Word: planet
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Astronomers have found more than 150 planets orbiting distant stars, but they?ve all been so much bigger than Earth that they?re totally inhospitable to life. But now, with a little help from Albert Einstein, they?ve spotted a world that is by far the smallest ever found- albeit still about 5.5 times the mass of our home planet- which means that many more, even smaller planets, could be discovered reasonably soon...
...behind it. In his original paper, Einstein doubted that such a thing would ever be seen- but he didn?t count on modern technology. Since 1997, a Polish-led team of astronomers has been using that technology in a project called OGLE, for Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (hence the planet?s name) to search for just such magnifications. They?ve seen hundreds, but one that happened last July was followed a short while later by a smaller flicker- evidence that the magnifying star had a planet trailing behind (the planet?s flicker was actually detected by another group of astronomers...
...intensity of the flicker told the scientists how small the planet was- too small to be a gaseous blob like Neptune- and therefore probably made of rock and ice; the timing told them it?s about three times further from its star than we are from the sun. Its surface temperature is probably below ?360 degrees F, much too frigid to sustain life...
...good news, however, is that it?s at least relatively earthlike- and because it's only the third planet discovered this way, the proportion of earthlike planets is probably pretty high. That means Einstein?s trick of light is almost certain to yield others. So while this isn?t quite the discovery astronomers have been hoping for, it?s a signal that finding a close twin of Earth...
...fundamental goal of Medicare Part D is hard to argue with. Medicare has no drug benefit; Part D provides one. When Medicare was established in 1965 as a Great Society health-care program for seniors, prescription drugs were a minor planet in the universe of medical treatment. They now account for 11% of every health-care dollar spent. But more than a quarter of the 42 million people on Medicare had no drug coverage at all last year...