Solved: Mysteries of a Nearby Planetary System's Dynamics
An illustration of the orbital distances and relative sizes of the four innermost planets known to orbit the star 55 Cancri A (bottom) in comparison with planets in own inner Solar System (top). Both Jupiter and the Jupiter-mass planet 55 Cancri are outside this picture, orbiting their host star with a distance of nearly 5 astronomical units (AU), where one AU is equal to the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. Credit: Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, Penn State University
First Earth-Size Planet Is Discovered in Another Star's "Habitable Zone"
This artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f ,the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone -- a range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet's surface. Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech
The Most Precise Measurement Yet of the Expanding Universe Is Achieved by Astronomers of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This drawing illustrates how astronomers of the third Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) used quasar light to trace the expansion of the universe. Credit: Paul Hooper at Spirit Design, with Mat Pieri and Gongbo Zhao, ICG
Penn State Hosts Polar Day 2014
Felicity Aston, the first woman to cross Antarctica alone, will speak at Penn State during Polar Day 2014.
WISE Satellite Finds No Evidence for Planet X in Survey of the Sky
This chart shows what types of objects WISE can and cannot see at certain distances from our sun. Bodies with larger masses are brighter, and therefore can be seen at greater distances. For example, if a Jupiter-mass planet existed at 10,000 au, WISE would have easily seen it. But WISE would not have been able to see a Jupiter-mass planet residing at 100,000 au -- it would have been too faint. (To learn more about this image click here.) Credit: Janella Williams, Penn State University.
Water is Detected in a Planet Outside Our Solar System
An artist's conception of a hot-Jupiter extrasolar planet orbiting a star similar to Tau Boötes. Credit: Image used with permission of David Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
A Key Regulatory Protein Is Discovered To Be Essential for Malaria Parasite Transmission to Mosquitos
In blue are Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites in the sexual, gametocyte stage of development. In red are uninfected red blood cells. Credit: Manuel Llinás lab, Penn State University
Asteroid Named for Two Penn State Students
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey's 2.5-meter telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico is on the left. Credit: SDSS.
Nanomotors Are Controlled, for the First Time, Inside Living Cells
Optical microscope image of a HeLa cell containing several gold-ruthenium nanomotors. Arrows indicate the trajectories of the nanomotors, and the solid white line shows propulsion. Near the center of the image, a spindle of several nanomotors is spinning. Inset: Electron micrograph of a gold-ruthenium nanomotor. The scattering of sound waves from the two ends results in propulsion. Photo credit: Mallouk lab, Penn State University
Critical Protein Discovered for Healthy Cell Growth in Mammals
Using mouse models, Penn State cellular biologist Aimin Liu and his colleagues discovered a protein that is required for the growth of critical, hair-like structures called cilia on cell surfaces. The cilia on a mouse embryo, shown in this micrograph, would not be able to grow without the protein C2cd3. Credit: Aimin Liu Lab, Penn State University.
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