, virtually all the billions of stars in the Milky Way could have a planet orbiting them.
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NASA able to observe a long time ago, in newly found galaxies far, far away
Researchers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to find five tiny but bright galaxies clustered together 13.1 billion light-years from Earth.
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Scientists discover a real-life Tatooine orbiting two suns
But there are probably no jawas, moisture farmers, sand people, banthas, dewbacks, womp rats, sandcrawlers, a Pit of Carkoon, nor a strange old hermit who lives beyond the Dune Sea.
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Scientists discover three smallest alien planets yet
All three exoplanets are thought to be rocky like Earth. However, their closeness to their star makes them too hot to be in the habitable zone, the area around a star neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface.
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Humongous 'El Gordo' galaxy cluster packs mass of 2 quadrillion stars
Located some7 billion light-years from Earth, 'El Gordo' is the biggest and hottest cluster of galaxies ever observed in the early universe.
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Scientists unveil biggest ever map of universe's dark matter
Even though it cannot be seen directly, dark matter, which represents 98 percent of the mass of the universe, exerts a gravitational pull on normal matter, including light. By measuring its tug on starlight, astronomers have mapped the distribution of this mysterious substance.
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Scientists 'see' dark matter web for first time
By observing how light is bent, a team of astronomers have created a visual map of how dark matter is distributed throughout the universe.
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A real-life 'Avatar'? Search begins for moons that could support life.
With scientists already looking for Earth-size planets orbiting in distant stars' habitable zones, a new project is using similar techniques to look for moons, too.
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Surprise find in Kepler planet hunt: lots of multi-planet systems
NASA's Kepler spacecraft, which is searching for Earth-mass planets orbiting sun-like stars, is finding hundreds of candidate planets, and many more multi-planet systems than expected.
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Stars hurtling through space could someday mess up our cosmic neighborhood
Researchers calculated the orbits of 40,000 low-mass M-dwarf stars and found 18 that may come dangerously close to our cosmic neighborhood in the next billion years. While the chances of this actually happening are probably slim, researchers said, the results could be dramatic.
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Scientists investigate intergalactic space blob: What is it?
A schoolteacher discovered a blob of glowing hydrogen gas – called Hanny's Voorwerp in her honor – that astronomers say points to a nearly-invisible quenched quasar.
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Red dwarf star systems: Promising for life, but watch the apocalyptic flares
Red dwarf stars have several virtues that make them potential homes for Earth-like planets, but a new study suggests they also produce the largest solar flares ever seen.
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In search for Earth-size world, a historic first: Kepler finds rocky planet
For the first time, scientists have confirmed an exoplanet that is rocky like Earth – not a gas giant. It's also 2,500 degrees F and denser than iron, so it's no candidate for life, say members of the team working with the planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft.
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Life on Earth may have originated in the sky rather than the sea
The primordial haze theory competes with the primordial soup theory in a new scientific debate.
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World Space Week launches today on Sputnik anniversary
World Space Week: This week, organizations across the globe celebrate the 11th annual World Space Week, which highlights the contributions of space science and technology to life on Earth.
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Hubble
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day 06/25
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Two giant black holes surprise scientists with unexpected behavior
Two new studies have turned up some surprising results and could help explain the evolution of galaxies.
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NASA captures 3D video of comet plunging into sun
NASA's twin sun-watching STEREO spacecrafts have tracked a comet as it looped around the sun before impact.
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Wild planetary orbits could affect habitability
New findings suggest that the ability of life to thrive on an alien world might depend on the wild orbits of its planetary neighbors.
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NASA's WISE telescope delivers a stunning image of the Heart and Soul nebulae
The images of these star-nurseries were taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, space telescope, which is about three-fourths of the way through it's infrared scan of the entire sky.
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Happy birthday to the Hubble Telescope
The Hubble Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990. NASA says the best is yet to come.
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