Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Star blasts alien planet with fierce X-ray attack

A nearby star is drubbing its close-orbiting planet with a barrage of X-rays 100,000 times more powerful than what the Earth receives from the sun, a new study has found.
That intense, high-energy radiation is blasting about 5 million tons of matter from the gigantic planet into space every second, researchers said. They made the observations using NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44509931/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Friday, September 9, 2011

Prehistoric clay disks found in northwestern Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Four decorated clay disks have been discovered at a prehistoric site in Alaska, apparently the first artifacts of their type discovered in the state, the University of Alaska Museum of the North said.
The disks were found during a summer expedition in Noatak National Preserve, at a site where archeologists have for decades been studying lakefront pit dwellings that date back 1,000 years, officials at the Fairbanks museum said.
The disks are etched, and two of them have holes in the center.
They were discovered when a team from the museum and the National Park Service traveled to the site in northwestern Alaska to make records of previously discovered prehistoric petroglyphs on boulders.
Such prehistoric rock art is extremely rare in interior and northern Alaska, though common in the southwestern part of the United States and other regions, museum and Park Service officials said.


http://news.yahoo.com/prehistoric-clay-disks-found-northwestern-alaska-222029097.html;_ylt=AsBB1MECjqVtbpVC34i9OOtvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTNvYm5uNmNrBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBVU1NGBHBrZwMwMmU2ZTM0OC03OWZhLTM1YmMtOTIzMy00Y2Q3MGUxMDFjYTYEcG9zAzEzBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzRiMzA3NmYwLWRiMzItMTFlMC1iZGRmLTIwMTQ0NTk4ZjI0Yg--;_ylg=X3oDMTFtdTQ1b3RjBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN1cwRwdANzZWN0aW9ucwR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3