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Researchers are racing to find the first planet that might support life as we know it.Gliese 876 is a modest star, just one-third the mass of our sun and only 15 light-years away, but it has a history-making planetary system all its own. In 1998 a team led by Geoff Marcy of the University of California at Berkeley detected the first sign of something interesting there: a giant planet, twice the mass of Jupiter, circling Gliese 876 once every two months, its gravity yanking the star back and forth at the speed of a jet plane. Three years later the...

The transit method — observing a distant planet as it moves in front of its star as seen from Earth — is a prime tool for exoplanet detection. But transits are hardly limited to planets around their primaries. The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) is demonstration of that, an attempt to find tiny Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) in the range between 0.5 and 28 kilometers. As you would imagine, at a distance like this such objects cannot be seen directly, but an occultation — the dimming of a star when one of the KBOs passes in front of it —...

Astronomers believe they have taken the first amazing photo of a planet around another star like the Sun. The alien world shows up as a tiny orange disk in the image captured by Canadian scientists with a giant telescope in Hawaii. Previous pictures of so-called extrasolar planets orbiting other stars have been painted by artists. The new world was spotted 500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius, the scorpion. Astronomers were puzzled by its distance from its parent star which is 330 times further than we are from the sun. But they carried out detective work with...

When Senator John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate two Fridays ago, the first-term governor and would-be vice president was a complete stranger to the vast majority of Americans. But, as we soon found out, she had already charmed not just her fellow Alaskans and a devoted University of Colorado at Colorado Springs undergraduate student--the one who launched "Draft Sarah Palin" early in 2007--but also some of the most influential members of D.C.'s conservative establishment. Who were her earliest boosters in the chattering class, and how did they fall so hard, so fast?

Rocker Bon Jovi Hosts Obama Fundraiser Friday, September 5, 2008 11:03 PM Article Font Size Unlike his Republican opponent, Democrat Barack Obama is still raising money for his presidential campaign, and he turned Friday to rock legend Jon Bon Jovi for help. Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, hosted more than 100 people for dinner on their mansion lawn by the Navesink River in Middletown, N.J. The price was $30,800 a person, to be divided between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. "When I look at Barack, I see an old man," Bon Jovi said in introducing his...

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008 – Two years ago, Steve Newton, founder of Silver Star Families of America, asked the governors of all 50 states and the mayor of the District of Columbia to sign a proclamation to observe May 1 as Silver Star Banner Day, honoring wounded and ill servicemembers from all wars. “We asked the governors to make this day a permanent and official day of observance each year thereafter,” Newton said. “This is a community outreach program that can be implemented by each governor to benefit the wounded and ill troop population in this unique way.” Governors...

This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is a very thin section of a supernova remnant caused by a stellar explosion that occurred more than 1,000 years ago. Newswise — A delicate ribbon of gas floats eerily in our galaxy. A contrail from an alien spaceship? A jet from a black-hole? Actually this image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is a very thin section of a supernova remnant caused by a stellar explosion that occurred more than 1,000 years ago. On or around May 1, 1006 A.D., observers from Africa to Europe to the Far East witnessed...

ADS GmbH and BAE Systems Hägglunds have initiated a cooperation to integrate the Active Armor Concept (AAC), the Swedish version of AMAP-ADS, on the SEP platform. The design goal is to accomplish a highly mobile, light-weight and superiorly protected vehicle. The integrated concept was demonstrated on the 17th of April in Sweden and showed an excellent ability to withstand a typical urban warfare scenario in different aspects. During the demonstration the following attacks were performed: * Firing with 7.62 as an example of a non-threat (threat rejection) * Firing with 2 RPG-7 at the same hit point as an example...

In a distant galaxy, a star orbiting a massive central black hole strays too close to the insatiable giant and is torn apart. But before it can be devoured, the star lets out one last scream in a flare of light that slowly echoes across the galaxy. Astronomers on Earth pick up this faint call and use it to map the nucleus of the galaxy from which it emanated. This scenario is no bit of science fiction …quot; a team of astronomers discovered one of these rare and dramatic events while combing through the Sloan Digital Sky Survey last December....

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2008 – Last year, 44 states and the District of Columbia proclaimed May 1 as Silver Star Day. This year, Silver Star Families of America, which began the grassroots movement, is hoping all 50 states will remember and honor their wounded and ill veterans May 1 to kick off Military Appreciation Month. “While we want every state to join with us, this year we are going to the cities and asking them to help,” Janie Orman, the organization’s president, said. “We wanted 50 cities across the United States to hold ceremonies and remember our honored wounded.” Cities...

Roger Waters used his headlining set at the Coachella Festival in Los Angeles yesterday (April 27th) to deliver a strong political statement against the US Government. Following a performance which included a complete rendition of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, Waters dispatched an inflatable pig across the crowd. On the side of the pig was the message "Don't be led to the slaughter", which was accompanied by a cartoon of Uncle Sam wielding two bloody cleavers. The underside of the pig had the name of Barack Obama along with a ticked ballot box, reports the Associated Press. Waters,...

The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a public charter school in Inver Grove, MN that “offers tuition-free education to all students upon admission” is in full swing with Islamic centered traditions at taxpayer’s expense. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the school serves halal food- Islamic permissible food-and that students participate in ritual washing and prayers. It offers Islamic studies and requires students to study Arabic as a second language. The school’s calendar also reflects that it is closed for an entire week in October in observance of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2008 – Servicemembers’ friends and families living in west-central California have a shoulder to lean on if they should need it. Members of Delta Blue Star Moms prepare care packages to send to deployed troops. The group, an official chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America, is based in Knightsen, Calif. Photo courtesy of Delta Blue Star Moms  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Our group offers a supportive environment for family members, primarily moms, of service personnel,” said Tammy Callahan, president of the Delta Blue Star Moms, based in Knightsen, Calif. “It is most difficult...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, March 24, 2008 – Heroes are made, not born. And a hero like Army Spc. Monica Brown, 19, is no different. Army Spc. Monica Brown, a medic from the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, stands over Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khowst province, Afghanistan. Brown is the second woman since World War II to earn a Silver Star for gallantry in combat. (Photo by Spc. Micah E. Clare, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Brown, recognized for her gallant actions during combat in Afghanistan in 2007, is the...

WASHINGTON - The explosion of a star halfway across the universe was so huge it set a record for the most distant object that could be seen on Earth by the naked eye. The aging star, in a previously unknown galaxy, exploded in a gamma ray burst 7.5 billion light years away, its light finally reaching Earth early Wednesday. The gamma rays were detected by NASA's Swift satellite at 2:12 a.m. "We'd never seen one before so bright and at such a distance," NASA's Neil Gehrels said. It was bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. However, NASA...

US weaponry goliath Northrop Grumman says it has achieved the "first major building block" necessary for manufacture of a 100 kilowatt solid-state laser - that is, a viable battlefield raygun. The company said yesterday that its Joint High-Powered Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) programme has "exceeded all target requirements of its second major demonstration milestone". This was the trial of a "laser chain" with 15 kilowatt power. Northrop intends to combine eight such units to produce a single laser beam of more than 100 kilowatts - which is generally considered the level at which energy beams would become useful combat weapons....

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait, March 11, 2008 – It’s hard to imagine that Frank Cavanagh, a tall thin Army Reserve sergeant with a shaved head, once had hair nearly to his shoulders and played bass for the rock band Filter. Richard Patrick (left), lead vocalist for the band Filter, and former band mate turned Army Reserve Sgt. Frank Cavanagh share the stage for a reunion song during the Operation MySpace concert at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 10, 2008. Defense Dept. photos by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Cavanaugh said he didn’t tell anyone he’d gone...

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) — Somehow, being the first Indian-American and the youngest person ever elected to govern a US state wasn't enough. Within weeks of taking office, rising Republican star Piyush "Bobby" Jindal's name was thrown into the ring as a possible vice-presidential candidate by influential conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. And some say the 36-year-old son of Punjabi immigrants could make a great president if he plays his cards right. A cowboy boot-wearing social conservative, Jindal built his political support among Christian conservatives and middle-class whites with his promises to cut taxes, tighten government spending and impose...

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - A teenage boy is accused of fatally shooting his mother and her two little girls, one of whom was the 4-year-old daughter of rap star Juvenile. Anthony Tyrone Terrell Jr., 17, was charged Friday with murder in the deaths at the family home near Lawrenceville, where the bodies were found the night before, said police spokeswoman Illana Spellman. She identified the victims as Gwinnett County Sheriff's Deputy Joy Deleston, 39, and her two daughters, Micaiah, 11, and Jelani, 4. The motive was still unclear.

He’s won a Grammy, published best-selling books and taken the lead in the Democratic presidential race, so can an Oscar be far behind? You won’t see Obama donning a tuxedo for this Sunday’s Academy Awards show, but next year he might very well be there on stage, if not in spirit. A major documentary about the Democratic presidential candidate is in the works, offering an inside view of his campaign with filmmakers shooting “staggering amounts” of revealing behind-the-scenes footage. The project, currently untitled, has been ongoing for roughly two years, backed by actor-producer Edward Norton’s Class 5 Productions banner and...

FORT HUACHUCA — The commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca will present the Bronze Star Medal to World War II veteran Hans Spear on Wednesday. The event for the 89-year-old Tucson resident will be at 10:30 a.m. at Alvarado Hall. Maj. Gen. John Custer will make the presentation. Every member of Spear’s unit, with the exception of him and another German-born Jewish soldier, received the Bronze Star for supervising interrogation under fire. He was denied the medal due to anti-Semitism and discrimination because Spear was categorized an enemy alien. The Army awards regulation, in effect...

Because Bill Clinton has been very busy helping his dear wife in her campaign to put a neo-Stalinist in the White House and give him another opportunity to abuse women there, he might not have had much time to shop for Valentines Day. Of course, he probably gave out about a hundred copies of LEAVES OF GRASS. Just in case he didn't have time to shop for Hillary, I thought I would give him some assistance. I heard the commercial for naming a star after someone, but that was too expensive and is actually a ripoff. As an aside, I...

A young star speeding away from the Milky Way is in fact an alien visitor, astronomers have confirmed. The wayward object is one of several rogues that are giving astronomers a glimpse into the volatile nature of our galaxy and others. Astronomers have found about 10 stars hurtling away from our galaxy, at speeds that exceed its gravitational grasp. While most stars rush through space at speeds on the order of hundreds of kilometers per second, these aptly-named "hypervelocity stars" are rocketing away at least twice as fast. Most of these speedy stars are thought to be exiles from the...

Comedienne Rosie O'Donnell has hit back after she was named the world's most annoying celebrity by insisting all stars are irritating.

Could the purchase of an ancient coin have led to an important clue about the Star of Bethlehem? The above illustration is a Roman coin from Antioch, Syria which shows the zodiacal sign, Aries the Ram. In trying to understand the meaning behind this coin, I found that Aries was the sign of the Jews. Realizing that this is where ancient stargazers would have watched for the Star of Bethlehem, I embarked on searching for the celestial event that signified the birth of the Messiah in Judea. Superposed on the photograph of the coin is what I found: Jupiter underwent...

Conservative Activist Blames Poverty on LiberalismBy Monisha Bansal CNSNews.com Staff Writer September 17, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Blaming poverty on liberalism and the federal government, a conservative activist on Friday said: "It is very sad what the liberals have done with their war on the poor in this country." "After 40 years of failure, they still insist that they want to expand this war, that they think they should pour more money into this war," said Star Parker, president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education. "Already, over $3 trillion has been spent on the war on poverty, and so...

ROME (AP) - Luciano Pavarotti, opera's biggest superstar of the late 20th century, died Thursday. He was 71. He was the son of a singing baker and became the king of the high C's. Pavarotti, who had been diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment last month, died at his home in his native Modena at 5 a.m., his manager told The Associated Press in an e-mailed statement. His wife, Nicoletta, four daughters and sister were among family and friends at his side, manager Terri Robson said. "The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer,"...

Hollywood star Bill Murray has spoken out about the events that led to him leaving a blood sample at a Stockholm police station last month. While speaking to the press at the Venice Film Festival, Murray was asked by a Swedish journalist to explain just what he was doing driving around Stockholm city centre in a golf cart. "A friend of mine, Jesper Parnevik, invited me to play in a pro-am golf tournament in Stockholm. I was driven to a party celebrating the event in a golf cart," Murray said. "After the party, the people that drove in the golf...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A large star in its death throes is leaving a huge, turbulent tail of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen in its wake that makes it look like an immense comet hurtling through space, astronomers said on Wednesday. Nothing like this has ever previously been witnessed in a star, according to scientists who detected it using NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, an orbiting space telescope that observes the cosmos in ultraviolet light. This tail, spanning a stunning distance of 13 light-years, was detected behind the star Mira, located 350 light-years from Earth in the "whale" constellation Cetus. "There's a star...

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2007 – The Silver Star Families of America organization works to honor sacrifices made by servicemembers wounded in all wars, past and present. “The group works tirelessly to see the wounded honored with Silver Star banners,” said Janie Orman, the group’s vice president. The group also has worked to have mayors and governors proclaim May 1 Silver Star Day, she said. The day, which was observed by 43 states and 14 cities this year, is set aside as a special observance to honor servicemembers. In addition, the group is working to see its Silver Star Banner...

Long before our solar system formed and even before the Milky Way assumed its final spiral shape, a star slightly smaller than the Sun blazed into life in our galaxy, formed from the newly scattered remains of the first stars in the universe. Employing techniques similar to those used to date archeological remains here on Earth, scientists have learned that a metal-poor star in our Milky Way called HE 1523 is 13.2 billion years old-just slightly younger than 13.7 billion year age of the universe. Our solar system is estimated to be only about 4.6 billion years old. The findings...

Beaming him up was the easy part - the problem was transporting him back to Earth. A search team continues to look for a rocket carrying ashes of the actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, almost two weeks after it hurtled to the edge of space from New Mexico. Remains of the Canadian-born actor, who died two years ago at the age of 85, blasted off from a remote launch site on April 29 carrying a payload that included the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and several experiments. A spokeswoman for Houston-based Space Services Inc, which organised...

WASHINGTON - A massive exploding faraway star — the brightest supernova astronomers have ever seen — has scientists wondering whether a similar celestial fireworks show may light up the sky much closer to Earth sometime soon. The discovery, announced Monday by NASA, drew oohs and aahs for months from the handful of astronomers who peered through telescopes to see the fuzzy remnants of the spectacular explosion after it was first spotted last fall. Using a variety of Earth and space telescopes, astronomers found a giant exploding star that they figure has shined about five times brighter than any of the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A massive exploding faraway star—the brightest supernova astronomers have ever seen—has scientists wondering if a similar celestial fireworks show may light up the sky much closer to Earth sometime soon. The discovery, announced Monday by NASA, drew oohs and aahs for months from the handful of astronomers who peered through telescopes to see the fuzzy remnants of the spectacular explosion after it was first spotted last fall.

BAGHDAD — “Men, you have one second in your life where you can decide if you are going to be a coward or if you are going to fight. The time to decide is now.” That sentence is something that Maj. James “Jim” Gant, who serves as the chief of the Iraqi National Police, Quick Reaction Force Battalion Transition Team, tells his policemen all the time, encouraging them to fight for what they believe in. Though most the time he was talking in generic terms, this time he knew the fight was waiting for them. For six weeks his patrol...

The ashes of Star Trek star James Doohan will be blasted into space this weekend when a rocket carrying a symbolic portion of the late actor's cremated remains is launched in New Mexico.

A large English cheddar cheese has become a star of the Internet, attracting more than 1 million viewers to sit and stare as it slowly ripens. First placed in front of a webcam in late December, the Westcombe cheddar from West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers gained the public's attention in early February and has since attracted viewers from 119 countries.

For Captain Kirk and his crew, the starship Enterprise’s force fields were all that stood in the way of oblivion from Klingon lasers. Now scientists are seeking to build Star Trek-style shields for real, to protect astronauts on their way to Mars. Though a manned mission to the Red Planet could probably expect to avoid any unpleasant alien encounters, researchers believe that magnetic fields could be crucial to shelter its crew from deadly radiation. Cosmic rays and solar flares are one of the chief hazards faced by astronauts venturing into space, and the need to protect crews against them is...

If symmetry is a sign of splendor, then the newly discovered Red Square nebula is one of the most beautiful objects in the universe. Seen in the infrared, the nebula resembles a giant, glowing red box in the sky, with a bright white inner core. A dying star called MWC 922 is located at the system's center and spewing its innards from opposite poles into space. (A nebula is an interstellar cloud of gas, dust and plasma where stars can both emerge and die.) 'This spectacular event is the death of a star,' said study team member James Lloyd of...

A recently-observed supernova is making some astrophysicists doubt prevailing theories for how stars die. The massive star, located in galaxy UGC 4904 about 77 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Lynx, threw off a huge amount of material on October 20, 2004. This star, which may have been what's known as a Luminous Blue Variable (LBV), was mistaken for a supernova, as LBV's often are. In fact, some observers refer to them as "supernova imposters." Then, in the fall of 2006, the star exploded into a full supernova, much sooner than expected. Dubbed Supernova 2006jc, the dying star's blast...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2007 – May 1 will be “Silver Star Day” in Alabama, as Gov. Bob Riley signed a proclamation officially declaring the observance in a brief ceremony yesterday. Following Alabama Gov. Bob Riley’s official declaration that his state will recognize May 1 as “Silver Star Day,” state Rep. Greg Wren (fifth from left) held a reception for four veterans wounded in four different conflicts. Sean Phillips (from left), a veteran of the Iraq war; David Cox, a World War II veteran; Speaker Seth Hammett; Deloris Bryson, Leroy Arceneaux, a Korean War veteran; Robert Jones, a Vietnam veteran;...

Fan of TheForce.net Helen H. writes in with this great info. "Just got back from this presentation at the Directors Guild of America. George Lucas was tonight’s guest speaker. Here, very briefly, are the highlights: Quote: “the future is in television.” That’s why he’s concentrating on an animated series and live action series, not features. Indy Jones Chronicles are currently being cleaned up, are having documentaries added to them and will be shopped as “films for a modern day high school history class.” He’s hoping they’re released on DVDs very soon. He’s very excited about the animated 3D Clone Wars...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – While some American homes have only drapes or blinds in the windows, other households also display a unique flag that signifies a family’s support of a son’s or daughter’s service in the military. Those banners represent an old tradition and are part of Blue Star Mothers of America Inc., a patriotic organization that traces its roots back to World War I, when mothers displayed flags decorated with stars signifying the number of offspring serving in the military. Gail Cunningham, a resident of Lakewood, N.J., founded New Jersey-based Chapter 1 of the Blue Star Mothers...

Astronomers using the European Space Agency's gamma-ray observatory, Integral, have detected what appears to be the fastest spinning neutron star yet. This tiny stellar corpse is spinning 1122 times every second. If confirmed, the discovery gives astronomers the chance to glimpse the insides of the dead star. The neutron star, known by its catalogue number XTE J1739-285, was discovered during one of its active phases on 19 October 1999 by NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite. In August 2005, while Integral was monitoring the bulge of the Galaxy, XTE J1739-285 started to come back to life. About a month...

Sacramento, Calif. -- "I didn't go to the governor's dinner address last night," explained just-elected State GOP Vice Chairman for Southern California Jon Fleischman this afternoon, "I was afraid he was going to bring up his tax increases and I couldn't hold down my food." Fleischman's words actually summed up the attitude of many of the largely conservative attendees at the state Republican convention here toward Arnold Schwarzenegger less than a month after the former action movie star was sworn into a full-term as governor of California. The GOPers are increasingly coming out and saying that Schwarzenegger, who insists he...

National Security: Nearly 24 years have passed since Ronald Reagan was ridiculed for proposing a system that would detect, track and destroy incoming ballistic missiles. But in a year, such a system will be on line. Can’t hit a bullet with a bullet, the critics of Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative imperiously sniffed. Mary McGrory of the Washington Post mocked Reagan’s proposal as “a Buck Rogers plan.” Others, Sen. Ted Kennedy among the first, derided the plan as “Star Wars.” It was dismissed as too expensive, too iffy and too destabilizing to the geopolitical order — just another dimwitted idea from...

Czechs give go-ahead for US 'son of stars wars' base · Prague says move is good for European security· Russia threatens to review its own missile defences Ian Traynor, Europe editor Monday January 22, 2007 The Guardian (UK) The Czech government has announced that it wants to host a large US military site for the Pentagon's much-criticised missile shield system, confirming for the first time that Washington had asked Prague for permission to build a radar site for the national missile defence programme. Russia had warned earlier this month that any extension of the US missile project to eastern...

Parents of slain U.S. soldiers travel to Iraq LYERLY, Georgia (AP) -- After her son Justin was killed serving in Iraq, a grieving Jan Johnson resolved to see the place where he died and to better understand why it happened. Johnson and her husband, Joe, who also served in Iraq, were among a group of seven parents who lost children in the war who were picked to travel to northern Iraq in November as a scout team for a bigger trip next year. "I wanted to go see where my son died," she said. "You hear in the news how...

The Star of Bethlehem Meeting chaired by Richard Phillips Rod Jenkins Bristol Astronomical Society 7 January 2005 This talk was originally scheduled for 3 December 2004 - just before the speaker’s paper was published in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association vol. 114 No. 6. A full account with references appears in that publication on pp. 336-341. According to Giotto, the Star of Bethlehem is shown in his painting The Adoration of the Magi as a comet - presumably Halley’s as it appeared during his lifetime. For this reason the space probe sent to study Halley’s comet in 1986...