Berkeley — The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is often depicted as a dull zone of dead rocks with an occasional wayward speedster smashing through on its way toward the sun.
A new study appearing in the Aug. 26 issue of the journal Nature paints a different picture, one of slow but steady change, where sunlight gradually drives asteroids to split in two and move far apart to become independent asteroids among the millions orbiting the sun.
(Mountain View, CA) More than two decades after the SETI Institute was founded in 1984, Frank Drake, the long-time Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Study of Life in the Universe, has announced a successor, David Morrison.
Award-Winning Astronomer and Researcher Honored in February 2009 Issue
Hi-Resolution Image Available Upon Request
Award-Winning Astronomer and Researcher Honored in February 2009 Issue
Hi-Resolution Image Available Upon Request
Electronic Arts’ eagerly awaited video game, Spore, which was released yesterday, is based on serious scientific research that is out of this world. Literally.
Layers of clay-rich rock have been found in Mars’ Mawrth Vallis, a potential landing site for future rovers. This work, published in the August 8 issue of Science, suggests that abundant water was once present on Mars and that hydrothermal activity may have occurred.
Mountain View, CA – The X PRIZE Foundation and Google, Inc. today announced the first ten teams to register for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon to win a remarkable $30 million in prizes. This international group of teams will compete to land a privately funded robotic craft on the Moon that is capable of roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to the Earth.
Echoing the re-discovery of America by the Spanish long after an earlier Viking reconnaissance, astronomers have learned that a recently observed asteroid - one that could potentially hit the Earth - was actually first observed nearly a half-century ago. Researchers at the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA have confirmed work by SETI Institute astronomer Peter Jenniskens that the recently discovered asteroid 2007 RR9 is in fact the long-lost object 6344 P-L.
Mountain View, CA– The Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe is being established at the SETI Institute in Silicon Valley to sustain a long-term commitment for research into age-old questions such as, "Are we Alone?"
"Understanding the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe, a field often called Astrobiology, is one of the most important endeavors of the science community and all humanity," said SETI Institute Trustee and Nobel Prize winning scientist Baruch Blumberg.
The SETI Institute is proud to be a significant part of the upcoming Astrobiology Science Conference 2006 .
