May 9, 2012
Good Morning,
NASA takes a huge leap in the search for life in our Galaxy as they pin point a 'super Earth' via infrared light. Although the planet is inhabitable, the ability to detect such planets is huge news itself. Check out the last article for all the details in the last article.
Until Next Time,
Erin
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Russia plans ammonia-fueled rocket engineMOSCOW - A Russian rocket engine company says it is developing an engine to be powered by ammonia, which should reduce the high cost of rocket launches. Energomash says the engine will be 30 percent more efficient than current designs and will avoid the need to produce hydrogen for fuel, RIA Novosti reported Saturday. The rocket will operate on a mixture of acetylene and ammonia dubbed atsetam, company officials said. "A mixture of acetylene and ammonia is 20 times cheaper than hydrogen as a kilogram of hydrogen costs about 2 thousand rubles [$67] and a kilo of atsetam is maximum of 100 rubles [$3.35]," Energomash Innovative Technology Director Anatoly Likhvantsev said. The new engine will be based on the existing RD-161 oxygen/kerosene engine and will not require major structural changes, he said, since the physical properties of atsetam are similar to kerosene. "Using 5 to 7 tons of this mixture, we can save a considerable amount of money," Likhvantsev said. "In addition, the components that are included in atsetam can be easily stored and transported, whereas hydrogen requires special storage and transportation conditions." Energomash officials said rockets could be launched with the new engine in 2017-2018.
Study: 'Hot Jupiters' found to be lonersGAINESVILLE, Fla. - So-called hot Jupiter-type planets
orbiting distant stars are likely alone in their systems,
research by a University of Florida astronomer and others
found. Hot Jupiters, giant planets roughly the size of
Jupiter but orbiting close to their parent stars -- and thus much hotter than Earth or Jupiter -- have short orbital periods, speeding around their parent stars in fewer than 10 days, astronomer Eric Ford said. Ford and other researchers analyzed data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, looked for signs of additional planets either crossing in front of the host stars or gravitationally tugging on the orbits of hot Jupiters, but found no evidence of additional planets, a university release reported Monday. Astronomers say they believe hot Jupiters are solitary because of the way they form. They are probably formed far from their host star in highly elongated orbits. Researchers say that causes them to pass very close to the host star and then travel far away. The star's gravitational forces affect the planet, causing its orbit to become smaller and more circular, they said -- a process that would remove or destroy other low-mass planets that may have formed initially between the star and the giant planet. "When a giant planet repeatedly passes through the inner regions of a planetary system on an elongated orbit, it would wreak great havoc on any planets that had formed there," Ford said. "The other planets would either fall into the star, collide with the hot Jupiter or be kicked out of the system via a gravitational slingshot."
Fossil gives hints of larger human brainsTALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Features of one of the world's most famous fossils may partly explain the evolution of larger brains in modern humans and our ancestors, U.S. researchers say. A Florida State University researcher and her colleagues say the findings suggest brain evolution was a result of a complex set of interrelated dynamics in childbirth among early, evolving bipeds. Evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk analyzed the Taung fossil, discovered in South Africa in 1924 and estimated to be about 2.2 million years old. The fossil, believed to be that of a child 3 to 4 years old, is the "type specimen," or main model, of the genus Australopithecus africanus. The first feature Falk and her colleagues found is a "persistent metopic suture," or unfused seam, in the frontal bone, which allows a baby's skull to be pliable during childbirth as it squeezes through the birth canal. In great apes -- gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees -- the suture closes shortly after birth, whereas in humans it does not fuse until about 2 years of age to accommodate rapid brain growth. The second feature is the fossil's endocast, or imprint of the outside surface of the brain transferred to the inside of the skull, which allows researchers to examine the brain's form and structure. Falk and her colleagues say their analysis suggests three important points: that the persistent metopic suture is an adaptation for giving birth to babies with larger brains, is related to the shift to a rapidly growing brain after birth and suggests a related expansion in the frontal lobes. "These findings are significant because they provide a highly plausible explanation as to why the hominin brain might grow larger and more complex," Falk said in a university release Monday.
Light from distant 'super Earth' detectedPASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has, for the first time, detected light emanating from a so-called super-Earth planet beyond our solar system, scientists say. Although the planet is not habitable, detecting it is a historic step in the ongoing search for signs of life on other planets, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Tuesday. Super Earths are more massive than Earth but lighter than gas giants like Neptune. In visible light, such planets are lost in the glare of their stars, but using infrared light the Spitzer telescope was able to detect the super Earth. The planet, about twice as big and eight times as massive as Earth, orbits a bright star called 55 Cancri in a mere 18 hours. Spitzer measurements of the infrared light coming from the planet reveal it is likely dark, and its sun-facing side is more than 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt metal. At 41 light-years away, the 55 Cancri system of five planets is relatively close to Earth. Of the planets in the star's system, the planet detected by the Spitzer telescope, 55 Cancri e, is closest to the star and tidally locked, so one side always faces the star, astronomers said. "When we conceived of Spitzer more than 40 years ago, exoplanets hadn't even been discovered," said Michael Werner, JPL Spitzer project scientist said. "Because Spitzer was built very well, it's been able to adapt to this new field and make historic advances such as this."
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