The Sun Will Eventually Engulf Earth--Maybe Sep 8, 2008
The answer is not straightforward, because although the sun will expand beyond Earth s orbit, or one astronomical unit (AU), it will lose mass along the way. As a result, Earth should drift outward as the gravitational tug lessens over time. (Scientific American)
Milky Way's Central Monster Measured Aug 30, 2008
1 astronomical unit (about 9 million miles). Why is this measurement so amazing. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Stellar Stillbirths: Brown Dwarfs Revealed As Third Class Of Celestial Bodies After Stars And Planets Aug 23, 2008
The intimacy which this dance involves, however, varies a great deal: sometimes the gap is smaller than one radius of the Earth s orbit (also known as Astronomical Unit or AU). However, the two partners can also keep apart by as much as many thousands of AUs. (Science Daily)
The laboratory at the end of the solar system Jul 3, 2008
The probe encountered the termination shock 10 AU closer to the sun than Voyager 1 did (one astronomical unit is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun). Voyager 2 crossed at 83. (Ars Technica)
'Plutoid' Chosen As Name For Solar System Objects Like Pluto Jun 12, 2008
The absolute magnitude H for planets, dwarf planets, comets and asteroids allows astronomers to compare the brightness of objects as if they all sat one astronomical unit from the Sun and the Earth and at a phase angle of zero degrees. In this scale, increasing brightness corresponds to a decreasing magnitude. (Science Daily)
Kids' Astronomy Essay Contest Feb 26, 2008
Sponsored by Dale Lowdermilk / Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit. Posted by Alan MacRobert, February 25, 2008 related content: links. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
The enduring mysteries of the outer solar system Jan 1, 2008
A distant reservoir of trillions of comets known as the Oort cloud theoretically lies up to 100,000 astronomical units from the sun an astronomical unit or AU being about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). This means the Oort cloud is a fifth of the way to the nearest star, so far away that objects within it have never been seen directly, only inferred but it must exist, given all the comets seen over the years. (USA Today -- Tech)
Alaskans can see Mars-moon eclipse this afternoon Dec 24, 2007
The lunar occultation of Mars will take place from 4:52 p.m. to 5:43 p.m., according to local astronomer Martin Gutoski, president of the Fairbanks Astronomical Unit. The club will have telescopes set up at Creamer's Field, Gutoski said. (Anchorage Daily News)
NAI Director's Seminar: "Getting to the Core of Exoplanets: From Gas to Ice Giants" Dec 3, 2007
(One parsec is the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends an angle of 1 second of arc. Several planets reveal information on their cores and interiors. (NASA Watch)
Earth-like planets get life assessment Nov 3, 2007
105 times the distance between Earth and the Sun (a distance known as an astronomical unit), and the outer edge at 0 ... 073 astronomical units (AU) from its star - just outside the habitable zone. (Nature News Service)
Scientists put a new spin on starbirth Nov 1, 2007
One AU, or astronomical unit, is equal to the distance between the Earth and the sun. Material is thought to be ejected from the system at more than 200,000 mph (100 kilometers per second). (MSNBC -- Technology)
Into The Chrysalis: VLT Interferometer Detects Disc Around Aged Star Oct 3, 2007
The observations reveal a disc with a much puffed-up inner rim, extending from 9 Astronomical Units to several hundreds of AU. The giant star, whose position is indicated by the cross in the images, is 5000 times as bright as our Sun and is located 2,600 light-years away from Earth ... The astronomers found indeed evidence for a disc extending from 9 Astronomical Units* to several hundreds of AU. "This disc is found around a star that is in a very brief phase of its life - just a blink of an eye... (Science Daily)
Planet Survivor Sep 17, 2007
It grew to about 1 astronomical unit in diameter the size of Earth's orbit. Then, an unusual sequence of events occurred. (Science News for Kids)
Planet Survived Brush with Red Giant Sep 16, 2007
7 times Earth's distance from the sun, called an astronomical unit (AU). The most likely scenario, the researchers say, is that the planet once orbited about one AU from V391 Pegasi, which closed the gap to 0. (Scientific American)
Planet survives stellar explosion Sep 13, 2007
7 astronomical units away from V 391 Pegasi. This is just within the 2 astronomical units thought to be too close for comfort for planets near red giants (one astronomical unit is the distance from Earth to the Sun). (Nature News Service)
Star Caught Smoking Aug 8, 2007
2-m Unit Telescopes, the astronomers explored the inner 110 astronomical units [2] around the star ... But more importantly, the astronomers also found evidence for a dusty cloud lying only about 30 astronomical units away from the star, or 100 times the radius of the star ... An Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. (Science Daily)
Good night! An insomniac looks at the world Jul 27, 2007
College students would have to pull all-nooners, Neil Diamond would have to thank the Lord for 11 a.m., the morning would have 1,000 eyes, the Beatles would have to sing about a "Hard Day's Day", we would have to go gentle into that good afternoon, it would be the diurnal course before Christmas, Vincent Van Gogh would have painted "Starry Astronomical Unit" and the Post Office would not be kept from its appointed rounds by the gloom of lunchtime. If we didn't have the nighttime, we would always... (Buffalo Reflex, MO)
Odd form of space debris needles Keck scientists Jul 20, 2007
Traces of the needle have been detected out from its star 550 times the distance from the sun to Earth, a standard measuring stick called an astronomical unit. The needle was indirectly detected in 2000 and imaged by the Hubble telescope in 2006 by a team led by Paul Kalas and James Graham of the University of California-Berkeley. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Astronomers Discover 28 New Exoplanets And Four Multi-Planet Systems May 30, 2007
"Only one of the 9 planets is within 1 AU (astronomical unit, or 93 million miles), and none of them is within 0.8 AU, of their host stars, which is very different than the distribution around sun-like stars," he said, noting that many sun-like stars harbor hot gas giants that whip around their host stars in two to 100 days. Even though short-period planets are easier to detect, no such planets have been detected orbiting retired A stars, whose typical planets have an orbital distance about... (Science Daily)
Comet clash kicks up dusty haze Feb 15, 2007
The Spitzer Space Telescope, an infrared space-based observatory, was able to pick up the glow of a dusty disk circling around the stellar corpse at a distance of about 35 to 150 astronomical units. An astronomical unit is the distance between our sun and Earth, equivalent to 150 million km or 93 million miles. (Yahoo News -- Astronomy and Space)
Pluto probe gets a boost from Jupiter Jan 19, 2007
Astronomers estimate Jupiters magnetotail sweeps across six astronomical units or six times the distance between Earth and the sun to reach the orbit of. One astronomical unit, or AU, is about 93 million miles (149 million kilometers). (MSNBC -- Technology)
Dying star's dust helping to build new planets Jan 11, 2007
Captured insteadBut using the Keck I telescope in Hawaii and the Gemini South telescope in Chile, researchers have discovered that about 1 percent of this dust is being gravitationally captured by Mira A's companion, Mira B. The two stars are separated by a distance of about 90 AU. One AU, or astronomical unit, is equal to the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Mira A's dust is settling into a ring around Mira B, a less massive version of our own Sun, and could eventually serve as the... (MSNBC -- Technology)
> read more Jan 5, 2007
17 astronomical unit from the Sun (half Mercurys distance). But it has recently been lurking beyond the Sun, as seen from Earth, so the prospects for a bright comet were difficult to assess until the start of this year. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
