Word: vegas
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While scientists at JPL and elsewhere are now reviewing past data in search of further confirmation of the Vega particles at least one Harvard scientist is planning on taking a more direct look--through some ground-based telescopes based in Hawaii. Giovanni G. Facio, lecturer on Astronomy, said that he planned to use a trip to an observatory on the Pacific Island this past weekend to see if he could visually site the particles, which he said might resemble the rings around Saturn...
...large planets around another star, but there does seem to be all the potential for forming a planetary system there," said Fazio, who is well-known for his knowledge of infrared astronomy. Fazio will have an infrared satellite of his own--slightly different from the one which made the Vega finding--launched into orbit aboard a space shuttle mission now scheduled for March...
...Physics Paul Horowitz, is currently searching for radio signals from intelligent life forms, using an 84-ft.-diameter radio telescope owned by the University and located in Harvard, Mass. Already, he said, several colleagues and others have inquired about any readings he may have taken in the area of Vega, just in case there were some planets--and beings--orbiting around...
...tell you the truth, conventional theory in this area says that Vega is not a good candidate," said Horowitz, explaining that the star is not of the size and intensity expected to develop "habitable" planets. Nevertheless, he said, he will most likely take a peek in Vega's direction when he next goes to the radio telescope in coming weeks...
...Vega, now visible nearly directly overhead and part of the constellation Lyra, is located about 26 light years away, the distance light would travel in that span of time, or about 150 trillion miles. Scientists believe the star to be about twice the size and 60 times as bright as the sun, with the particles extending in an envelope or disk about 7.4 billion miles in radius, approximately twice the distance from the sun to the orbit of its outermost planet...