Secret Behind Jupiter's Giant Size

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. 120 times the size of Earth. However, recent measurements by the spacecraft reveal the planet’s core at most 10 times the size of the planet we inhabit.Recent studies found that about Jupiter, the giant planet has a core of very small compared with the size. Scientists believe, so the planet Jupiter, the largest in the Milky Way Galaxy because he swallowed the other small planets, before the swell.

As disclosed in the site of science, New Scientist, the core of Jupiter thought to have greater evaporation in a collision with a planet the size 10 times the size of Earth. This study provides new insight into a process that is fierce in the early formation of our solar system.Researchers from Peking University, China has to imitate what might happen in the event that the collision. The simulation results show, rocky planets closer to Jupiter will be demolished as it hit the giant planet’s atmosphere.

Half an hour later, the planet would fall into the core of Jupiter. Heavy elements in the core as the metal will evaporate and then mixed with hydrogen and helium in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Scientists believe this may explain why the core of Jupiter is very small but extremely dense atmosphere.Douglas Lin of the University of California, said that while the smaller planet does not bump into him, Jupiter will continue to grow into a giant planet itself.

The research team said, elements in the planet Saturn may also be caused by something similar, a collision with a smaller planet.The planets in our solar system created by collisions between dwarf planets that orbit the Sun, who was also born. In the process the impact, small planets to melt and form planets is greater.

Earth and Moon are the result of a collision between two giant planets about the size of Mars and Venus.Collision process occurs in less than 24 hours, and the temperature of the earth at that time was very high, around 7000 degrees Celsius, where rock and metal can be melted.

Sun Tsunami Heading into Earth Day

Earth is threatened due to being hit by a wave of bad weather in space this Tuesday, after a huge explosion of the Sun. Thus the warning issued by scientists.Sun explosion that happened last week was recorded by several satellites, including the latest satellite of the U.S. space agency, NASA, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), who observed shock waves on the surface of the Sun.

Explosion leads to Earth and potentially send ‘tsunami Sun’ which crossed the sky over 93 million miles.Site of New Scientist reports, satellite images generated SDO showed flare shock waves from the Sun into space.Experts say, the wave will reach Earth superkilat gas this Tuesday – which will hit the shield that protects the Earth’s magnetic field.This event is expected to trigger the appearance of spectacular aurora, or northern and southern lights on Earth.Scientists have warned previously, that the sun blasts a huge big potential to damage satellites and power, and means of communication on Earth.NASA recently warned that the UK could suffer due to power outages and damage communications system for a long time, after the storm hit the Earth the Sun.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mvdRMgmUR7c&rel=0&fs=1

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph page spread predictions of a senior space expert who believes the Earth will be hit by a storm of energy that startling sun, after sun up from the ‘long sleep’ some time in the year 2013.Dr Lucie Green of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, continue to observe increased activity of the Sun through a telescope Japan, Hinode.”Fireworks are produced by the Sun was incredible,” he said, such as pages loaded Telegraph, Monday, August 2, 2010.”This is a rare phenomenon, the explosion was not only one, two nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in different locations, and will be launched toward the Earth.

He explained, this eruption occurred when a large magnetic structures in the Sun’s atmosphere and the loss of stability can no longer pressed by the gravity of the Sun.”The first eruption seen so large that changing the magnetic field at half the Sun’s atmosphere and conditioning for the second explosion.”The explosion led to the Earth’s potential, but may run at different speeds.””This means we have an excellent opportunity to observe the effects, both main effects and prolonged impact.” However, there has been no explanation from a spokesman for NASA.
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As NewScientist page is loaded, the Sun’s magnetic explosions will form a cloud complex which sends electrical particles to Earth.When it hit the early Earth, can occur anytime, even now, it would trigger auroras at the poles.At worst, this could be a threat to satellites – though probably not the worst.Earth is threatened due to being hit by a wave of bad weather in space this Tuesday, after a huge explosion of the Sun. Thus the warning issued by scientists.

Sun explosion that happened last week was recorded by several satellites, including the latest satellite of the U.S. space agency, NASA, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), who observed shock waves on the surface of the Sun.Explosion leads to Earth and potentially send ‘tsunami Sun’ which crossed the sky over 93 million miles.Site of New Scientist reports, satellite images generated SDO showed flare shock waves from the Sun into space.

Experts say, the wave will reach Earth superkilat gas this Tuesday – which will hit the shield that protects the Earth’s magnetic field.This event is expected to trigger the appearance of spectacular aurora, or northern and southern lights on Earth.Scientists have warned previously, that the sun blasts a huge big potential to damage satellites and power, and means of communication on Earth.NASA recently warned that the UK could suffer due to power outages and damage communications system for a long time, after the storm hit the Earth the Sun.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph page spread predictions of a senior space expert who believes the Earth will be hit by a storm of energy that startling sun, after sun up from the ‘long sleep’ some time in the year 2013.Dr Lucie Green of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, continue to observe increased activity of the Sun through a telescope Japan, Hinode.

“Fireworks are produced by the Sun was incredible,” he said, such as pages loaded Telegraph, Monday, August 2, 2010.”This is a rare phenomenon, the explosion was not only one, two nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in different locations, and will be launched toward the Earth.He explained, this eruption occurred when a large magnetic structures in the Sun’s atmosphere and the loss of stability can no longer pressed by the gravity of the Sun.”The first eruption seen so large that changing the magnetic field at half the Sun’s atmosphere and conditioning for the second explosion.”The explosion led to the Earth’s potential, but may run at different speeds.””This means we have an excellent opportunity to observe the

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As NewScientist page is loaded, the Sun’s magnetic explosions will form a cloud complex which sends electrical particles to Earth.When it hit the early Earth, can occur anytime, even now, it would trigger auroras at the poles.At worst, this could be a threat to satellites – though probably not the worst.

European Space Agency have got photo of the asteroid Lutetia in the range of 280 million around Mars and Jupiter

BERLIN The European Space Agency has taken the closest look yet at asteroid Lutetia in an extraordinary quest some 280 million miles in outer space between Mars and Jupiter.The comet-chaser Rosetta transmitted its first pictures from the largest asteroid ever visited by a satellite Saturday night after it flew by Lutetia as close as 1,900 miles (3,200 kilometers), ESA said in Darmstadt, Germany.”These are fantastic and exciting pictures,” space agency scientist Rita Schulz said in a webcast presentation. She said it would take several weeks before all 400 pictures and all data from the high-precision instruments aboard Rosetta would come through to Earth.”I am a very happy man,” said ESA manager David Southwood. “It is a great day for European Science and for world science.”Though Lutetia was discovered some 150 years ago, for a long time it was little more than a point of light to those on Earth. Only recent high-resolution ground-based imaging has given a vague view of the asteroid, the agency said.”At the moment we know very little about it,” Schulz said.

Lutetia is believed to be 83.3 miles (134 kilometers) in diameter with a “pronounced elongation,” but scientists have been puzzled as to what type of asteroid it is – a “primitive” one containing carbon compounds or a metallic asteroid.”We are now going to get the details of this asteroid, which is very important,” Schulz said. “There will be a lot of science coming from that mission.”

Scientists hope to find in the information and images gathered by Rosetta clues to the history of comets and asteroids and of the solar system, Schulz said.For Rosetta, examining Lutetia and other asteroids is only a side event on its long journey to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko – the mission’s destination, said project manager Gerhard Schwehm.Rosetta was launched in 2004 and is expected to reach its target in 2014.Though the wait is long, scientists are certain it is going to be worthwhile, Schwehm said.”We want to study the material out of which the planets formed,” he said. This is possible only close up, he said.(AP)

The threat of Hurricane Sun, 20 times larger than the effects of Hurricane Katrina

Solar activity would become more active and will result in negative effects for the Earth. To prepare for the worst, a leading solar scientists gathered in Washington DC, USA Tuesday, June 8, 2010, to discuss the best ways to protect satellites and Earth’s vital systems of the solar storm.

Solar storm occurs when some point the sun burst and spew splashing of particles that can be damaging. This activity took place in a cycle of 11 years. “The sun has got up from bed length. And in the next few years we will see solar activity in the higher level,” said the head of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, Richard Fisher, like the Christian Science Monitor published pages.

‘At the same time, technological society is developing a new sense of the storm the sun. Society in the 21st century rely heavily on high-tech systems in everyday life are susceptible to storm the sun. GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications could all die suddenly by solar activity. Economic damage caused by solar storms are expected twenty times larger than Hurricane Katrina – as a warning, issued the National Academy of Sciences in a report in 2008.

Fortunately, a lot of damage can be overcome if it knows when a storm is coming. That is why understanding of solar weather and a better ability to provide early warning, it is very important. Placing the satellite in ‘safe mode’ and release the transformer in order to protect the electronics from damaging power surge.

“Space weather forecast is still under development, but we’re making rapid progress,” said Thomas Bogdan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA and NOAA are working together to manage the fleet of satellites that monitor the sun and help to predict changes in solar.

A pair of spacecraft called Stereo (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is located on the opposite side of the sun, which can display a mix of 90 percent of the solar surface. In addition, the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory which), which has just launched in February 2010, can produce new photo active part in the solar surface.

Also, an old satellite, called the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), which was launched in 1997, still monitoring the sun. “I believe we are on the verge of new era where space weather can affect our lives everyday like usual weather of the earth.” Fisher said. “For us, this is very serious.”

Astronomers find loads of water-ice on big asteroid

A slushy cocktail of water-ice and organic materials has been directly detected on the surface of an asteroid for the first time. The finding strengthens the theory that asteroids delivered the ingredients for Earth’s oceans and life, and could make astronomers rethink conventional models for how the Solar System evolved.

It has long been thought that asteroids, which lie in a belt between Mars and Jupiter, are rocky bodies that sit too close to the Sun to retain ice. By contrast, comets, which form further out beyond Neptune, are ice-rich bodies that develop distinctive tails of vaporized gas and dust when they approach the Sun. However, this distinction was blurred in 2006 by the discovery of small objects with comet-like tails in the asteroid belt1, says astronomer Andrew Rivkin of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.To investigate the composition of these ‘main-belt comets’, Rivkin and his colleague Joshua Emery, of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, turned the infra-red telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, onto the asteroid 24 Themis — the parent body from which two of the smaller comet-like asteroids observed in 2006 were chipped. Emery and Rivkin took seven measurements of 24 Themis over a period of six years, each time looking at a different face of the asteroid as it travelled around its orbit. They consistently found a band in the absorption spectrum of light reflected from its surface that indicated the presence of grains coated in water ice, as well as the signature of carbon-to-hydrogen chemical bonds — as found in organic materials. Rivkin and Emery’s work is published in this week’s Nature2.

“Astronomers have looked at dozens of asteroids with this technique, but this is the first time we’ve seen ice on the surface and organics,” says Rivkin. The result was independently confirmed by a team led by Humberto Campins at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He and his colleagues observed 24 Themis for 7 hours one night, as it almost fully rotated on its axis. “Between us, we have seen the asteroid from almost every angle and we see global coverage,” says Campins. He and his team also publish their findings in this week’s Nature3.

Julie Castillo-Rogez, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, describes the findings as “huge”. “This answers the long-term question of whether there is free water in the asteroid belt,” she says.
Icy interloper

Because 24 Themis lies only about 479 million kilometres from the Sun (roughly three times the mean distance from Earth to the Sun), it is surprising that the surface ice has not all been vaporized. Both teams speculate that more ice may be held in a reservoir beneath the asteroid’s surface, shielded from the Sun, and that this ice is slowly churned up as the asteroid is struck by small bodies in the belt, thus replenishing the surface ice.The findings lend weight to the idea that asteroids and comets are the source of Earth’s water and organic material. Geochemists think that the early Earth went through a molten phase when any organic molecules would have dissociated, so new organic material would have had to be delivered to the planet at a later time, says Campins. “I believe our findings are linked to the origin of life on Earth,” he says.To assess the plausibility of this scenario, astronomers must determine whether the make-up of 24 Themis is typical of other asteroids and, if so, what exactly they hold, says Castillo-Rogez. A priority should be to search for water ice on near-Earth asteroids that could be targeted by NASA’s planned robotic and manned missions. “If we find ice samples that contain the same ratio of deuterium [‘heavy hydrogen’ made up of one neutron and one proton] to hydrogen as seen on Earth, that would be a strong pointer,” she says.

However, 24 Themis may not be a typical member of the belt it could be an interloper that formed beyond Neptune, along with the comets, which was later knocked inwards, says Rivkin. If so, this would fit well with the controversial ‘Nice model’ of the evolution of the Solar System. Proposed in 2005, this model suggests that the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and asteroids migrated to their present orbits after formation4. Either way, says Rivkin, “The old-fashioned picture of the Solar System in which asteroids are asteroids and comets are comets is getting harder to sustain.”(nature)

Astronomers announcedthis week they found super-Earth/ GJ 1214b

super-Earth/ GJ 1214b

Astronomers announced this week they found a water-rich and relatively nearby planet that’s similar in size to Earth. While the planet probably has too thick of an atmosphere and is too hot to support life similar to that found on Earth, the discovery is being heralded as a major breakthrough in humanity’s search for life on other planets.”The big excitement is that we have found a watery world orbiting a very nearby and very small star,” said David Charbonneau, a Harvard professor of astronomy and lead author of an article on the discovery, which appeared this week in the journal Nature.
The planet, named GJ 1214b, is 2.7 times as large as Earth and orbits a star much smaller and less luminous than our sun. That’s significant, Charbonneau said, because for many years, astronomers assumed that planets only would be found orbiting stars that are similar in size to the sun.

Because of that assumption, researchers didn’t spend much time looking for planets circling small stars, he said. The discovery of this “watery world” helps debunk the notion that Earth-like planets could form only in conditions similar to those in our solar system.
“Nature is just far more inventive in making planets than we were imagining,” he said.In a way, the newly discovered planet was sitting right in front of astronomers’ faces, just waiting for them to look. Instead of using high-powered telescopes attached to satellites, they spotted the planet using an amateur-sized, 16-inch telescope on the ground. There were no technological reasons the discovery couldn’t have happened long ago, Charbonneau said.The planet is also rather near to our solar system — only about 40 light-years away.Planet GJ 1214b is classified as a “super-Earth” because it is between one and 10 times as large as Earth. Scientists have known about the existence of super-Earths for only a couple of years. Most planets discovered by astronomers have been gassy giants that are much more similar to Jupiter than to Earth.Charbonneau said it’s unlikely that any life on the newly discovered planet would be similar to life on Earth, but he didn’t discount the idea entirely.

Water world planet discovered just 40 light years away

Water world

A steamy ‘waterworld‘ six times bigger than Earth has been discovered orbiting a faint star 40 light years away.The planet is believed to be too hot to sustain Earth-type life, but could consist of 75 per cent water. Evidence suggests it has an atmosphere, and astronomers believe it to be more Earth-like than any ‘exoplanet’ previously found outside the Solar System.The planet is classified as a ‘super-Earth‘, half-way in size between small rocky planets such the Earth and ice giants similar to Uranus and Neptune. Although its parent star is a dim ‘red dwarf’ 3,000 times less bright than our sun, it hugs the star so closely that its surface temperature is 200C.At a distance of just 1.3million miles, the planet makes one year-long orbit of the star every 38 hours.The planet was discovered circling the star GJ1214 with an array of small ground-based telescopes no larger than those used by many amateurs.

The MEarth Project employs eight identical 16-inch diameter telescopes monitoring a 2,000 red dwarf stars. Red dwarfs are the most common type of star in the Milky Way galaxy.The telescopes are looking for changes in brightness that might betray the presence of a planet crossing in front of a star. Red dwarfs lend themselves to this approach to planet finding because they are so faint.

By measuring the dip in brightness caused by the crossing, scientists can calculate a planet’s density and make an educated guess about its composition.The new planet, GJ1214b, is thought to be three-quarters water and ice and about one-quarter rock.

‘Despite its hot temperature, this appears to be a water world,’ Harvard-Smithsonian Center graduate student astronomer Zachory Berta, who discovered the planet, said.’It is much smaller, cooler and more Earth-like than any other known exoplanet.’

Water world close up

The scientists believe something besides the planet’s surface must be blocking light from the parent star – probably a surrounding atmosphere that may contain hydrogen and helium.Turning the Hubble Space Telescope towards the planet may allow astronomers to discover its composition.MEarth Project head Dr David Charbonneau said: ‘Since this planet is so close to Earth, Hubble should be able to detect the atmosphere and determine what it’s made of.That will make it the first super-Earth with a confirmed atmosphere – even though that atmosphere probably won’t be hospitable to life as we know it.‘The discovery was reported today in the journal Nature. In an accompanying article, renowned planet-hunter Professor Geoffrey Marcy, from the University of California, speculated about what the waterworld might be like.

He wrote: ‘It probably has an extraordinarily deep ocean, which would be liquid given its equilibrium surface temperature of some 190C due to heating from the host star. A sauna-like steam atmosphere is possible.’

Monster Waves on the Sun are Real

Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That’s what NASA’s STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the “solar tsunami.Years ago, when solar physicists first witnessed a towering wave of hot plasma racing along the sun’s surface, they doubted their senses. The scale of the thing was staggering. It rose up higher than Earth itself and rippled out from a central point in a circular pattern millions of kilometers in circumference. Skeptical observers suggested it might be a shadow of some kind—a trick of the eye—but surely not a real wave.

“Now we know,” says Joe Gurman of the Solar Physics Lab at the Goddard Space Flight Center. “Solar tsunamis are real.”The twin STEREO spacecraft confirmed their reality in February 2009 when sunspot 11012 unexpectedly erupted. The blast hurled a billion-ton cloud of gas (a “CME”) into space and sent a tsunami racing along the sun’s surface. STEREO recorded the wave from two positions separated by 90^o, giving researchers an unprecedented view of the even

Above: A solar tsunami seen by the STEREO spacecraft from orthogonal points of view. The gray part of the animation has been contrast-enhanced by subtracting successive pairs of images,

“It was definitely a wave,” says Spiros Patsourakos of George Mason University, lead author of a paper reporting the finding in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. “Not a wave of water,” he adds, “but a giant wave of hot plasma and magnetism.”

The technical name is “fast-mode magnetohydrodynamical wave”—or “MHD wave” for short. The one STEREO saw reared up about 100,000 km high, and raced outward at 250 km/s (560,000 mph) packing as much energy as 2400 megatons of TNT (10²⁹ ergs).

Solar tsunamis were discovered back in 1997 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). In May of that year, a CME came blasting up from an active region on the sun’s surface, and SOHO recorded a tsunami rippling away from the blast site.

“We wondered,” recalls Gurman, “is that a wave—or just a shadow of the CME overhead?”SOHO’s single point of view was not enough to answer the question—neither for that first wave nor for many similar events recorded by SOHO in years that followed.The question remained open until after the launch of STEREO in 2006. At the time of the February 2009 eruption, STEREO-B was directly over the blast site while STEREO-A was stationed at right angles —”perfect geometry for cracking the mystery,” says co-author Angelos Vourlidas of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC.

The physical reality of the waves has been further confirmed by movies of the waves crashing into things. “We’ve seen the waves reflected by coronal holes (magnetic holes in the sun’s atmosphere),” says Vourlidas. “And there is a wonderful movie of a solar prominence oscillating after it gets hit by a wave. We call it the ‘dancing prominence.'”

Solar tsunamis pose no direct threat to Earth. Nevertheless, they are important to study. “We can use them to diagnose conditions on the sun,” notes Gurman. “By watching how the waves propagate and bounce off things, we can gather information about the sun’s lower atmosphere available in no other way.””Tsunami waves can also improve our forecasting of space weather,” adds Vourlidas, “Like a bull-eye, they ‘mark the spot’ where an eruption takes place. Pinpointing the blast site can help us anticipate when a CME or radiation storm will reach Earth.”

Lithium clue for planet-hunters

A survey of stars known to possess planets shows the vast majority to be severely depleted in lithium.To date, scientists have detected just over 420 worlds circling other stars using a range of techniques.Garik Israelian and colleagues tell the journal Nature that future planet hunts could be narrowed by going after stars with particular compositions.Scientists think events early in the star’s formation may be responsible for producing the lithium phenomenon.Theory holds that planets grow from a disc of dusty material that develops around infant stars.The researchers propose that this disc and its contents alter the young star’s spin, mixing its upper layers more effectively into the interior where its contents can be “burnt” in the fusion processes that power it.

“When discs form around stars there is interaction of angular momentum between disc, planets and parent star; and this interaction affects the rotation of the parent star and that will affect the lithium abundance,” said Garik Israelian from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain.The relative low abundance of lithium in our Sun’s upper layers has long been a fascination for scientists.

Researchers who have studied meteorites with compositions unchanged since the beginning of the Solar System say the element’s presence in our star ought to be 140 times greater than is observed.Physicists know the Sun’s upper layers as viewed today do not convect deeply enough to take any lithium to a location that is sufficiently hot to burn the element. This suggests mixing conditions must have been different in the past.

The outcome of the research is a tool astronomers can now use to help pinpoint the right type of stars where they are likely to detect planets.”Suppose you had 50 or 100 candidates for parent-bearing stars,” explained Dr Israelian.”Those which have a very low abundance of lithium will be the best candidates around which you might find planets,” he told BBC News.

Astronomers detect exoplanets, as they are called, using a number of methods.One technique looks for the gravitational “wobble” a massive planet will induce in its parent star.Another approach is to monitor a star for extended periods in the hope a planet will pass across its face. This transit reveals the planet’s presence by making the star’s light dim ever so slightly.(daily mail)

Asteroid Passes Just 8,700 Miles from Earth

Part of the devastation in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908 after a meteorite struck. The impact created a blast so powerful it leveled 1,200 square miles of forestYou almost certainly missed it – and luckily it missed you – but an asteroid has come within 8,700 miles of hitting the Earth. Astronomers spotted the object only 15 hours before its closest approach to our planet last Friday.Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away. Even had it been on collision course with us, the 23ft wide asteroid – known as 2009 VA – is unlikely to have made much of an impact because it would probably have all but burnt up in the atmosphere.

It was picked up by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona, then identified by the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a near Earth object and plotted by experts at NASA. It was the third-closest approach on record for any asteroid that has failed to make it through our atmosphere.

Nasa scientists monitored a 100ft asteroid that passed 45,000 miles above our planet’s surface on March 2. An object of similar size hit Siberia in 1908, leveling 1,200 square miles of forest. By 2020, NASA aims to have detected most large asteroids and comets that approach the Earth.

Don’t panic! Although the asteroid passed within 9,000 miles of Earth it measured just 23ft across and wouldn’t have dented the surface

Part of the devastation in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908 after a meteorite struck. The impact created a blast so powerful it leveled 1,200 square miles of forestThe path of the asteroid 2009 VA, which passed well within the Moon’s orbit last FridayAstronomers believe the object, called 2009 VA, would have almost completely burned up while entering Earth’s atmosphere, causing a brilliant fireball in the sky but no major damage to the surface.The asteroid was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on November 6, 2009. It was then identified by the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a near Earth object.