Exoplanets large and small, hot and cold...

[Rick]

The world in question orbits the far-off yellow dwarf star HD 80606, 190-odd lightyears from here in the constellation Ursa Major. The planet, HD80606b, is several times heavier than Jupiter and so is believed to be a gas giant world.

More (and a piccie): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/heatwave_superhurricane_snapped/

[Mike]

As astronomers become more adept at hunting for, and finding, exoplanets orbiting stars beyond the Solar System, international astronomers have figured out just what we should be looking for using the increasingly sophisticated technologies being developed.

Two exoplanets and an unknown celestial object, findings of the European Space Agency's COROT mission, an important stepping stones in the European effort to find habitable, Earth-like planets around other stars. These discoveries mean that the mission has now found a total of four new exoplanets.

COROT has now been operating for 510 days, and the mission started observations of its sixth star field at the beginning of May this year. During this observation phase, which will last 5 months, the spacecraft will simultaneously observe 12,000 stars.

Future telescopes such as NASA's Kepler, set for launch in 2009, would be able to discover dozens or hundreds of Earth-like worlds. The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), to be launched early in the next decade, consists of multiple telescopes placed along a 30 foot structure. With an unprecedented resolution approaching the physical limits of optics, the SIM is so sensitive that it almost defies belief: orbiting the earth, it can detect the motion of a lantern being waved by an astronaut on Mars

More... http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/02/new-planets-an.html

[MarkS]

... it can detect the motion of a lantern being waved by an astronaut on Mars

So if you're ever stranded on Mars, just wave a torch and they'll spot you.

[Carole]

... it can detect the motion of a lantern being waved by an astronaut on Mars

that's mind boggling.

Carole

[Mike]

There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard.

Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.

So far, telescopes have been able to detect just over 300 planets outside our Solar System.

Very few of these would be capable of supporting life, however. Most are gas giants like our Jupiter; and many orbit so close to their parent stars that any microbes would have to survive roasting temperatures.

But, based on the limited numbers of planets found so far, Dr Boss has estimated that each Sun-like star has on average one "Earth-like" planet.

This simple calculation means there would be huge numbers capable of supporting life.

More..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7891132.stm

[Rick]

A heavyweight American boffin says that Earthlike worlds will soon be discovered within 30 light-years of our Solar System, and that such worlds' abundance across the universe means that the existence of alien life is a racing cert.

Speaking in advance of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, where a major symposium on the subject took place at the weekend, Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution laid out his view.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/17/earthlike_worlds_nearby/

[mickw]

A new technique has uncovered an extrasolar planet hidden in Hubble Space Telescope images taken 11 years ago

The new strategy may allow researchers to uncover other distant alien worlds potentially lurking in over a decade's worth of Hubble archival data.

The method was used to find an exoplanet that went undetected in Hubble images taken in 1998 with its Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Astronomers knew of the planet's existence from images taken with the Keck and Gemini North telescopes in 2007 and 2008, long after Hubble snapped its first picture of the system.

More:    http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090401-hubble-exoplanets.html

[Rick]

Astronomers have announced the discovery of the lightest planet ever detected outside our Solar System.

Situated in the constellation Libra, it is only about twice as massive as the Earth, whereas most other exoplanets identified have been far bigger.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8008683.stm

[MarkS]

Apparently, scientists have discovered a new planet just outside the solar system. The article goes on to say it "has been found in a galaxy far from here"   

Wish they'd make up their minds

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23679311-details/article.do

[Mike]

Typical moronic journalism when it comes to science.

[Rick]

Typical moronic journalism when it comes to science.

First-order Cluelessness. Compare and contrast the BBC and Evening Standard reports of the same story...

[Rick]

Web-2.0 tomfoolery could trigger alien jellyfish attack

Astronomers believe that there may be a "water world" capable of harbouring intelligent alien life orbiting a star just 20 lightyears from Earth. Unfortunately, it appears that the first communication any aliens will receive from the human race will be a multimedia compilation assembled by Bebo users.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/22/gliese_581_water_world_bebo_threat/

(It's The Register... Nuff said. )

[Ian]

at least they don't make any real effort to be completely accurate.

[Rick]

...and at least they know they're not being completely accurate.

[Ian]

well, with a bunch of commentators who a) know what they're talking about and b) like to show it The Reg would have sunk a long time ago if they didn't take that approach