Nearby Star Much Cooler than Expected
There is a nearby star that is considered rather cold in comparison to its fellow stars. To put this in perspective our star is about 11,000 degrees, this star is a brown dwarf star and is only about 212 degrees Fahrenheit— pretty cool in comparison. Scientists would like to know more about the properties of the atmosphere of a star like this. Is there water vapor? is it stable? A craft that is very hot right now is the Messenger spacecraft now circling Mercury, a planet that is 2/3’rds closer to the sun than we are. Also, New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto and will arrive by 2015. Hopefully this will help us confirm how many planets are really in our solar system. And don’t miss what’s in the night sky this week. All this and more on this week’s Sky Talk.[audio: st20110328.mp3]
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Skytalk is hosted by WHYY's Dave Heller. Each week he discusses the latest news in astronomy with Dr. Derrick H. Pitts of the Franklin Institute.
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