New Space Discoveries!

If we've learned anything during our study of the Solar System, it's that things are always changing. The Universe is expanding, Pluto is now a dwarf planet, and just this week a new Earth-like planet has been discovered just a mere 500 light years away! That's only about 3000 trillion miles...road trip anyone?!? Scientists have already discovered over 300 planets outside our solar system, but this is the first that has not been a gas ball and can be proven to be solid! Unfortunately, it's a little too close to the star it circles keeping the average surface temperature at about 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit. That's about 1000 times hotter than the oven when you bake chocolate chip cookies...needless to say no life exists on this new planet, Corot-7b. To read the full article about this exciting new discovery click here.

But wait, that's not the only new discovery! Scientists have found the coldest spot in our solar system, and it's right in our own backyard, on the moon! The spot lies deep within a crater on the moon's south pole and measures temperatures as low as -397 degrees Fahrenheit. It's at least a degree cooler than Pluto, even though Pluto is 40 times farther from the sun! For more information click here.

The Universe is an amazing thing! Let me know what you think of these new discoveries!