Nachricht

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=3D418683#418683

The two researchers, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke, do think they = may have=20 evidence for methane in Mars' atmosphere. Methane cannot last long = without being=20 replenished, and it's not easy to replenish it. There are non-biological = ways=20 (for example, sunlight + C02 plus water, which can be found on Mars), = but life=20 is the easiest way we know of. As the story went, they had a secret = meeting --=20 with whom, we don't know -- and they were discussing releasing this = bombshell to=20 either coincide or predate an article submitted to Nature, a premier scientific = journal.=20

But -- and this is the important bit -- there was never any meeting! Nor is = there a=20 Nature paper.

I have a = friend,=20 Penny=20 Boston, who studies cave geomicrobiology, just the kind of = life this=20 story is talking about. She is good friends with Carol Stoker. I = happened to=20 email Penny yesterday to tease her a little about Hoagland's silly = claims on C2C=20 last night (he happened to mention her name), and she emailed me back = today. She=20 told me that Dr. Stoker had emailed her about all this. Dr. Stoker has = issued a=20 statement, which I will quote here:

Dr. Carol Stoker=20 wrote:

A story has appeared in Space.com which quotes = us=20
inaccurately and without permission. The story is based on = hearsay=20
and is factually incorrect.

Here are the facts: =

1. On=20 Sunday night we were attending a private party
of space = exploration=20 enthusiasts in which there was a
discussion about the possible = meaning=20 of the results
from recent Mars missions. We engaged in the=20
discussion and expressed thoughts and opinions as =
individual=20 scientists on our own time and did not
represent ourselves as = speaking=20 for NASA.

2. No one at the party identified themselves as = a=20
reporter, and in fact no reporters were present. This =
article is=20 based on hearsay about what somebody at the
party thought they = heard=20 us say. We think this
represents extremely poor journalistic=20 standards.

3. No Nature paper has been submitted with Rio = Tinto=20
results. This claim is simply wrong and we did not
make = this=20 claim. The MARTE project has several papers
in preparation = that=20 describe the work we are doing at
Rio Tinto and the first = results of=20 that work, but
nothing has been submitted yet. Preliminary = results=20
have been published in abstract form at various
scientific = meetings. If you want to see what the MARTE
team has actually = said=20 about results from Rio Tinto
drilling and its relevance to = life on=20 Mars, go to
www.marteproject.com and click on = publications.=20 All
our REAL publications are posted there.

4. The = work at Rio=20 Tinto is relevant to finding life
in a subsurface terrestrial=20 environment and can't be
used to infer anything about life on = Mars,=20 directly.
The Rio Tinto work by its very nature can't tell us = if=20
there is life on Mars, but certainly helps formulate
the = strategy=20 for how to search for life on Mars. One
approach to searching = for=20 extant life on Mars is by
drilling. Partly for this reason, = the MARTE=20 project
was selected for funding by NASA's ASTEP program, out =
of=20 the Science Mission Directorate and is a joint
project between = NASA=20 and Spain's Center for
Astrobiology. =

So there you go. There is clearly more going to = happen=20 here. Will NASA issue a press release about all this? What will = space.com do? I=20 do not yet have all the facts. Dr. Stoker is clearly upset with = space.com, but I=20 will reserve judgement until I find out more.=20

------=_NextPart_000_00C0_01C515E9.78904050-- From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Feb 21 05:16:07 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j1LDG47q017124 for ; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 05:16:05 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id HAA01045 for public-list; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 07:58:04 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav2.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.74]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA01041 for ; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 07:58:01 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 04:57:00 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.138.19.130 by BAY103-DAV2.phx.gbl with DAV; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 12:56:56 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.138.19.130] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Subject: SETI public: Fw: NEWSFLASH: 'Pack ice' suggests frozen sea on Mars Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 07:56:57 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0063_01C517EA.EACB3820" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 07:56:57 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 21 Feb 2005 12:57:00.0441 (UTC) FILETIME=[D5268090:01C51814] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0063_01C517EA.EACB3820 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable ----- Original Message -----=20 From: NewScientist.com Newsflash = Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 7:35 AM Subject: NEWSFLASH: 'Pack ice' suggests frozen sea on Mars NewScientist.com - NEWSFLASH ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 'Pack ice' suggests frozen sea on Mars An 800-kilometre-wide sea, surviving as broken plates, appears to=20 lie just beneath the surface in observations from the Mars Express=20 spacecraft. The sea is just 5 degrees north of the Martian equator=20 and would be the first discovery of a large body of water outside=20 the planet's polar ice caps. See the full story now at NewScientist.com:=20 http://www.ProcessRequest.com/apps/redir.asp?link=3DXbjeibfcDA,Zbiaghefaa= DB&oid=3DUcjjbCB&iclitemid=3DXbgbfjdcCH&tid=3DWbjbcdcBI =20 Science and technology news and features updated daily at:=20 http://www.newscientist.com Subscribe to New Scientist magazine and get 4 FREE ISSUES at: http://www.qssa.co.uk/new_scientist/default.asp?promcode=3D2169 -------------------------------------------------------------------------= NewScientist.com's Newsflash emails are an additional free service=20 to from NewScientist.com e-zines. Newsflash emails come from=20 NewScientist's online daily news service, and stories are available=20 exclusively online. The alerts are sent on an occasional basis when=20 a story of especially high interest breaks. Please note that replies to this email address will not be read. To receive a response to your message, please email webmaster@newscientist.com. ------=_NextPart_000_0063_01C517EA.EACB3820 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

----- Original = Message -----=20

From: NewScientist.com = Newsflash=20

Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 7:35 AM

Subject: NEWSFLASH: 'Pack ice' suggests frozen sea on=20 Mars

NewScientist.com -=20 NEWSFLASH

--------------------------------------------------------= ----------------
'Pack=20 ice' suggests frozen sea on Mars

An 800-kilometre-wide sea, = surviving as=20 broken plates, appears to
lie just beneath the surface in = observations from=20 the Mars Express
spacecraft. The sea is just 5 degrees north of the = Martian=20 equator
and would be the first discovery of a large body of water = outside=20
the planet's polar ice caps.

See the full story now at=20 NewScientist.com:
http://www.ProcessRequest.com/apps/redir.asp?link=3DXbjeibfcDA,Zbiagh= efaaDB&oid=3DUcjjbCB&iclitemid=3DXbgbfjdcCH&tid=3DWbjbcdcBI
=20
Science and technology news and features updated daily at:
http://www.newscientist.com
<= BR>Subscribe=20 to New Scientist magazine and get 4 FREE ISSUES at:
= http://www.qssa.co.uk/new_scientist/default.asp?promcode=3D2169
--= -----------------------------------------------------------------------

NewScientist.com's=20 Newsflash emails are an additional free service
to from = NewScientist.com=20 e-zines. Newsflash emails come from
NewScientist's online daily news = service, and stories are available
exclusively online. The alerts = are sent=20 on an occasional basis when
a story of especially high interest=20 breaks.

Please note that replies to this email address will = not be=20 read. To
receive a response to your message, please email
webmaster@newscientist.com=

------=_NextPart_000_0063_01C517EA.EACB3820-- From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Feb 21 17:00:54 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j1M10r7q008442 for ; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 17:00:54 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id TAA18386 for public-list; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 19:50:52 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from vms044pub.verizon.net (vms044pub.verizon.net [206.46.252.44]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA18272; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 19:46:35 -0500 (EST) Received: from [127.0.0.1] ([141.158.137.181]) by vms044.mailsrvcs.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2 HotFix 0.04 (built Dec 24 2004)) with ESMTPA id <0ICA00GJLFHHRU53@vms044.mailsrvcs.net>; Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:46:33 -0600 (CST) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 19:29:14 -0500 From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Subject: SETI public: SETI League Press Release: Scaling Back on SETICon Cc: n6tx@setileague.org Message-id: <421A7CDA.6050100@setileague.org> Organization: The SETI League, Inc. MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit X-Accept-Language: en-us, en User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax) Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Scaling Back on SETICon For more information contact: Dr. H. Paul Shuch, Executive Director (201) 641-1770, or email info@setileague.org Little Ferry, NJ.., 19 February 2005 -- Five years after initiating its SETICon Technical Symposium, the nonprofit, membership-supported SETI League has had to scale back the annual membership event to more modest proportions. Because The SETI League chose to make its meetings affordable and accessible to a wide range of amateur radio astronomers, the events have proved a steady drain on the grassroots science group's limited financial resources. Hence, the organization's 2005 annual meeting will be held in conjunction with another, much larger and well-established conference. "The last few SETICons cost us about $4,000 each to put on," notes Dr. H. Paul Shuch, volunteer executive director of The SETI League. "Depending as we do upon membership dues and individual contributions, we thought our limited funding would be better spent on SETI science than on hosting scientific meetings." Consequently, Shuch announced, The SETI League's 2005 Annual Membership Meeting will be held on the campus of The College of New Jersey, in conjunction with the annual Trenton Computer Festival. This year's Trenton Computer Festival is scheduled to run the weekend of 16-17 April, 2005, with The SETI League's membership meeting to be held there on Sunday morning, 17 April, from 10 AM until Noon. SETI League members desiring to avail themselves of a full weekend of social and technical activities are encouraged to register for TCF. Some SETI enthusiasts will be presenting papers on the scientific Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence on Saturday, in conjunction with the regular TCF Technical Program. There is a registration fee for TCF. Details (including location, lodging, and scheduled activities) appear on the TCF Website, www.tcf-nj.org. There will be no charge for those wishing simply to attend the SETI League Annual Membership Meeting, and all members (and prospective members) are most welcome. Annual meeting details, including the Agenda, appear online at www.setileague.org/seticon/meet2005.htm. The SETI League expresses its gratitude to its friends at the Trenton Computer Festival and The College of New Jersey, for hosting them in a year in which their organization's finances preclude sponsoring their own technical event. Interested parties can show their appreciation by registering for TCF, and attending both events. Largely using radio telescopes and optical telescopes, SETI scientists seek to determine whether humankind is alone in the universe. Since Congress terminated NASA's SETI funding in 1993, The SETI League and other scientific groups have privatized the research. Amateur and professional scientists interested in participating in the search for intelligent alien life, and citizens wishing to help support it, should email join@setileague.org, check the SETI League Web site at http://www.setileague.org/, send a fax to +1 (201) 641-1771, or contact The SETI League, Inc. membership hotline at +1 (800) TAU-SETI. Be sure to provide us with a postal address to which we will mail further information. The SETI League, Inc. is a membership-supported, non-profit [501(c)(3)], educational and scientific corporation dedicated to the scientific Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. P.S. Tearsheets are always appreciated. Thank you. -- H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D. Executive Director, The SETI League, Inc. 433 Liberty Street, PO Box 555, Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA voice (201) 641-1770; fax (201) 641-1771; URL http://www.setileague.org email work: n6tx@setileague.org; home: drseti@cal.berkeley.edu "We Know We're Not Alone!" From owner-public@setileague.org Tue Feb 22 12:25:25 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j1MKPL7q006707 for ; Tue, 22 Feb 2005 12:25:24 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id PAA17316 for public-list; Tue, 22 Feb 2005 15:12:32 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from smtp3.suscom.net (smtp3.suscom.net [64.78.119.250]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA17308 for ; Tue, 22 Feb 2005 15:12:30 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by smtp3.suscom.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id D17E3DBEE9; Tue, 22 Feb 2005 15:08:16 -0500 (EST) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (ip97.91.78.64.susc.suscom.net [64.78.91.97]) by smtp3.suscom.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 61D0ADC092; Tue, 22 Feb 2005 14:24:55 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <421B87D7.4010408@setileague.org> Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 14:28:23 -0500 From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Organization: The SETI League, Inc. User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "H. Paul Shuch, N6TX" Subject: SETI public: Annual Meeting Announcement and Agenda Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new .250 at suscom.net Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk SETIzens, The SETI League's eleventh annual Membership Meeting has been scheduled for Sunday morning, 17 April 2005, from 10 AM until Noon, at the Trenton Computer Festival, The College of New Jersey, Ewing Township (Trenton area) NJ. In accordance with Article IV, Section 3 our Bylaws, as amended, this email consitutes the required electronic notice of this Meeting, provided to all members in good standing, not less than ten days nor more than ninety days prior to the meeting date. Please see for further details, including the preliminary Agenda. Looking forward to seeing you at TCF-05. Yours for SETI success, Paul -- H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D. Executive Director, The SETI League, Inc. 433 Liberty Street, PO Box 555, Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA voice (201) 641-1770; fax (201) 641-1771; URL http://www.setileague.org email work: n6tx@setileague.org; home: drseti@cal.berkeley.edu "We Know We're Not Alone!" From owner-public@setileague.org Thu Feb 24 13:05:41 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j1OL5e7q001405 for ; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 13:05:41 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id PAA29310 for public-list; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:53:37 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav16.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.88]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA29305 for ; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:53:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 12:53:03 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.140.54.240 by BAY103-DAV16.phx.gbl with DAV; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 20:52:00 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.140.54.240] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Subject: SETI public: Vittorio Formizano interviewed on Australian TV about Mars methane and life Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:51:52 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0200_01C51A88.C24FC7D0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:51:52 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 24 Feb 2005 20:53:03.0371 (UTC) FILETIME=[D538FDB0:01C51AB2] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0200_01C51A88.C24FC7D0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://www.habitablezone.com/space/messages/371162.html Our weekly Science News magazine TV show "Catatlyst" here in Oz screened = a "world exclusive" which explained the life on Mars theory of Vittorio = Formizano - Mars Express has picked up signs of formaldehyde and in such = quantities that it can only be from chemically altered methane seeping = out of the soil. Since formaldehyde has an atmospheric life of just 7 = hours lots of methane is involved in oxidation reactions producing it. = Five million of tons of methane per year, far more than current = estimates of likely present-day volcanism. Formizano is convinced it can only be biogenic... ..the reporting was fairly restrained letting Formizano explain the = data and the implications. Combined with the Mars Express locality data = on methane and water it almost seems like a slam dunk. The reporter = actually acknowledged it was tentative and could be reinterpreted, but = that seems less likely with every new water site on Mars.=20 http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1310280.htm ------=_NextPart_000_0200_01C51A88.C24FC7D0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

http://w= ww.habitablezone.com/space/messages/371162.html

Our weekly Science News magazine TV show "Catatlyst" here in Oz = screened a=20 "world exclusive" which explained the life on Mars theory of Vittorio = Formizano=20 - Mars Express has picked up signs of formaldehyde and in such = quantities that=20 it can only be from chemically altered methane seeping out of the soil. = Since=20 formaldehyde has an atmospheric life of just 7 hours lots of methane is = involved=20 in oxidation reactions producing it. Five million of tons of methane per = year,=20 far more than current estimates of likely present-day volcanism.

Formizano is convinced it can only be biogenic...

...the reporting was fairly restrained letting Formizano explain the = data and=20 the implications. Combined with the Mars Express locality data on = methane and=20 water it almost seems like a slam dunk. The reporter actually = acknowledged it=20 was tentative and could be reinterpreted, but that seems less likely = with every=20 new water site on Mars.

http://www.a= bc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1310280.htm

------=_NextPart_000_0200_01C51A88.C24FC7D0-- From owner-public@setileague.org Thu Feb 24 14:53:54 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j1OMrr7q020671 for ; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:53:53 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id RAA02371 for public-list; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 17:43:35 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav8.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.80]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA02364; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 17:43:33 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:43:02 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.140.54.240 by BAY103-DAV8.phx.gbl with DAV; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 22:42:42 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.140.54.240] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Transit Timing to Detect Terrestrial Planets Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 17:42:32 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_003C_01C51A98.37C0A390" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 17:42:32 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 24 Feb 2005 22:43:02.0092 (UTC) FILETIME=[325DE8C0:01C51AC2] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_003C_01C51A98.37C0A390 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://www.centauri-dreams.org/ Transit Timing to Detect Terrestrial Planets=20 "The Use of Transit Timing to Detect Terrestrial-Mass Extrasolar = Planets," by Matthew Holman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for = Astrophysics) and Norman Murray at the University of Toronto, appears in = the February 25th issue of Science. The = paper covers a new planet-finding technique that studies transit time; = i.e., the amount of time it takes a planet to orbit its star. Transit = timing studies the variation in apparent stellar brightness caused by = the passage of a planet in front of its star as seen from Earth.=20 Because the timing of the transit will vary depending on the presence of = other planets in the system, astronomers should be able to make = estimates about the mass of a second planet. And here's the best part: = While the current radial velocity observations that have been used to = detect most of the 150 known extrasolar planets cannot be used for = terrestrial worlds, this method may just be sensitive enough to detect = them. The method has implications for future transit studies, including = NASA's Kepler mission. The complete reference is Science (25 February 2005), Vol. 307, pp. = 1288-1291. The Science paper requires membership in AAAS, but see "The = Use of Transit Timing to Detect Extrasolar Planets with Masses as Small = as Earth," = available at = the ArXiv preprint site (PDF warning). http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0412/0412028.pdf ------=_NextPart_000_003C_01C51A98.37C0A390 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/<= /A>

Transit Timing to Detect Terrestrial=20 Planets

"The Use = of Transit=20 Timing to Detect Terrestrial-Mass Extrasolar Planets," by Matthew Holman = (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and Norman Murray at the=20 University of Toronto, appears in the February 25th issue of Science. The paper covers a = new=20 planet-finding technique that studies transit time; i.e., the amount of = time it=20 takes a planet to orbit its star. Transit timing studies the variation = in=20 apparent stellar brightness caused by the passage of a planet in