Aug 31 - Top Stories This Week

August 31 Top Stories This Week by:

Artist's concept of the Kepler Space Telescope against a background of planets and stars. Kepler discovered over 1,000 of the 4,000+ known exoplanets. Now, based on Kepler data, scientists estimate that 1 in 4 sunlike stars has at least 1 planet about the same size as Earth. Image via NASA/Ames Research Center/W. Stenzel/D. Rutter/Penn State News.

Wow! What if 1 in 4 sunlike stars has an Earth? According to a new study by astronomers, based on data from the Kepler Space Telescope, 1 in 4 sunlike stars should have a planet that's approximately Earth-sized, orbiting in the star's habitable zone. Read more. Why the Amazon is burning: 4 reasons Don’t blame dry weather. The wildfires in Brazil and surrounding countries are a human-made disaster, say environmentalists. Read more.  Scientists detect a black hole swallowing a neutron star On August 14, gravitational wave detectors sensed ripples in space-time. Data analysis suggests they came from a black hole engulfing a neutron star, 900 million light-years from Earth. Read more. More top stories Gaia tracks sibling stars in Milky Way How many supermoons in 2019? A brief history of Saturn's amazing rings India's Chandrayaan-2 is 2 weeks away from its moon landing Whoa. It's been 30 years since our 1st and last visit to Neptune Arecibo gets $19M grant to find and study near-Earth objects How did Pluto become a dwarf planet? Snow algae thrives in extreme conditions

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Tonight … Watch for a young moon after sunset New moon was yesterday. The thin crescent in the west in the next few evenings is called a young moon by astronomers. Many people around the world are likely to catch the whisker-thin waxing crescent this evening. Just be sure to look as soon as the sky begins to darken. Tonight's young moon will quickly follow the sun below the western horizon. Read more.

A dynamic dying star, caught by Hubble You've heard of planetary nebulae? They have nothing to do with planets. They're shells of gas, sloughed off by dying stars. This image - taken with the Hubble Space Telescope - shows a 2-lobed planetary nebula known as NGC 2371/2. The lobes are the cloudy regions in the lower left and upper right, released by the bright star at the center of the frame. The star, now dying, will eventually cool and dim to become a white dwarf. Read more.  Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription!

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