Qurly.net » space

Newly Discovered Planet WASP-17 Orbits Backwards

Qurly — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:52:28 +0000

Scientists who are a part of WASP (Wide Area Search for Planets) have just discovered a new planet, WASP-17. Don’t get your hopes up about any life there. WASP-17 might be twice the size of Jupiter (but half the mass) – making it the largest known planet – but it’s a thousand light-years distant from us, orbits backwards – possibly due to a near-collision.

WASP-17 is given its name because it’s the 17th planet outside our solar system that’s been found by the WASP project. Another extrasolar planet, HAT P-7, was recently discovered on a test run of NASA’s Kepler space telescope. HAT P-7, which is about the size of Jupiter and has a “yearly” orbit of just over 2 Earth days, is so close to its sun that the sun-side could be 3000-3500 F more than the opposite side. (Being “tidally locked,” according to Science Daily, one side of the planet is always facing its sun.)

See the Perseid Meteor Shower Tonight

Qurly — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:31:42 +0000

The Perseid meteor shower is expected to be visible tonight on the east coast of the U.S., as well as the UK, where the meteors will also be visible Wed night. The Perseids comes courtesy of the yearly passing of Comet Swift-Tuttle.

Space Shuttle Endeavour Landed Today

Qurly — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:58:30 +0000

The crew of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour landed back on Earth today, after a successful of deploying a set of satellites. The satelites are part of an experiment to study Earth’s atmosphere.

Other highlights of the mission included the first Japanese astronaut to live on the ISS (International Space Station), and completion of Japan’s orbital lab. Koichi Wakata of Japan also participated for a mon of wearing special “no change” underwear.