Space

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Six images of the mini-jets taken by Cassini between 2005 and 2008. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/QMUL Objects half a mile in diameter have been spotted punching through Saturn’s outermost ring, the F ring, and leaving glittering trails as they …

Scientific American

How `UFOs’ Curb Black Hole Growth

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Artist's impression of a galaxy that is releasing material via two particle jets (red/orange) as well as via ultra-fast outflows (grey/blue), both powered by a black hole. Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab Something unusual has been spotted lurking arou…

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Magnetoastrocoolness: How Cosmic Magnetic Fields Shape Planetary Systems

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AUSTIN, Texas Astrophysicists have a funny attitude toward magnetic fields. You might say they feel both repelled and attracted. Gravitation is assumed to rule the cosmos, so models typically neglect magnetism, which for most researchers is just as …

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Three Tiny Exoplanets Suggest Solar System Not So Special

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Adding to its already long roster of firsts , NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found the three smallest extrasolar planets ever detected — all of them smaller than Earth, and the most diminutive no larger than Mars. The newly discovered trio forms a …

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Future Studies Will Extend Census of Middleweight Black Holes

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Editor's note: In her article, " Goldilocks Black Holes ," Jenny E. Greene discusses the search for black holes with masses ranging from roughly 1,000 suns to a million suns–middleweights on the cosmic scale. These intermediate-mass h…

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A Plenitude of Planets: Galactic Search Finds Exoplanets Are More Commonplace Than Stars

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The next time you look up at the night sky and find yourself marveling at the number of stars overhead, know that you are only seeing part of the magnificent bounty that our galaxy holds. Most of those Milky Way stars are not isolated orbs. Rather an a…

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