News Stories on Our Place in the Universe
Space Sugar a Clue to Life’s Origins (The Washington Post)The discovery of a sugar molecule in the Milky Way offers a remote hint of
how the building blocks of life may have reached Earth billions of years ago.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52311-2004Sep26.html
Getting a Clearer Read on Stars (The Christian Science
Monitor)
Astronomers test the notion that “six eyes” are better than one when measuring some of the brightest stars in the sky.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1021/p14s01-stss.htm
Big Bang Sound Waves Explain Galaxy Clustering (New Scientist.com)
Two studies reveal sound waves that roared through space after the big bang are responsible for the current formation of galaxy clusters.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6871
Messy Reality of Planet Formation Revealed (Scientific
American)
An analysis of data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope reveals the process
of planet formation is more chaotic than previously thought.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0003B5DA-2EA2-1174-AEA283414B7F0000
Scientist Prepare to Use New Device to Capture Cosmic Rays
(The (Montana) Billings Gazette)
Contractors break ground on an elaborate cosmic ray detector that will enable scientists to study the most powerful energy sources in the universe.