[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]
[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 22:32 GMT, Monday, 4 January 2010
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
Nasa's Kepler planet-hunter detects five worlds
Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope has detected its first five exoplanets, or planets beyond our Solar System.
The observatory, which was launched last year to find other Earths, made the discoveries in its first few weeks of science operations.
Although the new worlds are all bigger than our Neptune, the US space agency says the haul shows the telescope is working well and is very sensitive.
The exoplanets have been given the names Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b.
They were announced at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC.
The planets range in size from an object that has a radius four times that of Earth, to worlds much bigger than even our Jupiter.
And they all circle very close to their parent stars, following orbits that range from about 3.2 to 4.9 days.
This proximity and the fact that the host stars are themselves much hotter than our Sun means Kepler's new exoplanets experience an intense roasting.
Intriguing density
Estimated temperatures go from about 1,200C to 1,650C (2,200F to 3,000F).
"The planets we found are all hotter than molten lava; they all simply glow with their temperatures," said Bill Borucki, Kepler's lead scientist from Nasa's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
{{THE KEPLER SPACE TELESCOPE}
> Will study more than 100,000 suns
> Continuously for 4 to 6+ years
> Tuned to see Earth-size planets
> Will target the habitable zone
> Will also see Mars to Jupiter sizes}
"In fact the upper two are hotter than molten iron and looking at them might be like looking at a blast furnace. They are very bright in their own right and certainly no place to look for life."
Kepler 7b will intrigue many scientists. It is one of the lowest-density exoplanets (about 0.17 grams per cubic centimetre) yet discovered.
"The average density of this planet with its core is about the same as Styrofoam," explained Dr Borucki. "So it's an amazingly light planet, something I'm sure theoreticians will be delighted to look at in terms of trying to understand [its] structure."
Kepler blasted into space atop a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 6 March, 2009.
It is equipped with the largest camera ever launched into space. The telescope's mission is to continuously and simultaneously observe more than 100,000 stars.
It senses the presence of planets by looking for a tiny "shadowing" effect when one of them passes in front of its parent star.
'Water worlds'
Kepler's detectors, built by UK firm e2v, have extraordinary sensitivity.
Nasa says that if the observatory were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front of it.
The space agency hopes this sensitivity will lead it to planets that are not only Earth-size but which orbit their stars at distances more favourable to life, where liquid water might potentially reside on their surfaces.
The mission's scientists told the AAS meeting that Kepler had measured hundreds of possible planet signatures but that these needed further investigation to establish their true nature.
To confirm the existence of the most ideal Earth-like planets would take a few years, they warned.
In the meantime, all detections will help scientists improve their statistics on the distributions of planet size and orbital period.
The follow-up observations needed to confirm the new exoplanets' existence used a suite of ground-based facilities including the Keck I telescope in Hawaii.
[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 18:30 GMT, Monday, 4 January 2010
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Copenhagen climate deal 'satisfies' Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia says it is "satisfied" with the conclusion of last month's UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
However, the country's lead negotiator Mohammad Al-Sabban told BBC News that the UN climate process may be heading for stalemate, like world trade talks.
Meanwhile, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become the latest world leader to admit that last month's summit made little progress.
The status of the agreement made in Copenhagen remains unclear.
The summit concluded without adoption of the "Copenhagen Accord" instigated by Brazil, China, India and South Africa (the BASIC group) and the US.
Most countries endorsed it, but not all; and governments could only agree to recognise the accord's existence.
A number of governments and leaders, including US President Barack Obama, have since admitted that this conclusion fell short of many peoples' expectations.
{{There is no escaping the truth that the nations of the world have to move to a low-greenhouse-gas-emissions and energy-efficient-development path}
Manmohan Singh}
But Mr Al-Sabban said Saudi Arabia was content.
"I would like to express our satisfaction with the outcome," he wrote in an e-mail to BBC News.
"We were among the 25 or so countries who positively negotiated the accord along with the world leaders, and we had succeeded in including the interest of OPEC countries in the Copenhagen Accord."
However, a number of politicians from industrialised nations have since blamed the developing world for blocking progress; and this, he said, would exacerbate mistrust between rich and poor.
"If so, we may be heading to the same future of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round, which is facing a total stalemate."
Talks on the Doha Round began in 2001, but remain stalled over disputes between developed and developing world, largely over agricultural subsidies.
Environment groups have regularly accused Saudi Arabia of trying to block progress within the UN climate process to safeguard its fossil fuel industry.
The world's biggest oil producer has consistently argued that it should be compensated for any loss of revenue caused by international restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.
Basic issues
Because of the unique circumstances of its conception, the status of the Copenhagen Accord remains unclear.
Governments have until the end of January to submit "actions" that they are prepared to take under the accord.
{Mr Brown said Copenhagen may yet yield a way forward}
It is expected that those deciding to do so will merely re-state existing commitments on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and on funding climate protection in the poorest parts of the world.
As one of the Copenhagen Accord's architects, India has not escaped criticism about the agreement's lack of ambition.
Speaking at the Indian Science Congress, Mr Singh said India "must not lag behind" in the adoption of low-carbon technologies.
"We were able to make only limited progress at the Copenhagen summit, and no-one was satisfied with the outcome," he said.
"And yet there is no escaping the truth that the nations of the world have to move to a low-greenhouse-gas-emissions and energy-efficient-development path."
Reports indicate that the BASIC group is to meet later this month to plot a course forward.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, told the BBC that progress based on the Copenhagen Accord was possible.
"I think it's not impossible that the groundwork that was done at Copenhagen could lead to what you might call a global agreement that everybody is happy to stand by," he said.
[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 22:32 GMT, Monday, 4 January 2010
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
Nasa's Kepler planet-hunter detects five worlds
Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope has detected its first five exoplanets, or planets beyond our Solar System.
The observatory, which was launched last year to find other Earths, made the discoveries in its first few weeks of science operations.
Although the new worlds are all bigger than our Neptune, the US space agency says the haul shows the telescope is working well and is very sensitive.
The exoplanets have been given the names Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b.
They were announced at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC.
The planets range in size from an object that has a radius four times that of Earth, to worlds much bigger than even our Jupiter.
And they all circle very close to their parent stars, following orbits that range from about 3.2 to 4.9 days.
This proximity and the fact that the host stars are themselves much hotter than our Sun means Kepler's new exoplanets experience an intense roasting.
Intriguing density
Estimated temperatures go from about 1,200C to 1,650C (2,200F to 3,000F).
"The planets we found are all hotter than molten lava; they all simply glow with their temperatures," said Bill Borucki, Kepler's lead scientist from Nasa's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
{{THE KEPLER SPACE TELESCOPE}
> Will study more than 100,000 suns
> Continuously for 4 to 6+ years
> Tuned to see Earth-size planets
> Will target the habitable zone
> Will also see Mars to Jupiter sizes}
"In fact the upper two are hotter than molten iron and looking at them might be like looking at a blast furnace. They are very bright in their own right and certainly no place to look for life."
Kepler 7b will intrigue many scientists. It is one of the lowest-density exoplanets (about 0.17 grams per cubic centimetre) yet discovered.
"The average density of this planet with its core is about the same as Styrofoam," explained Dr Borucki. "So it's an amazingly light planet, something I'm sure theoreticians will be delighted to look at in terms of trying to understand [its] structure."
Kepler blasted into space atop a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 6 March, 2009.
It is equipped with the largest camera ever launched into space. The telescope's mission is to continuously and simultaneously observe more than 100,000 stars.
It senses the presence of planets by looking for a tiny "shadowing" effect when one of them passes in front of its parent star.
'Water worlds'
Kepler's detectors, built by UK firm e2v, have extraordinary sensitivity.
Nasa says that if the observatory were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front of it.
The space agency hopes this sensitivity will lead it to planets that are not only Earth-size but which orbit their stars at distances more favourable to life, where liquid water might potentially reside on their surfaces.
The mission's scientists told the AAS meeting that Kepler had measured hundreds of possible planet signatures but that these needed further investigation to establish their true nature.
To confirm the existence of the most ideal Earth-like planets would take a few years, they warned.
In the meantime, all detections will help scientists improve their statistics on the distributions of planet size and orbital period.
The follow-up observations needed to confirm the new exoplanets' existence used a suite of ground-based facilities including the Keck I telescope in Hawaii.
[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 18:30 GMT, Monday, 4 January 2010
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Copenhagen climate deal 'satisfies' Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia says it is "satisfied" with the conclusion of last month's UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
However, the country's lead negotiator Mohammad Al-Sabban told BBC News that the UN climate process may be heading for stalemate, like world trade talks.
Meanwhile, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become the latest world leader to admit that last month's summit made little progress.
The status of the agreement made in Copenhagen remains unclear.
The summit concluded without adoption of the "Copenhagen Accord" instigated by Brazil, China, India and South Africa (the BASIC group) and the US.
Most countries endorsed it, but not all; and governments could only agree to recognise the accord's existence.
A number of governments and leaders, including US President Barack Obama, have since admitted that this conclusion fell short of many peoples' expectations.
{{There is no escaping the truth that the nations of the world have to move to a low-greenhouse-gas-emissions and energy-efficient-development path}
Manmohan Singh}
But Mr Al-Sabban said Saudi Arabia was content.
"I would like to express our satisfaction with the outcome," he wrote in an e-mail to BBC News.
"We were among the 25 or so countries who positively negotiated the accord along with the world leaders, and we had succeeded in including the interest of OPEC countries in the Copenhagen Accord."
However, a number of politicians from industrialised nations have since blamed the developing world for blocking progress; and this, he said, would exacerbate mistrust between rich and poor.
"If so, we may be heading to the same future of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round, which is facing a total stalemate."
Talks on the Doha Round began in 2001, but remain stalled over disputes between developed and developing world, largely over agricultural subsidies.
Environment groups have regularly accused Saudi Arabia of trying to block progress within the UN climate process to safeguard its fossil fuel industry.
The world's biggest oil producer has consistently argued that it should be compensated for any loss of revenue caused by international restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.
Basic issues
Because of the unique circumstances of its conception, the status of the Copenhagen Accord remains unclear.
Governments have until the end of January to submit "actions" that they are prepared to take under the accord.
{Mr Brown said Copenhagen may yet yield a way forward}
It is expected that those deciding to do so will merely re-state existing commitments on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and on funding climate protection in the poorest parts of the world.
As one of the Copenhagen Accord's architects, India has not escaped criticism about the agreement's lack of ambition.
Speaking at the Indian Science Congress, Mr Singh said India "must not lag behind" in the adoption of low-carbon technologies.
"We were able to make only limited progress at the Copenhagen summit, and no-one was satisfied with the outcome," he said.
"And yet there is no escaping the truth that the nations of the world have to move to a low-greenhouse-gas-emissions and energy-efficient-development path."
Reports indicate that the BASIC group is to meet later this month to plot a course forward.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, told the BBC that progress based on the Copenhagen Accord was possible.
"I think it's not impossible that the groundwork that was done at Copenhagen could lead to what you might call a global agreement that everybody is happy to stand by," he said.
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