OCR Text |
Show Worfd'&Nation The Utah Statesman PLANET From page 2 astronomers competed in the hunt for an Earth-like planet, called it "a major milestone in this business." The planet was discovered by the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile, which has a special instrument that splits light to find wobbles in different wave lengths. Those wobbles can reveal the existence of other worlds. What they revealed is a planet circling the red dwarf star, Gliese 581. Red dwarfs are low-energy, tiny stars that give off dim red light and last longer than stars like our sun. Until a few years ago, astronomers didn't consider these stars as possible hosts of planets that might sustain life. The discovery of the new planet, named 581 c, is sure to fuel studies of planets circling similar dim stars. About 80 percent of the stars near Earth are red dwarfs. The new planet is about five times heavier than Earth. Its discoverers aren't certain if it is rocky like Earth or if its a frozen ice ball with liquid water on the surface. If it is rocky like Earth, which is what the prevailing theory proposes, it has a diameter about 1 1/2 times bigger than our planet. If it is an iceball, as Mayor suggests, it would be even bigger. Based on theory, 581 c should have an atmosphere, but what's in that atmosphere is still a mystery and if it's too thick that could make the planets surface temperature too hot, Mayor said. However, the research team believes the average temperature to be somewhere between 32 and 104 degrees and that set off celebrations among astronomers. Until now, all 220 planets astronomers have found outside our solar system have had the "Goldilocks problem." They've been too hot, too cold or just plain too big and gaseous, like uninhabitable Jupiter. The new planet seems just right - or at least that's what scientists think. "This could be very important," said NASA astrobiology expert Chris McKay, who was not part of the discovery team. "It doesn't mean there is life, but it means it's an Earth-like planet in terms of potential habitability." Eventually astronomers will rack up discoveries of dozens, maybe even hundreds of planets considered habitable, the astronomers said. But this one - simply called "c" by its discoverers when they talk among themselves - will go down in cosmic history as No. 1. Besides having the right temperature, the new planet is probably full of liquid water, hypothesizes Stephane Udry, the discovery team's lead author and another Geneva astronomer. But that is based on theory about how planets form, not on any evidence, he said. Visa to sta AP Photo/Gerry Broome THIS PHOTO SHOWS an entrance sign to Fort Bragg, N.C., Tuesday, April 24,2007. The nine U.S. soldiers killed when a truck bomb exploded next to their patrol base in Iraq were all paratroopers from 1 the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, the division said Tuesday, Twenty of their colleagues were wounded in the attack. Truck bomb kills paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) -Army officials on Tuesday began the solemn process of contacting the families of nine paratroopers killed in a suicide truck bombing in Iraq, the single deadliest attack for the storied 82nd Airborne Division in nearly 40 years. Twenty paratroopers from the same division were wounded in the blast, which was also the single greatest loss of life for American ground forces in Iraq since Dec. 1, 2005, when a roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 in an abandoned building near Fallujah. "It's tough. Nobody wants to go to a military funeral," said Spc. John Fisher, standing with his wife and newborn son outside a restaurant in nearby Spring Lake. "It's not something you want to happen to yourself, but it's part of the job of defending your country." A senior Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been released, said the attack involved suicide bombers in two large dump trucks, including one that got close to a patrol base building. The official said some of the casualties may have been caused by the collapse of two walls. The soldiers were members of the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Bragg. A civilian interpreter was also wounded. Fifteen of the wounded suffered only superficial injuries and returned to duty. Five others were taken to a military hospital, but none of them has life-threatening injuries, division spokesman Maj. Tom Earnhardt said. The identities of the dead soldiers were not immediately released. An insurgent group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, according to an Internet-posted statement TAiesday. The loss was the largest for the 82nd Airborne since June 1969, when 12 paratroopers were ambushed and killed in Vietnam, Earnhardt said, citing division historical records. "The difference between the 82nd and most other combat units is that something like this, instead of diminishing morale, will ultimately strengthen it," Earnhardt said. "These paratroopers will be more determined than ever to get it done. They look at adversity through a different kind of scope." The paratroopers' families were still being notified TAiesday, Earnhardt said. Only two of the soldiers have family on or near Fort Bragg, said Maj. Jim Brisson, the base's deputy division chaplain. Earnhardt said 106 soldiers from the division have been in killed in combat since Sept. 11, 2001. The 82nd, which has about twothirds of its soldiers deployed, must assemble nine notification teams and prepare to counsel families and assign each a casualty assistance officer, he said. A memorial service will be held in May at the base, about 70 miles south of Raleigh, Earnhardt said. "It definitely makes you mad. It makes you thankful for what you've got while you're home," said Pvt. Michael Gribben, 20, of Youngstown, Ohio. Gribben, a truck driver in the 18th Airborne Corps, is scheduled to deploy to Kuwait later this year. The 82nd Airborne is one of the nation's most celebrated military units, having played major roles in many of the Army's biggest operations. > ABORTION From page 2 AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin TAI SHAN, THE NATIONAL ZOO'S POPULAR Tai Shan, the National Zoo's popular giant panda cub, munches on bamboo in Washington on Tuesday, April 24,2007. Chinese officials granted the cub an extended "visa" on Tuesday to stay at the U.S.zoofortwomoreyears. It appears they have more people willing to defend them than some unborn children." The law alarmed Calderon's party and prompted authorities to send ranks of riot police to separate chanting throngs of opposing demonstrators outside the city legislature. "We want this law, because it means the right to choose," said Alma Romo, who described herself as a femi- nist. "Unfortunately, there are some people who do not want to grant us that right." The Roman Catholic church has protested the measure and Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera led a march through the capital last month in opposition. The Archdiocese said Tuesday that it would "evaluate the moral consequences of the reforms" and said Rivera would have no public comment on the vote until Sunday. The only countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with legalized abortion for all women are Cuba and Guyana. Most others allow it only in cases of rape or when the woman's life is at risk. Nicaragua, El Salvador and Chile ban it completely. The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, the legal arm of the reproductive rights move- ment globally, applauded the Mexico City law as "historic." "This will serve as a model to get abortion accepted not only nationwide, but also in Latin America and the Caribbean, where women who interrupt their pregnancies are still sent to jail," said activist Elba Garcia, 24, who rode a flatbed truck in an abortion rights caravan through downtown Mexico City on Monday. Recent newspaper polls t&1 IN UNDER MINUTES PREVIEW THE SUMMER 2007 https://elearn-usu.edu7blackboard WATCH THE SCREENCAST OR DOWNLOAD THE IPOD W P f 0 |