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Scholz's star -- named after the German astronomer who discovered it -- approached less than a light-year from the Sun. Nowadays it is almost 20 light-years away, but 70,000 years ago it entered the Oort cloud, a reservoir of trans-Neptunian objects located at the confines of the solar system. ... Now two astronomers from the Complutense University of Madrid, the brothers Carlos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos, together with the researcher Sverre J. Aarseth of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), have analyzed for the first time the nearly 340 objects of the solar system with hyperbolic orbits (very...

Highlighted by astronomers at the University of Rochester and the European Southern Observatory, the star — nicknamed “Scholz’s star” — has a very low tangential velocity in the sky, but it has been clocked traveling at a breakneck speed away from us. In other words, from our perspective, Scholz’s star is fleeing the scene of a collision with us. “Most stars this nearby show much larger tangential motion,” said Eric Mamajek, of the University of Rochester. “The small tangential motion and proximity initially indicated that the star was most likely either moving towards a future close encounter with the solar...

ROBERT REICH: The Republican Economic Plan Is An Austerity Death-Trap Robert Reich Oct. 19, 2011, 6:25 PM Ron Paul’s newly-unveiled economic plan – promising to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget in year one (presumably that means 2013) – is only slightly more ambitious than what we’re hearing from other Republican candidates. They’re all calling for major spending cuts starting fifteen months from now. What are they smoking? Can we just put ideology aside for a moment and be clear about the facts? Consumer spending (70 percent of the economy) is flat or dropping because consumers are losing their...

The ‘slow boat’ to Centauri concept we’ve discussed before in these pages envisions generation ships, vessels that take thousands of years to cross to their destination. And based on current thinking, that’s about the best we could manage with the propulsion systems currently in our inventory. Specifically, a solar sail making a close solar pass (a ‘sundiver’ maneuver) could get us up to 500 or 600 kilometers per second (0.002c), making a 2000-year journey to the nearest star possible. It’s hard to imagine under what circumstances such a mission might be launched.But let’s think long-term, as Greg Matloff (New York...

Using a technique called astrometry, scientists have spotted an extrasolar planet that's thought to be the same size as its parent star... By contrast, Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is only a tenth the width of the sun. The newfound gas giant, called VB 10b, orbits a red dwarf star, a relatively cool, small star less than half the mass of the sun. Although both are roughly the size of Jupiter, the planet orbits the star because the star is much more massive. VB 10b's discovery is the culmination of a 12-year search using an instrument at...

  Red Dwarf star sees red mist     By MIKE SULLIVAN Published: Today   RED Dwarf star Danny John-Jules is led away by cops yesterday after allegedly attacking a binman with a ceremonial knife. Stunned neighbours claimed that the 47-year-old actor – who also stars in kiddies’ TV favourite The Story Makers – charged out of his house wearing only a dressing gown. Witnesses said he went berserk and allegedly threatened binmen as they collected rubbish. Police were called and arrested John-Jules on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm.   Comedy ... Danny, right, in Red Dwarf  A...

The Quiz DVD is out. Get competitive! Pick up bonuses! Win a huge chunk of cash! Red Dwarf: Beat the Geek. It's not just an interactive DVD experience, it's a whole new way of life. Out in the UK on October 23rd - shopping links available here - this is so much more than just a set of Dwarfy questions. It's an extension of, and companion to, the entire franchise. Here are the highlights: Both Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge return as Holly in a brand new collection of informative and hilarious material. Deluxe Digital have created a wooshy...

Long before the Bible's tale of Jonah being swallowed by a whale, a small wannabe star has emerged intact after being engulfed by a neighboring giant star, scientists say. The victim was a brown dwarf, a failed star too small to sustain the nuclear reactions that ignites regular stars. The purpetrator was a red giant, an ancient star that once resembled our Sun but which puffed up to enormous size after its hydrogen fuel was depleted. The red giant has since expelled most of its gas into space and transformed into a dense, Earth-sized star called a white dwarfs. Using...

For many, John Kerry’s salute and “reporting for duty” remark at the Democrat National Convention was a trite gesture; it was a feeble attempt to suggest he was at the public’s service, rather than eagerly seeking political power on his own initiative. Unconvincing and flaccid, it bespoke of a sheep attempting to don wolves’ clothing, rather like the Democrat Party has been trying to do with its recent embrace of veterans so many of its members once shunned as “baby killers”. The strange Kerry salute reminded others of a more quixotic parallel: for fans of the comedy / sci-fi...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 July 15 Proxima Centauri: The Closest Star Credit & Copyright: David Malin, UK Schmidt Telescope, DSS, AAO Explanation: What is the closest star to our Sun? It is Proxima Centauri, the nearest member of the Alpha Centauri triple star system. Light takes only 4.22 years to reach us from Proxima Centauri. This small red star, captured in the center of the above image, is so faint that...