Keeping Mars warm with new super greenhouse gases
A study indicating that if Mars could somehow acquire an Earth-like atmospheric composition and surface pressure then an Earth-like temperature could be sustained by a mixture of five to seven fluorine compounds

Pre-Global Surveyor evidence for Martian ground water
A time-dependent theory for the evolution of water on Mars is presented.

Use of spacecraft data to derive regions on Mars where liquid water would be stable
Combining Viking pressure and temperature data with Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter topography data, the authors have computed the fraction of the martian year during which pressure and temperature allow for liquid water to be stable on the martian surface.

Constraints on nebular dynamics and chemistry based on observations of annealed magnesium silicate grains in comets and in disks surrounding Herbig Ae/Be stars
Understanding dynamic conditions in the Solar Nebula is the key to prediction of the material to be found in comets.

Dust-enshrouded star looks similar to our sun
Astronomers report tremendous quantities of warm dusty debris surrounding a star with luminosity and mass similar to the sun's, but located 300 light-years from Earth.

Carnegie scientists fine-tuning methods for Stardust analysis
NASA's Stardust mission landed safely with the first solid comet fragments ever brought back to Earth.

The search for life on Mars begins in Siberia
NASA and Russian scientists have been selected to take the search for life in the solar system to the frozen reaches of Earth.

Search for alien life challenges current concepts, says U. of Colorado prof.
For scientists eying distant planets and solar systems for signs of alien activity, University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Carol Cleland suggests the first order of business is to keep an open mind.

Ideas on gas-giant planet formation take shape
Rocky planets such as Earth and Mars are born when small particles smash together to form larger, planet-sized clusters in a planet-forming disk, but researchers are less sure about how gas-giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn form.

Relic of life in that Martian meteorite? A fresh look
Since the mid-1990s a great debate has raged over whether organic compounds and tiny globules of carbonate minerals imbedded in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001 were processed by living creatures from the Red Planet.

NASA predicts nongreen plants on other planets
NASA scientists believe they have found a way to predict the color of plants on planets in other solar systems.

Finding life away from Earth will be tough task, says noted paleontologist
Some scientists think a few of the earliest fossils might still be preserved in Earth rocks blasted to the moon by an asteroid or meteor.

Astrobiologist to hunt small game in Siberia
Sleeping on the permafrost and drilling for ice doesn't sound like the ideal way to spend your summer.

Finding life in the solar system: A new synthesis
Astrobiology is a new interdisciplinary science with cosmic import.

Atacama rover helps NASA learn to search for life on Mars
Scientists are studying the scarce life that exists there and, in the process, helping NASA learn more about how primitive life forms could exist on Mars.

Comets spread Earth-life around galaxy, say scientists
If comets hitting the Earth could cause ecological disasters, including extinctions of species and climate change, they could also disperse Earth-life to the most distant parts of the Galaxy.

Mystery of Quintuplet Stars in Milky Way Solved
Scientists have identified the cluster of Quintuplet stars in the Milky Way’s galactic center, next to the super massive black hole solving a mystery that had dogged astronomers for more than 15 years.

Europe Reaches the Moon
The European Space Agency's (ESA) SMART-1 spacecraft is now in orbit around the Moon.

Parkes finds unexpected ‘heartbeats’ in star
Astronomers using CSIRO's Parkes telescope in eastern Australia have detected radio “heartbeats” from a star that was not expected to have them.

Death of a star
For the first time a star has been observed in real-time as it goes supernova a mind bogglingly powerful explosion as the star ends its life, the resulting cosmic eruption briefly outshining an entire galaxy.