Star Hosts Three-Rings!!!!!!!!

A nearby star has been found with two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring or halo. It is a three-ring circus. The inner asteroid belt looks like a virtual twin to the belt in our solar system. Astronomers say that the presence of the rings around the star, known as Epsilon Eridani, suggests hidden planets lurking there. They say the planets confine and shape the rings. The star is part of the constellation Eridanus and it is 10.5 light-years from Earth. The star is the ninth closest star to the sun. Epsilon Eridani is slightly smaller and colder than our sun. Not only that, the star is younger. The sun is approximately 4.5 billion years old while Epsilon Eridani has been living for about 850 million years. Astronomers believe that the rings formed when the solar system was very, very young. They say it was likely collisions between planets and small bodies resulted in the chunks of rock that resulted in the 3 rings. They also believe that the gaps were formed by planets with gravitational forces which could remove the excess material that was floating away from the belts and keep the shape of the rings. Astronomers say that planets in our solar system exert similar shaping effects.

I think that this was a very big discovery. Since this star is younger than sun and is similar to it we can observe what happens to it when it ages. I believe that we won't forget this star for a long time. Scientists will observe this star for a long time.

Here is where I got the article http://www.livescience.com/space/081027-mm-solar-system-twin.html

Glowing Jellyfish Wins Scientists Nobel Prize

Three Scientists who researched the mysterious green glow of a jellyfish earned the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year. Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole Massachusetts; Martin Chalfie of Columbia University; and last but not least Roger Tsien of the University of California in San Diego were these men. They earned the prize for their discovery and development of a green fluorescent protein aka GFP. Since each of them contributed in the discovery each one of them will receive a third of the prize. This protein was observed in 1962 from a crystal jellyfish which drifts in currents off the west coast of North America. The protein has become very important in contemporary bioscience. Using the protein scientists have created ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells or watch how cancer cells spread.

I believe that this breakthrough can lead to many solutions to problems such as cancer. For example, since the GFP can lets scientists watch the way cancer cells spread, we can stop it by stopping the cells spreading. If someone knows how it will spread, we see the weakness or a way to stop it. These men deserve the prize and they should be very proud.

Here is where I got the article
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/08/nobel.chemistry/

More Posts!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess what guys! I'm posting more this year! whoooooo!