Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.

The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.

They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.

"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | New 'super-Earth' found in space

The mystery of how the darkest galaxies in the Universe came to exist may have been solved by scientists.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Light is shed on darkest galaxies

NASA, seeking to give the public easy access to its massive trove of images and data about Earth and outer space, has entered into a formal agreement with Google to post material from the agency's many missions on the Internet. As the technology improves and the collaboration grows, officials said, viewers could one day be treated to live video from the moon, Mars and elsewhere.
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Megan Smith, the company's director of new business development, said many Google employees first got excited about computer technology through NASA, so it is especially meaningful for them to be working with the agency.

NASA Launches Google Collaboration - washingtonpost.com

Our main concern is that the political proponents of the Moon-Mars adventure will not provide money commensurate with the task. NASA's crowning scientific achievements have come from its unmanned probes to distant worlds and its orbiting observatories. It would be a shame if an underfinanced program to return to the Moon on a permanent basis and then venture on to Mars forced reductions in research programs of higher scientific value.

but surely setting up a permanent base on the moon isn't about science but another baby step towards the deep long term goal of colonising the solar system. This is about learning to live in space. Other programs may have greater value in terms of hard science but we need to break our dependance on one fragile home and open up the physical resources of the solar system. There is abundant energy to be tapped and minerals to be mined.

Back to the Moon - Opinion - International Herald Tribune

Nasa chief Mike Griffin says shuttle astronauts will be sent to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

yippee

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Hubble telescope will get upgrade

It is about 11:30 GMT here on ISS. It looks like my first entry from space made it down there.. Amazing, isn’t it…?

So first let’s take care of a few housekeeping items… I do not have realtime access to email. The email process is a batch process so it happens three times a day. I will do my best to get at least one entry in per day.

cool

The Trip Up « Anousheh Ansari Space Blog

Nasa's robotic Mars rover Opportunity is closing in on what could be the richest scientific "treasure trove" of its mission so far.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Rover nears crater science trove