galactic cosmic rays



Space is always eventful and to satisfy their impertinent minds, the scientists are always busy exploring the outer world with new probes and discoveries. Here are some latest findings surprising and keeping the astronomers busy.



#1: Earthlike Planet Spied in Distant Solar System

Astronomers discovered the most Earthlike planet ever detected outside of our solar system. The prospect that the Milky Way galaxy (see photo) is full of planets that could harbor life, is raised by the discovery, the scientists say. The newfound planet is five times as massive as Earth. It orbits its parent star once every ten years. The planet is as about three times as far from its star as Earth is from the sun.



#2: Milky Way brims with singleton stars

They are born alone and live out their lives without partners. This is how most of the stars in the Milky Way are. This is suggested by a new analysis. The work overturns standard theories that stars are born in broods and also suggests planets - and potentially life - may be more common in the galaxy than thought, if it’s true.



#3: ‘Wrecking ball’ could break the ice on Mars

NASA is to propose a plan to drop a quarter-tonne copper ball through Mars’s atmosphere and study the ejecta it blasts away from the planet’s surface on impact. The mission would test models suggesting the planet’s tilt - and therefore its climate - swings through extreme changes every 50,000 years. The mission is called THOR.



#4: Spacesuit to become makeshift satellite beacon

Can we call it the weirdest satellite? Ever devised, it will soon be in orbit around the Earth. On 3 February, two astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station (ISS). The venture is to move a cargo boom from one module to another, perform routine maintenance and retrieve external experiments.



#5: Smallest extrasolar planet revealed by microlensing

An extrasolar planet just 5.5 times as massive as the Earth! Astronomers have found it. It would make it the smallest exoplanet ever detected around a normal star. That Earth-like planets are abundant in the galaxy and validates a technique that should be able to find them, is suggested by the find.



#6: Cosmic rays linked to cloudy days

Cosmic rays can now be blamed for a cloudy grey weather. These high-energy particles originate in outer space and in solar flares. Increasing the chances of an overcast day by nearly 20 per cent, they can have a small but significant effect on the weather.



#7: Self-Healing Spacecraft? Tiny Tubes Ooze Epoxy

Self-repairing materials that “heal” themselves when damaged! Yes, aerospace engineers are developing so that shuttles, probes, and satellites sheathed in the stuff could safeguard craft from the wear and tear of space, researchers say.