SciByte

results from a new study that searched for rocky planets in the habitable zones around red dwarf stars

now estimates that there are tens of billions of such planets in the Milky Way galaxy

probably about one hundred in the Sun’s immediate neighborhood, less than 30 light years away.

A video produced for Google Science Fair shows how researchers at Cambridge making synthetic bone have turned to legendary children’s toy Lego for a helping hand.

The video, which has already had over 100,000 views, goes behind the scenes at the lab to show how the team develop the bone samples.

Bone has excellent mechanical properties for its weight

The dramatic appearance of Halley's comet in the night sky has been observed and recorded by astronomers since 240 BC. Now a study shows that the orbital influences of Jupiter on the comet and the debris it leaves in its wake are responsible for periodic outbursts of activity in the Orionid meteor showers. The results will be presented by Aswin Sekhar at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester on Tuesday 27th March.

A group of European astronomers has discovered an ancient planetary system that is likely to be a survivor from one of the earliest cosmic eras, 13 billion years ago. The system consists of the star HIP 11952 and two planets, which have orbital periods of 290 and 7 days, respectively. Whereas planets usually form within clouds that include heavier chemical elements, the star HIP 11952 contains very little other than hydrogen and helium. The system promises to shed light on planet formation in the early universe – under conditions quite different from those of later planetary systems, such as our own

widely accepted that planets are formed in disks of gas and dust that swirl around young stars

many open questions remain

The findings are based on a survey of 102 stars in a class called red dwarfs, which are fainter, cooler, less massive and longer-lived than the sun, and are thought to make up about 80 percent of the stars in our galaxy

new result from ESO’s HARPS planet finder shows that rocky planets not much bigger than Earth are very common in the habitable zones around faint red stars. The international team estimates that there are tens of billions of such planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone, and probably about one hundred in the Sun’s immediate neighbourhood. This is the first direct measurement of the frequency of super-Earths around red dwarfs, which account for 80% of the stars in the Milky Way.

How to find hidden treasures in the archive

The main interface to get at the Hubble data is the Hubble Legacy Archive website.

search box lets you look for objects based on their name or coordinates

What is image processing?

Hubble takes pictures which capture many more colours and gradations of light and dark than the human eye (or consumer digital cameras) can see

are also quirks in how its cameras work

Since 1990, Hubble has made more than a million observations

the most stunning are in our Top 100 gallery and iPad app.

Searching Hubble’s archive for hidden treasures is a lot of fun, and it’s pretty straightforward, even if you don’t have advanced knowledge

hidden in Hubble’s huge data archives are still some truly breathtaking images that have never been seen in public

Hubble’s Hidden Treasures

inviting the public into Hubble’s vast science archive to dig out the best unseen Hubble images

Over a million observations of the Universe have been made by the Hubble Space Telescope. Spacetelescope.org is asking the public to sift through the archives, adjust the colors of their favorite photos with an online tool, and submit to the contest

Over a million observations of the Universe have been made by the Hubble Space Telescope. Spacetelescope.org is asking the public to sift through the archives, adjust the colors of their favorite photos with an online tool, and submit to the contest

Spacetelescope.org

Jupiter's powerful gravity can help supercharge a meteor shower caused by trailing chunks of the famed Halley's comet, a new study suggests

Every October, skywatchers are treated to a dazzling show when the Orionid meteors — leftover bits of Halley's comet

The Orionids are incredibly active from time to

According to data gathered by NASA’s Cassini mission, parts of Titan might not see rain for more than 1,000 years.

there are lakes and rivers of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface

the rains that feed them may come few and far between

Planets in tight orbits around stars that get ejected from our galaxy may actually themselves be tossed out of the Milky Way at blisteringly fast speeds of up to 30 million miles per hour, or a fraction of the speed of light, a new study finds.

would be some of the fastest objects in the galaxy, aside from photons

In terms of large, solid objects, they would be the fastest. It would take them 10 seconds or so to cross the diameter of the Earth

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star.

The planets orbit their host star once every six to 143 days. All are closer to their host star than Venus is to our sun.