New planet twinkles like a diamond in the sky

A planet which really does twinkle like a diamond in the sky has been discovered by scientists - its surface is littered with the precious stones. The planet - called 55 Cancri e - has a radius double the size of Earth’s, and weighs eight times more. Whilst Earth’s surface is covered in water and granite, the new planet is thought to be covered in diamonds and graphite.
A new study estimates that at least a third of the planet’s mass - the equivalent of the weight of three Earths - could be diamond. This is the first time astronomers have identified a likely diamond planet around a sun-like star and unearthed its chemical make-up. The diamond planet orbits at hyper speed - its year lasts just 18 hours, in contrast to Earth’s 365 days. But with a blazingly hot temperature of about 3,900F, researchers say it will not live on. It one of five planets orbiting a sun-like star, 55 Cancri, that is located 40 light years from Earth yet visible to the naked eye in the constellation of Cancer. The planet was first observed orbiting its star last year, allowing astronomers to measure its radius for the first time.

No water at all

Research suggests the planet has no water at all, and appears to be composed mainly of carbon (as graphite and diamond), iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates. The identification of a carbon-rich super-Earth means that distant rocky planets can no longer be assumed to have compositions similar to that of Earth.
David Spergel, professor of astronomy and chair of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, said: ‘This ‘diamond-rich super-Earth’ is likely just one example of the rich sets of discoveries that await us as we begin to explore planets around nearby stars.’

Curiosity rover's Mars Rock offers surprises

A rock on Mars being studied by NASA's Curiosity rover is unlike any Martian stone ever seen, and is surprisingly similar to an unusual, but well-known, kind of rock on Earth. This type of rock is the first of its kind encountered on Mars and is helping broaden scientists' understanding of how igneous rocks form, scientists said Thursday, Oct. 11. The rock, named "Jake Matijevic" in honor of a Curiosity mission team member who died in August, is a 16-inch-tall pyramid-shape specimen that Curiosity encountered at its landing spot in Mars' Gale Crater.

Curiosity, the centerpiece of the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory Mission, touched down on the Red Planet Aug. 5 to learn whether Mars ever had the conditions necessary to support life. The Jake rock is being used as a calibration target for Curiosity to try out its suite of 10 science instruments on. 

In late September Curiosity used ChemCam and its Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) to probe Jake's chemical composition. What they found was surprising. Jake appears to have higher concentrations of elements such as sodium, aluminum and potassium, and lower concentrations of magnesium, iron and nickel, than other igneous rocks studied on Mars.

While previously unknown on Mars, this type of chemical composition is seen in a rare but well-studied class of rocks on Earth. On Earth, such specimens are found on oceanic islands such as Hawaii and in other places. They are thought to form when interior rocks melt to form magma, which then rises toward the surface. As it rises, it cools, and parts of the material crystalize, preferentially selecting some elements while leaving a remainder of liquid magma that is enriched with the left-behind chemicals.

However, the researchers said it's too soon to know whether the Jake rock formed this same way.

Strange and shiny

Curiosity is about 65 days into its mission, and still testing out all of its equipment. The rover used its scoop tool to dig up Martian dirt for the first time earlier this week, and scientists saw a strange shiny object in photos of the scooped material. The find put a temporary halt on scooping activities while mission managers investigated the object. Scientists have since concluded that it is most likely a bit of plastic from the rover itself or its landing mechanism that fell off onto the ground during its entry, descent and landing (EDL) process.

Mission team members will continue investigating the debris, but they think it might be a piece of resistive heating material from the rover's exterior that was attached with adhesive, which might have come unstuck.

NASA's Curiosity all set to land on Mars

Curiosity, NASA’s one-ton roving vehicle, is scheduled to land on Mars early Monday. If all goes as planned, Curiosity and the Mars Science Laboratory will come to rest in Mars’ Gale crater. All Mars landers since 1997 have employed a system of airbags during landing. The airbags, inflating moments before landing, cushion the payload as it bounces across the Martian landscape before rolling to a stop. Not so with MSL — it’s too heavy for airbags.

An artist's conception of the sky crane gently lowering the Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars.

Mars Science Laboratory will employ a heat shield, parachute and a rocket-powered disposable descent stage. Once it’s through protecting Mars Science Laboratory during its entry into Mars’ thin atmosphere, the heat shield separates shortly after the parachute deploys. Powered descent begins after releasing the parachute as eight rockets ignite on the descent stage, or “sky crane.” Shortly before touchdown the lander is lowered to the surface with lanyards. After touchdown the lanyards are cut and the sky crane flies off to a crash landing.

A similar plan was once considered in the early 1960s for the Apollo Moon-landing mission. A descent stage would have slowed the lunar module to a low hover then would separate, go off and crash. The “lunar crasher” concept was described as “dicey” by NASA engineer Caldwell Johnson and the idea was discarded. Seems the notion of intentionally crashing a piece of equipment near a soft landing site rubbed some engineers the wrong way. That is apparently no longer the case.

During August, two planets and a bright star form an ever-changing triangle low in the western sky. On Monday evening, they form an equilateral triangle. The triangle’s top point is the planet Saturn. The corners of the base are, from left to right, the star Spica and the planet Mars. Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo and is 260 light-years away.

During the next few days, Mars continues eastward and passes between Saturn and Spica from Aug. 13-14. The trio is joined by the crescent moon on Aug. 21, posing for a unique group photo opportunity.

Star Cluster to help astronomers find Earth-like planets

A loose group of stars that was known for over 180 years but never before studied in detail has been discovered to be an important new tool in the quest to understand the evolution of stars like the Sun, and in the search for planets like Earth. The cluster, known as Ruprecht 147 or NGC 6774, was first discovered in 1830 by British astronomer John Herschel. Jaroslav Ruprecht rediscovered it in the 1960s and thus got its current name.

When searching for planets with an Earth-like mass and an orbit that allows liquid water to exist on the surface, astronomers often search around stars the mass of the Sun and smaller. Jason T. Wright, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University, who conceived and initiated the research said, “The Ruprecht 147 cluster is very unusual and very important astrophysically because it is close to Earth and its stars are closer to the Sun’s age than those in all the other nearby clusters.”

Wright’s team has shown that Ruprecht 147 is 800 to 1,000 light-years from Earth, which is so close that it is bright enough to be seen with binoculars in late-summertime skies in the constellation Sagittarius. Although it appears to be relatively large on the sky, the cluster can be difficult to spot because it is not very compact and it is located in the densest, brightest region between Earth and the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

To study the Ruprecht 147 cluster, which is much larger on the sky than most objects astronomers study, Wright’s team had to use some specialized, wide-field cameras -- including those on the MMT telescope in Arizona and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii -- in order to get its many stars within the frame of view.

Wright’s team’s work has proven, for the first time, that the Ruprecht 147 cluster is only a bit younger than the Sun on the astronomical time scale. The stars in Ruprecht 147 are about 2.5-billion years old, or about half the age of the Sun, and about the age the Sun was when the first multicellular life emerged on Earth.

The team’s initial observations also have measured the distance to Ruprecht 147, as well as the directions and velocities of its stars to verify that they are moving together through space in three dimensions, both across the sky and in the same angle away from Earth. These observations confirm that these stars are members of a true cluster, not just a random pattern on the sky. Wright’s team already has identified 100 stars as members of the cluster, and is working to find more.

Your last chance to see Venus before 2117

A little black mole will grace the face of Sun at the crack of dawn on June 6. However, the mole is not a mere symbol of beauty, it is Venus - the Goddess of beauty. The rarity of the event could be assessed from the fact that people alive today would never get a second chance to view it again. Reason: transit of Venus is among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomenon and currently occurs in a pattern that repeats after every 243 years. The transit takes place in pairs, which are 8 years away from each other and separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years - a pattern which repeats after 243 years.

The first part of the present pair took place in October 2004. Prior to 2004-2012 pair, the transit of Venus took place in December 1874 and December 1882. The next transit would take place in 105 years later i.e. in 2117.

Whether you can see this transit of Venus and when you can see it depends on your location.  Get to know more details here and a detailed description from NASA. The Guardian reveals key facts of the rare phenomenon and tells you how to watch it safely.

Rare annular solar eclipse on Sunday

A rare "annular" solar eclipse will trek across Western states on Sunday, astronomers report, which is the latest occurrence in a busy year for heavenly events. 
Crossing from Oregon to Texas, the eclipse will darken the center of the sun's disk for 4½ minutes but leave its bright rim visible, a less-than-total eclipse that will still cast the moon's shadow over a roughly 150-mile wide path.

The last annular eclipse was in 1994, and the next one will be in 2030, part of an 18-year cycle. The full eclipse starts in Medford, Ore., at 6:26 p.m. PT, and ends in Lubbock, Texas, at 8:40 p.m. CT. A partial eclipse will be viewable everywhere from San Francisco to Buffalo.

This deepest solar eclipse in decades will blot out most of the sun over Stockton, at a time when the sun will be slowly sinking in the western sky. Stockton is about 200 miles south of the narrow ribbon of Southern Oregon and Northern California from which the moon will obscure all but the sun's outer "ring of fire."