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Show 225: Neutron Stars' Crispy Shells
June 25, 2009
Neutron stars are the remnants of dead stars that have collapsed into small objects with incredible density. Their crusts could be 10 billion times stronger than steel. Forces from within the star crack the crust during “star quakes,” events similar to earthquakes, and blast powerful gamma rays into space.
Show 224: Asteroid Bombardment
June 18, 2009
Asteroids – were they a boon or bane when they struck Earth billions of years ago? One would think the period of bombardment was not a good thing for a planet! But a new study shows that the bombardment may actually have created environments where microbial organisms could have survived if they were already there. The study also suggests that such environments may have existed on other planets, such as Mars.
Show 223: Extreme Life
June 11, 2009
A former NASA astronaut is searching for signs of hardy life on Mount Everest, which could provide a window into extreme environments that organisms might inhabit on hostile-appearing planets elsewhere in universe. Scott Parazynski’s mission makes him the first astronaut to scale Mount Everests.
Show 222: HubbleWatch for May 2009
May 31, 2009
Astronomers capture an image of a star eight years before its explosive death, casting light on the development of supernovae. A jet of radiation and plasma caused by a black hole is starting to flicker. And recently developed techniques are being used on the Hubble archive to glean new information from old images.
Show 221: Mission to Hubble
June 4, 2009
The Hubble Space Telescope has been restored after the hugely successful servicing mission by the Space Shuttle Atlantis astronauts and the hundreds of personnel who work on Hubble at NASA and elsewhere. Two new instruments are onboard, two instruments were repaired, and the telescope received new batteries, gyroscopes, and a computer for handling the science data.
Show 220: Black Holes or Galaxies?
May 28, 2009
Astronomers may have solved the cosmic chicken-and-egg problem of which formed first in the early universe — galaxies or the supermassive black holes seen at their cores. Astronomers believe almost all galaxies have massive black holes at their centers, as well as smaller black holes sprinkled throughout. Evidence is piling up that black holes came first.
Show 219: The Search for Theia
May 21, 2009
The solar system might once have had another planet named Theia. Some researchers believe it existed 4.5 billion years ago and possibly collided with Earth to form our Moon. NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are on their way to look for the debris that would be left over after such a collision.
Show 218: New Planet Sparks Curiosity
May 14, 2009
Astronomers have searched diligently for a planet of the size of Earth. Researchers would love to find such a planet in the zone appropriate for liquid water – what they call “the habitable zone.” New observations from the European Southern Observatory indicate that the star Gliese 581 has a fourth planet in addition to the known 3. The other planets are large “super earths” and one Neptune-sized planet. But the new planet is about twice the mass of Earth, and could be close to the habitable zone as well.
