A spot of wind on Uranus

Astronomers have discovered that Uranus is suffering from a bout of wind. They zoomed in with the Hubble space telescope to reveal a dark spot marking a hurricane two-thirds the size of the United States. The giant storm, 1,100 miles wide (1,700km) and 1,900 miles long (3,000km), is churning two billion miles away in the atmosphere of the seventh planet from the sun. It is the darkest feature ever seen on the gaseous world and probably formed very recently, say space scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They believe the vortex is a sign that spring is coming to the northern hemisphere of Uranus which is strongly tilted over on its axis. Although rare on Uranus, similar spots have previously been observed on its twin planet Neptune. Heidi Hammel, of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said: "We have hypothesised that Uranus might become more Neptune-like as it approached its equinox. The sudden appearance of this unusual dark feature suggests we might be right." Photo: Nasa, Esa ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Space tourist is back on Earth

Space tourist Anousheh Ansari returned home yesterday from ten days in space to be greeted with a kiss. The first female holidaymaker in orbit found her husband Hamid waiting for her when she landed in Kazakhstan in her Soyuz capsule. A Russian official presented her with a bunch of red roses before she was carried in her reclining seat to a helicopter. Star Trek fan Anousheh, 40, flew home from the International Space Station with astronauts Jeff Williams and Pavel Vinogradov who had completed a six month tour of duty in space. They were all flown to the Star City training centre near Moscow where they will undergo tests and adjust to gravity once more. Nasa spokesman Rob Navias, who was also at the scene of the landing, said: "They're all in very good shape." US tycoon Anousheh, who runs a home-technology company, Prodea Systems, in Texas, burst into tears before leaving the space station, she admitted in her blog - the first from space. She had a last supper of smoked fish and fresh tomatoes while listening to Sting singing Fragile. And she broke down as she said goodbye to the station's new crew, Mikhail Tyurin, Miguel Lopez-Alegria and Thomas Reiter. She wrote: "You establish a bond up here that is hard to break. They took care of me like their own sister. They have made this trip so incredibly special for me that I’m sure I will never forget them." Anousheh, who took a trendy iPod with her on her trip, also listened to Enya and whistled Somewhere Over The Rainbow and My Favorite Things as she prepared to fly home. The Iranian-born entrepreneur paid Virginia-based Space Adventures around $20 million for her trip into space. The picture shows Anousheh, Vinogradov and Williams seated at the landing site. Photo: Nasa. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Anousheh's close shave in space

Space tripper Anousheh Ansari opened her travel bag in orbit to find a razor and shaving cream, she has revealed. Russian organisers of her out-of-this-world holiday gave the world's first female space tourist a man's toilet kit. Anousheh, 40, was only switched to the Soyuz flight to the International Space Station last month after Japanese internet entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto - Dice-K - failed a medical. US business tycoon Anousheh, who has paid around $20 million for eight days on the space station, is writing the first blog from space. She said: "Each person has a personal hygiene kit where they keep their stuff like toothbrush, shaving kit, creams etc. I got Dice-K's kit so it had a razor and lots of shaving cream, but no makeup." Star Trek fan Anousheh, who runs a home-technology company, Prodea Systems, in Texas, says that keeping clean is a challenge in the orbiting outpost 220 miles high. There are no normal taps or showers and water doesn't run, it floats. She added in the blog: "The most interesting experience — or I should call it experiment — is washing your hair. Now I know why people keep their hair short in space. "You basically take a water bag and slowly make a huge water bubble over your head and then very very gently, using a dry shampoo, you wash your hair. At the slightest sudden movement, little water bubbles start floating everywhere. Anousheh also revealed that she is relaxing in orbit by listening to her iPod. She first slipped on her headphones to help her get to sleep aboard her Soyuz flight to the space station. She said she climbed, weightless, into her sleeping bag, hanging in the spacecraft's habitation module, adding: "It reminded me of bats who sleep hanging upside-down from their cave ceiling. "I was able to locate my iPod in my bag and I was a happy camper. I put on my headphones and went to sleep in my Bat sack." The Iranian-born entrepreneur said she got seasick on the flight into space from Kazakhstan. She threw up a couple of times and had to be given injections over the two-day flight to cure her motion sickness. Anousheh is due to arrive home on Thursday with the space station's departing crew members Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams. The picture shows Anousheh relaxing with an Apple (no, not the iPod). ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Face it! Mars head's an illusion

The famous Face on Mars is nothing more than an illusion, space scientists have confirmed. New detailed photos from a European probe show that the most talked-about feature on the Red Planet was simply a trick of the light. Space fans got excited in 1976 when America's Viking 1 craft, in orbit around Mars, sent back a picture that looked remarkably like a human head staring back. UFO groups swiftly decided that the face, in the Cydonia region of Mars, was evidence of aliens trying to contact the Earth. Further features were found nearby which were said to resemble pyramids and a ruined city. And Nasa were accused of mounting a conspiracy to hide the truth. Now new pictures just released, taken on July 22 with the High Resolution Stereo Camera aboard Mars Express, show the feature in astonishing detail. They confirm that it is simply a type of eroded hill, called a massif, and the "Face" was produced by the angle of light. European Space Agency scientist Dr Agustin Chicarro said yesterday: "These images of the Cydonia region on Mars are truly spectacular. They not only provide a completely fresh and detailed view of an area so famous to fans of space myths all around the world, but also provide an impressive close-up over an area of great interest for planetary geologists." Mars Express is the robot spacecraft that carried Britain's Beagle 2 to the Red Planet. Previous attempts by the probe to photograph Cydonia, in the Arabia Terra region, were foiled by dust and haze - which, of course, helped convince conspiracy theorists that they were victims of a cover-up. The top picture shows one of the Mars Express images and the other is the Viking 1 image that started all the fuss. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Atlantis arrives safely home

The shuttle Atlantis landed safely today after its construction mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft with its crew of six touched down at Florida's Kennedy Space Centre at 11.21am UK time while the US coast was still in darkness. US astronaut Jeff Williams, 220 miles high aboard the space station, watched Atlantis's bright trail as it began its fiery entry into the atmosphere. Sonic booms echoed to announce the shuttle's approach. Commander Brent Jett had guided the shuttle in to the three-mile-long Runway 33, descending at an angle seven times steeper than a commercial airliner and twice as fast. The craft had been delayed a day coming home because of fears that a mystery object spotted outside in orbit had broken off the craft. But no problems were found in an extensive examination of its hull and wings. Nasa are thrilled with the success of the Atlantis mission which added a giant 17-ton set of solar panels the size of a football pitch to the space station during three spacewalks. They are likely now to return to launching the shuttle at night to help speed completion of the orbiting outpost before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. Shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told staff: "We are back in the assembly business. This is one of the most complex missions that's ever been flown in space. It has been an outstanding effort." The next scheduled shuttle flight is Discovery in early December. The Nasa TV photo shows today's touchdown. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Anousheh sends a postcard home

Space tourist Anousheh Ansari has sent home her first holiday "postcard" from her 5,000-star hotel. The glamorous American tycoon revealed that she can't stop watching the view of Earth, 220 miles below, from the international space station. Anousheh, 40, who claims to be the first space blogger, posted a message to friends and family about her $20 million trip, including the two-day journey there in a Russian Soyuz rocket. She said: "The launch was very smooth. The trip to the station felt long but it was worth it. I cannot keep my eyes off the windows. Earth is magnificent and peaceful from up here. You don’t see any of those awful things you hear on the news, from up here. "The Earth is so beautiful and if we could all see it this way I’m sure we would do everything in our power to preserve it. I truly hope that more and more people get to experience this trip first hand." Anousheh, the world's first female space tourist, travelled with cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and Nasa's Miguel Lopez-Alegria, who have begun a six-month stint aboard the space station. The Iranian-born home-technology entrepreneur will fly home after eight days in orbit with departing crew members Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams. The photo shows Anousheh, front, with astronauts on the space station. Nasa TV. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Atlantis delayed by mystery UFO

Landing of the shuttle Atlantis today was cancelled after a mystery UFO appeared outside the ship. The strange black body was spotted by astronaut Dan Burbank floating below the spacecraft yesterday as it was still in orbit. Atlantis's crew of six immediately videoed images of it to mission control. The unidentified flying object worried Nasa because it could be part of the heatshield that protects the craft during reentry. Their fears were reinforced by a series of readings from a sensor behind the shuttle's leading wing that may be coincidental but could have been due to an impact or abormal vibrations. It was damage to a leading wing that caused the break-up of another shuttle, Columbia, in 2003, killing seven astronauts. The object - which, incidentally, was not a flying saucer - could also be something else shaken loose during routine tests of the shuttle's steering jets and hydraulic system. Atlantis's crew were due to touch down at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida today. The landing was delayed for 24 hours to allow Nasa chiefs to assess the problem. If the shield is damaged, astronauts could make a spacewalk to carry out repairs. In an emergency, they could even return to the international space station to await rescue by another shuttle. The picture shows a view of the Atlantis today from a camera on the end of its robotic arm. Picture: Nasa. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Anousheh begins space 'holiday'

Star Trek fan Anousheh Ansari blasted off into a clear blue sky today for her trip to the international space station. She became the world's first female space tourist when she rocketed into orbit in a Russian Soyuz TMA-9 rocket. But just like so many package-holidaymakers back home, she was finding the flight to her "resort" a little cramped. She faces two days stuck in a claustrophobic tin can capsule with two male astronauts. One of them cried "Let's go" as the rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. One of Anousheh's companions, Nasa's Mike Lopez-Alegria, has long legs which helps make it a tight squeeze. Anousheh, 40, who is only the fourth private space explorer, hopes Mike and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will give her a little privacy when she needs it. The Soyuz has a tiny "living room" so she will be able to keep to herself when she needs to use the craft's rather primitive electric toilet. Iranian-born Anousheh, chairman of hi-tech multimedia company Prodea Systems, of Texas, told reporters before take-off: "It is really small, it is a cramped space for three people. Of course, I don't have any expectation of privacy, but both Michael and Misha are very, very considerate individuals." Anousheh, who is thought to have paid around $20million for her ten-day trip, will arrive at the space station at 6.24am UK time on Wednesday. Her companions are beginning a six-month tour of duty crewing the orbiting outpost, 220 miles above Earth. Anousheh will carry out experiments on microbes and help scientists study lower back pain in astronauts whiile she is in orbit. She will also write the first blog from space as she keeps an online diary for her tour company Space Adventures. The space station's current occupants, commander Pavel Vinogradov, Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, watched today's blast-off on a video link. They had just said goodbye on Sunday to the crew of Atlantis who carried out vital construction work on the station. Tonight they are due to undock an unmanned Progress cargo ship to make room for Anousheh's Soyuz to arrive. Atlantis is due to land at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, on Wednesday. Photo: Energia. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Launch day for a new sky blog

As I described in an earlier post, blogging is literally set to reach new heights when space tourist Anousheh Ansari keeps her own online diary aboard the International Space Station this week. Not to be outdone, this blogger is to boldly go and discover the new world (to him) of camping, meet fellow astronomical lifeforms and blog all about it. Tomorrow marks the start of the UK's biggest star party, the Equinox Sky Camp, to be held at Kelling Heath near Holt in Norfolk. Well it seemed like a good idea when I booked in those balmy days of of high summer, just a few weeks ago. And it should be a splendid opportunity to meet some of Britain's most dedicated amateur astronomers and observe under dark skies. (I promise no jokes about the excitement being in tents). It seemed like an ideal time to start a new project and launch my Skylog - a new blog devoted to events of interest to skywatchers. I shall do my best to blog regularly from Kelling Heath so do visit the blog and keep up with all the fun. The photo shows happy campers with some serious kit at the Equinox Sky Camp in 2004. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Puffed-up planet is a riddle

Astronomers have found a corker of a new planet that is so light it would float in water. The distant world is the largest yet discovered and is more than one and a third the diameter of our own biggest planet Jupiter. But it is only half as dense and is even lighter than cork. The puffed-up planet was discovered using a network of small automatic telescopes called HAT. It is in orbit around one of a pair of stars 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Lacerta, the Lizard. Discoverer Gaspar Bakos, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics (CfA) in Massachusetts, said yesterday: "We could be looking at an entirely new class of planets. "This planet is about one-quarter the density of water. In other words, it's lighter than a giant ball of cork! Just like Saturn, it would float in a bathtub if you could find a tub big enough to hold it, but it would float almost three times higher." The new planet, labelled HAT-P-1, revolves around its parent star every 4.5 days in an orbit only a twentieth the distance from Earth to the Sun. Once each orbit, it passes in front of its own sun, causing its brightness to fade by about 1.5 percent for more than two hours each time. It was that brightness dip that gave the planet's presence away to astronomers. The star, which is 3.6 billion years old, compared to the Sun's 4.5 billion years, is visible in binoculars but the fade is too little to be seen with the eye alone. Although stranger than any other extrasolar planet found so far, HAT-P-1 is not alone in its low-density status. The first planet ever found to transit its star, HD 209458b, also is puffed up about 20 percent larger than predicted by theory. HAT-P-1 is 24 percent larger than expected. Robert Noyes, co-author of a paper to be submitted to the Astrophysical Journal, said: "Out of eleven known transiting planets, now not one but two are substantially bigger and lower in density than theory predicts. We can't dismiss HD209458b as a fluke. This new discovery suggests something could be missing in our theories of how planets form." The HAT network consists of six telescopes, four at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Whipple Observatory in Arizona and two at its Submillimeter Array facility in Hawaii. These telescopes conduct robotic observations every clear night, each covering an area of the sky 300 times the size of the full moon with every exposure. The image shows a CfA artist's impression of the new puffed-up planet. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Meet Pluto's trouble and strife

Astronomers have proved they have a wicked sense of humour by choosing an official name for the distant world that got Pluto the boot. They are calling it Eris after the goddess of discord and strife. The icy object, on the edge of our solar system, had been nicknamed Xena by discoverer Mike Brown who found it from California in 2003. But it stirred up a quarrel in the space community because it was found to be bigger than the then ninth planet Pluto. What is more, it became clear that both worlds were among a number of similar bodies labelled Kuiper Belt Objects, left over from the formation of the solar system. Astronomers had to decide whether to make them planets too or to take away Pluto's planetary status. Last month in Prague they voted to axe Pluto and cut the solar system down to eight planets. An IAU subcommittee, part of the Minor Planets Center, gave Eris its new name. It has a small moon which they are naming Dysnomia. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Chunk of Moon found on Earth

Explorers have found a chunk of the Moon lying in the Antarctic, they have revealed. The lunar meteorite was spotted by a team of US scientists searching the ice sheet for rocks from space. Antarctica is seen as a storehouse for meteorites because they can lie undisturbed for thousands of years on the snow. But most come from deep space and finding a rock from the Moon is an extremely rare event. It is believed to have thrown out of the Moon when a giant asteroid collided, and circled the sun for aeons before falling to Earth. The meteorite, officially labelled MIL 05035, was identified by its composition. Only one similar stone has been found in the Antarctic before. The black rock, which is slightly larger than a golf ball, weighs 142.2g (just over 5oz). It was discovered on December 11 last year, one of 238 meteorites collected during last summer in the Antarctic. A field party from the US Antarctic Search for Meteorites program found the lunar meteorite on an icefield in the Miller Range of the Transantarctic Mountains, roughly 750km (around 470 miles) from the South Pole. Scientists at Nasa's Johnson Space Centre and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History say the meteorite is similar in composition to the basaltic lavas that fills the lunar seas but appears to have come from deep beneath the Moon's crust. Photo: Department of Geological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, US. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Probe in final orbit around Mars

A space probe the size of a bus swung into its final orbit around Mars this week, six months after arriving at the red planet. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter completed a long series of swoops through the thin atmosphere to slow it down and put it on its correct path. The technique, called aerobraking, used friction to slow the Nasa craft and graduallly lower its altitude. The new orbit will allow the orbiter to begin taking the most highly detailed photographs and other measurements ever of Mars. British space scientist Colin Pillinger hopes that later this year it will confirm the position of his Beagle 2 lander which crashed on Mars on Christmas Day, 2003. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will circle the red planet from pole to pole. Its orbit will fly it from a height of 250km (155 miles) over a spot near the south pole to 316km (196 miles) over the north polar region. During the two-year science phase of its mission, the probe is expected to return more data about Mars than all previous missions to the planet combined. The photo shows a Nasa artist's impression of Mars Reconnaissance Orbit flying over the planet. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Tripper Anousheh to blog in space

The world's first female space tourist, Anousheh Ansari, will write her own "Captain's Blog" from orbit next week. The Star Trek-style online diary is believed to be the first weblog ever written in space, say Space Adventures, organisers of her $20million out-of-this-world holiday. US citizen Anousheh is set to blast off on Monday aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket for an eight-day stay aboard the International Space Station. She will be only the fourth private space explorer, having won her place after another tourist, Japanese Internet tycoon Dice-K, was judged unfit to fly. Iranian-born Anousheh, who was 40 on Tuesday, has already begun her blog during training in Moscow's Star City. In it, she reveals how she dreamed of flying to the stars when she was in bed as a child. Anousheh, chairman of Prodea Systems, says: "This is the first blog I have ever written. I’m usually a private person, but with what has happened in my life, I feel an obligation to share this experience with everyone out there. I look forward to sharing the next few weeks of my life with each and every one of you. Anousheh has helped prepare her own outfit to wear on the space mission, which will also deliver a new crew to the station. She chose a special blue fabric for her space suit and will change into a polo shirt and shorts with cambric panties (not sure why we need to know that!) once on the orbiting outpost. The first female space holiday girl will not be allowed to carry any make-up on her trip. Russian scientists say she may use only moisturising creams, a hygienic lipstick, and balms in space. The Soyuz rocket will set off for the space station just as shuttle astronauts head home. The Atlantis is due to land on Wednesday. Today, astronauts Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean embarked on the second spacewalk of the mission to continue construction of the space station. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Space construction set to begin

Shuttle Atlantis will dock with the international space station on Monday to begin one of the most dangerous missions ever. Astronauts will turn the orbiting outpost into a giant construction site as they begin to boost its size. Atlantis blasted off on Saturday on its fifth attempt and after a two week delay. Small fragments of foam, like those that doomed the shuttle Columbia in 2003, were seen to fall from the main fuel tank but Nasa believe there was no danger. The spacecraft's hull will be closely examined in space during three space walks to make sure no damage has been done. On their 11-day mission, the crew of six, led by Commander Brent Jett, 48, together with three more astronauts aboard the space station, will attach a 16-ton, 45ft long set of solar panels to provide electricity. Two hours after docking, astronaut Dan Burbank, 45, will lift the solar array's giant truss from the shuttle's cargo bay using a robot arm, seen in the photo. Its size means he will get just one inch of clearance as he attempts not to bash anything in the process. When fully opened, the solar panels will stretch 240ft and rotate to follow the sun as the shuttle orbits the Earth. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Atlantis finds wings at last

The space shuttle dubbed The Penguin finally blasted off today, two weeks late. Nasa wags had given Atlantis the nickname, saying it was black and white but didn't fly. But the ship lifted off at last from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, at 4.15pm. The shuttle is due to link up with the International Space Station, 220 miles above the Earth, on Monday. Its twin rocket boosters separated on schedule two minutes after launch, leaving it still mounted to its main fuel tank. Eight and a half minutes after lift-off, the shuttle's main engines shut off as planned. Seconds later, the empty main fuel tank was jettisoned to burn up in the atmosphere. Ten minutes after launch, Atlantis was back in space for the first time in four years and travelling at 17,000mph. Early examination of video taken during lift-off showed two small pieces of debris fell from the main tank well after the rocket boosters separated. But the shuttle itself was apparently untouched. Yesterday's launch came after a string of setbacks for mission STS-115. Atlantis was due to lift off on August 27 but that was cancelled after lightning struck the launch tower. Two days later, a tropical storm threatened and Nasa began to haul the spacecraft back to its hangar. As weather improved, it was returned to the pad. On Wednesday, a short-circuit was detected in a fuel cell used to produce electricity and lift-off was postponed again. Then on Friday, launch was scrubbed once more, this time because of a faulty fuel gauge, just 48 minutes before it was due to go. Commander Brent Jett, 48, was first to board the shuttle flight deck, 195ft above ground, at at 12.51 UK time. He was followed by Joe Tanner, 56, pilot Chris Ferguson, 45, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, 43, Canadian Steve MacLean, 51, and Dan Burbank, 45. Nasa are keen to get the shuttle fleet flying a regular schedule again so that they can complete building of the space station before the fleet is retired in 2010. During Atlantis's mission, a major new truss and a £2 million second set of solar arrays to generate electricity will be added to the orbiting outpost. Atlantis is a sister ship to Discovery which last flew in July, carrying British astronaut Piers Sellers to the space station. The fleet had previously been grounded for a year. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Hubble spots mystery companion

The Hubble space telescope has photographed a mysterious object orbiting another star in the galaxy. The object, one of the smallest ever seen outside our own solar system, looks like a bright spot circling a red dwarf star called CHXR 73. But its discoverers do not know whether the object is a planet or a failed star that failed to ignite, known as a brown dwarf. The new find, around 500 light years from the Sun, is around 12 times the size of Jupiter, the biggest planet in our own solar system. Astronomers say that the difference between a brown dwarf and a planet depends on their origin. A brown dwarf forms, like a star, from the gravitational collapse of clouds of hydrogen gas. Planets form from the disks of dust and gas that surround new-born stars. The Earth and its sister planets were formed from a giant disk of gas and dust that once ringed our own sun. Hubble's mystery object, labelled CHXR 73B, lies 19.5 billion miles from its parent star - about 200 times farther than Earth is from our Sun. The star is around two million years old, less than half the Sun's 4.6-billion-year age. Kevin Luhman, of Pennsylvania State University, led an international team of astronomers who found CHXR 73B. Our picture shows the Hubble image of the star with its companion. (Nasa/ESA). ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Cloud fails to eclipse the Moon

If ever there is a special event in the sky that you really want to see, then you can usually guarantee bad weather. Or maybe it just feels like it to a cynical old astronomer. But it was a welcome surprise to find conditions ideal for last night's eclipse of the Moon. This partial eclipse was offering UK observers the rare opportunity of seeing our natural satellite rise over the horizon with a big "bite" taken out of the top. Amazingly, not only was the sky clear, it was clear right down to the horizon with none of the distant cloud banks that normally block the view. So I only had London's flats and office blocks to contend with when I went to photograph the eclipse in Putney, south west London. I tried to get a fairly clear view east along the River Thames, while placing myself out of the way of passing cyclists, joggers and tired commuters. With more time I might have picked a spot with a better horizon. But when the Moon appeared, above some riverside apartments, it presented a stunning sight. The "bite" - the darkest part of the Earth's shadow in space - was far more obvious than I'd expected. I wondered if any ordinary folk could fail to notice it at such a low angle. My photos were taken with a Canon EOS300D digital camera with a zoom lens at 300mm focal length, at 18.58, 19.22 and 19.46 UT. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Other Earths 'common in space'

Earth-like planets, possibly teeming with life, may exist around many stars beyond our own solar system, according to a new space study. More than a third of nearby stars where giant planets have been detected are also orbited by worlds just like Earth, scientists believe. Experts say the research, involving months of computer simulations, will help alien hunters target the best regions of space where they might find ET. Astronomers say the giant bodies, known as "Hot Jupiters", spiralled inwards towards their own suns as their systems of planets were forming. The disruption caused triggered Earth-like planets with seas of their own, in a habitable zone conducive to the evolution of life. Dr Sean Raymond, of the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, says: "These gas giants cause quite a ruckus. We now think there is a new class of ocean-covered, and possibly habitable, planets in solar systems unlike our own." He adds: "I think there are definitely habitable planets out there. But any life on these planets could be very different from ours. There are a lot of evolutionary steps in between the formation of such planets in other systems and the presence of life forms looking back at us." The study, published in the journal Science today, says that the Hot Jupiters push and pull on a disk of debris around the stars, flinging it outwards where it then collects to form a planet. At the same time, turbulent forces from a dense cloud of surrounding gas slow down the orbits of small icy bodies on the outer edges of other disk, causing them to spiral inwards and deliver water to the fledgling planets. Eventually, the planets could build up oceans several miles deep, the study shows. Many astronomers believe the Earth's own oceans were formed when we were bombarded by ice-carrying comets from the depths of the solar system. The research team, who also included scientists from Pennsylvania State University and Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre, ran exhaustive computer simulations lasting more than eight months each to discover how planetary systems evolve over 200 million years. They concluded that around one in every three known planetary systems could have evolved as-yet-undetected Earth-like planets in so-called habitable zones like the one Earth is in. Around 80 of the 200 planets so far discovered around other stars are known to be Hot Jupiters, Raymond said. The simulations also showed that some rocky planets known as "Hot Earths" often form inside the orbits of Hot Jupiters, said Raymond. One, twice as wide as the Earth, was actually discovered in 2005 in a nearby star system orbiting just 2 million miles from its parent star. The study's authors conclude: "We predict that a significant fraction of systems with close-in giant planets will be found to have a Hot Earth or potentially habitable, water-rich planets on stable orbits in the Habitable Zone." Picture: An artists impression of an extrasolar planetary system forming (PPARC). ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Watch eclipse of the moonrise

There will be a big bite out of the Moon when it rises over the UK and Ireland tomorrow night, September 7, due to a lunar eclipse. The top of the Moon will appear dented or squashed as it passes through the edge of the Earth's shadow in space. The rest of the Moon will also seem dimmer than usual as it rises above the eastern horizon. at around 7.45pm BST (18.45 UT). The dark phase will last until 8.38pm (19.38 UT). Robin Scagell, of the UK's Society for Popular Astronomy said today: "This is one of the most unusual moonrises you will ever see and it is a great photo opportunity. The Moon will look distinctly odd. "Find a clear horizon without any high buildings in the way and it will be easy to see without any optical aid. Binoculars will give an even better view." The event is known as a partial eclipse because the Full Moon will not pass completely through the Earth's shadow but just through the southern edge. It will be fully visible from eastern Africa, India and central Asia. The Moon enters the Earth's main umbral shadow at 18.05 UT and leaves at 19.38 UT. Mid-eclipse occurs at 18.51 UT, after the Moon has risen in the UK. The next total eclipse of the Moon, which will also be visible from Britain, is on March 3 next year. Such eclipses only happen at Full Moon when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in line. September's Full Moon is not a harvest moon this year. That is because that title is given to the event closest to the autumn equinox which, in 2006, occurs in October. The photo, by Paul Sutherland, is of a total eclipse of the Moon over Tower Bridge, London, on January 9, 2001. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Atlantis launch scrubbed again

Launch of the space shuttle Atlantis was scrubbed again today because of a fault in one of its fuel cells. It was the latest setback for a mission that has been plagued with problems. Atlantis was due to lift off on August 27 but that was cancelled after lightning struck the launch tower. The threat of a tropical storm saw Nasa start to haul the spacecraft back to its hangar, but as weather improved, it was returned to pad 39B. Conditions looked set to be perfect for the shuttle's crew of six to fly to the space station today. But as engineers prepared to pump half a million gallons of fuel into the external tank, a short-circuit was detected in a unit that produces electricity. Nasa hoped to be able to repair the fault without having to take Atlantis back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, which would cause serious delays. They are keen to get the shuttle fleet flying a regular schedule again so that they can complete building of the space station. But if they do not take off by Friday, they will probably not be able to fly until next month. Photo: Atlantis on launch pad 39B today (Nasa). ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Hubble snaps eclipse on Uranus

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken the first amazing photo of an eclipse of the sun on Uranus. The eye in the sky zoomed in on a couple of spots on the distant planet - one white and one black - on July 26. They are a 700-mile wide moon called Ariel and its shadow cast onto Uranus's blue-green cloud tops. Any alien under the shadow would see an eclipse, similar to those viewed from Earth when our Moon blocks out the sun's light. Nasa experts say views of Uranus's moons crossing in front of it are rare. The planet is tipped right over on its axis and so its satellites only line up with the sun every 42 years. The tilt also leads to extreme seasons during Uranus's 84-year long orbit Uranus, the third largest planet in the solar system, has five main moons and at least ten smaller rocky satellites in orbit around it. The picture was taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Moon probe is down and out

Europe's Smart-1 spaceprobe successfully crashed into the Moon early today, bang on target. The fridge-sized Smart-1 probe flew in at a shallow angle to make impact at 4,500 mph in a region called the Lake of Excellence. The site lay just within the dark side of the moon where the sun had not yet risen. Astronomers using the giant 3.6-metre Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Hawaii photographed a bright flash (see picture) at the moment of collision - 5.42am UT. The Moon was not visible from Britain. But professional and amateur astronomers in South Africa, the Canary Islands, South America and the USA were watching for the impact. The European Space Agency said it occurred at 34.4 degrees South, 46.2 degrees West on the edge of Lacus Excellentiae. Smart-1 was Europe's first mission to the Moon but its dramatic demise was not simply to dump it as lunar landfill. Scientists including Professor Manuel Grande of Aberystwyth University, Wales, hope that analysis of the crash will help them learn how the Moon formed. ESA mission control had to take emergency action during Smart-1's final approach to avoid hitting the wall of a crater out of sight from Earth on the Moon. They lifted the probe's orbit by around 600 metres (2,000ft) so that it flew safely over the rocky rim and on towards its planned fate. Over 16 months in orbit, the robot probe has observed the Moon in great detail. Chief ESA scientist on the mission, Bernard Foing, said: "The legacy left by the huge wealth of Smart-1 data, to be analysed in the months and years to come, is a precious contribution to lunar science at a time when the exploration of the Moon is once again getting the world’s interest.” Professor David Southwood, ESA's British Director of Science, said: "Smart-1 represents a great success and a very good return on investment, both from the technological and the scientific point of view. "It seems that right now everyone in the world is planning on going to the Moon. Future scientific missions will greatly benefit from the technological and operational experience gained thanks to this small spacecraft." Photo: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/2006 ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Smart-1 to hit Moon tomorrow

A British-backed space probe will smash into the Moon tomorrow in the first lunar "landing" by a European mission. Smart-1, which is the size of a small fridge, is being deliberately crashed into a region called the Lake of Excellence at 6.41am BST (5.41 UT). Telescopes around the world will be trained to observe an impact that will mark the end of a three-year mission by the European Space Agency probe. Experts say material blasted out of the Moon could even be visible in stargazers' backyard telescopes as it creates a crater up to 10 yards in diameter. British Moon expert Peter Grego, of the Society for Popular Astronomy, says: "The explosion itself is likely to be rather faint with a duration of a fraction of a second. However, should a plume of ejected material reach an altitude high enough to catch sunlight, it may be bright enough to be visible through amateur telescopes for a short period." See the SPA's impact guide here. Space scientists say that the impact could occur five hours earlier than predicted if an unknown mountain peak on the Moon's far side gets in the way. UK scientists, led by Professor Manuel Grande of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, hope that over 16 months in orbit, Smart-1 will have helped solve the riddle of how the Moon was formed. Using an instrument called D-CIXS, they have detected deposits of minerals, including calcium, aluminium, magnesium and silicon. These will test the theory that, in the distant past, a planet the size of Mars collided with Earth to create our natural satellite. Professor Grande said: "We have good maps of iron across the lunar surface. Now we can look forward to making maps of the other elements." Unusually, the unmanned Smart-1 probe took the scenic route to the Moon, with a journey that lasted 14 months compared to less than a week for the Apollo missions. It got there using just 60 litres (13.2 gallons) of fuel to power a super-efficient ion engine. Instead of flying a straight line, it flew bigger and bigger loops around the Earth before being captured by the Moon's gravity and falling into a pole-to-pole orbit. Mission controllers at Darmstadt, near Frankfurt, completed a series of complex thruster firings in June to direct the probe on its descent. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, SpaceStories.com

Pluto probe snaps a star cluster

When French astronomer Charles Messier drew up his famous catalogue of star clusters and fuzzy patches in the 18th century, he was producing a guide to help prevent him mistaking them for the comets he was hunting. Today the 110 celestial objects that make up the final list form an observing challenge in themselves for amateur astronomers. But Messier, who died in 1817, would surely have been amazed by the latest observer of a cluster in his catalogue - a spacecraft en route to Pluto. Nasa's New Horizons probe opened a cover last week to test its imaging equipment on Messier 7, a collection of stars in our own galaxy recorded by Messier in 1764. The resulting photo, which resembles those taken by amateur observers with today's CCD cameras, has delighted the team in charge of the probe on its ten year journey to the distant world Pluto. It is the first picture taken by New Horizons fom space and must come as a welcome bit of good news, just days after the team learned that their final target had lost its planet status. The spacecraft's camera is called the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager - LORRI. New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, said: "This week's virtuoso first-light performance by LORRI is the best news any Pluto fan could hope for." The picture was taken five and a half minutes after the probe's hinged door sprung open on August 29. And as the image appeared on screens at mission control in Maryland, the camra's builder, Steve Conard, exclaimed: "I see stars!" LORRI's principal investigator Andy Cheng said: "Our hope was that LORRI was capable of providing the required high-resolution imaging of Pluto and Charon. Our hopes were not only met, but exceeded." Incidentally, Messier 7 was recorded by Messier but he was by no means the first to observe it. The cluster, found in the scorpion's tail in Scorpio, was descr