Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Mars’ salty soils and heading through Saturn’s rings

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - A team of astronomers has discovered the most distant cluster of red galaxies ever observed using FourStar, a new and powerful near-infrared camera on the 6.5m Magellan Baade Telescope. The galaxy cluster is located 10.5 billion light years away in the direction of the constellation Leo. It is made up of 30 galaxies packed closely together, forming the earliest known "galaxy city" in the universe. See article.
g Abodes - A new study shows that salty soils in Antarctica suck moisture out of the atmosphere. If a similar process occurs on planets like Mars, it could have an impact on their potential habitability. See article.
g Message - Before the Pioneer 11 spacecraft could venture beyond our solar system, it had to pass through the rings of Saturn. At the time, the rings were not well characterized and some thought the spacecraft could be destroyed. Whatever happened to Pioneer 11 at Saturn's rings would affect the flight plan of the Voyager spacecraft. See article.

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