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Space missions to visit the sun

Monday Apr 27, 2009

solar-460_1391592cTwo space probes are to be sent to explore the Sun, in an attempt to get closer to the centre of the star than any previous mission.

The spacecraft will travel more than 70 million miles to one of the least hospitable regions of our solar system, where temperatures are hot enough to melt metal and intense radiation along with chaotic magnetic fields can tear manmade structures apart.

Scientists hope the missions will help them answer a long list of questions that still exist about the sun, including why its outer atmosphere is hotter than its surface, and what causes solar wind, sun spots and flares. Read the rest of this entry »


Astronomers say Milky Way tastes of raspberries

Wednesday Apr 22, 2009

milkywaywsScientists from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, were searching space for evidence of amino acids: the basic chemicals from which life is created.

They told the Guardian newspaper that, despite failing to locate any such aminos, they did find a substance called ethyl formate, the chemical responsible for the flavour of raspberries. Read the rest of this entry »