-- Diamond Planet: Astronomers spotted a "planet" about 4,000 light years away that seems to consist of nothing but diamonds (or at least compressed carbon, which should be the same thing). "The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon -- i.e. a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun," said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.
-- Two Sun Planet: NASA's Kepler spacecraft spotted a planet revolving around two suns. Kepler-16, as the new system is known, has two stars that orbit around each other as well as a planet that orbits around both of them every 229 days. Yes, just as Luke Skywalker stared into binary sunset on Tatooine, it is possible that this can be happening elsewhere in this strange universe of ours.
-- Super Earths: The European Southern Observatory located 50 new planets, 16 of which are much larger than our Earth. One of them, HD 85512 b, is only 35 light years away and estimated to be about 3.6 times the mass of the Earth. This newly discovered planet may also contain liquid water, which is a hopeful sign of potential life.
All of these new findings come at a time where government programs, including NASA, are under great strain. Maybe this will energize the debate to keep this area of science alive. We need to dream to advance as a species, and these discoveries show us that some of our dreams may not even be wild enough to capture the real world (or worlds).
