The jewelled squid, Histioteuthis, from 200-500m.  Copyright David Shale, 2007.

Professor Priede said: “It is like surveying a new continent half way between America and Europe. We can recognise the creatures, but familiar ones are absent and unusual ones are common. We are finding species that are rare or unknown elsewhere in the world.”

One of the world’s most advanced research vessels, the RRS James Cook, will be docking at Fairlie Pier by Largs tomorrow (Saturday, August 18), bringing samples of rare animals and a vast archive of pictures and videos, which will help us to understand more about life in the oceans.

The RRS James Cook is the latest addition to the Natural Environment Research Council’s fleet of oceanographic research ships.

The team of scientists mapped over 1,500 square miles, exploring the deep sea creatures living in the depths of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They used the latest technology to learn more about what is living in this remote and relatively unexplored deep-sea environment using remotely operated vehicles equipped with digital cameras.

Re: ‘New continent’ and species discovered in Atlantic study Orstio    August 19th, 2007 - 1:49 PM More pics: An amphipod, and a viperfish.

‘New continent’ and species discovered in Atlantic study Astronuc    August 19th, 2007 - 5:50 PM The only problem with the new continent is that it's covered with water, although that's not a problem if you're a fish.

Re: ‘New continent’ and species discovered in Atlantic study remcook    August 22nd, 2007 - 3:49 AM cool, the oceans are about as unexplored as the moon. i just posted that it was cool that you could post from the article itself, but that didn't seem to work... :S good job on all the new articles though!

Re: ‘New continent’ and species discovered in Atlantic study Orstio    August 22nd, 2007 - 4:05 AM Quote i just posted that it was cool that you could post from the article itself, but that didn't seem to work... :S One more thing I'll need to get up to date.  Thanks.  Edit -- Fixed.

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An artist’s impression of HD 189733b and its star (credit: ESA - C. Carreau)

‘Extra-solar’ planets are those outside our Solar System and more than 200 have been discovered orbiting stars close to our own Sun. The planet with water in its atmosphere is known as HD 189733b, and orbits a star in the constellation of Vulpecula the Fox, which is 64 light years from the Sun. HD 189733b is known as a “transiting planet” because it passes directly in front of its star, as viewed from the Earth.

The researchers, led by Dr Giovanna Tinetti of the European Space Agency and UCL’s Department of Physics & Astronomy, found that as HD 189733b passes in front of its ‘sun’, it absorbs starlight in a way that can only be explained by the presence of water vapour in its atmosphere. This is the first time that astronomers have been able to confirm that water is present on an extra-solar planet.

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Artist's impression of the planetary system around the red dwarf Gliese 581. Using the instrument HARPS on the ESO 3.6-m telescope, astronomers have uncovered 3 planets, all of relative low-mass: 5, 8 and 15 Earth masses. The five Earth-mass planet makes a full orbit around the star in 13 days, the other two in 5 and 84 days. (c) ESO

This exoplanet - as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun – is the smallest ever found up to now [1] and it completes a full orbit in 13 days. It is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the Sun. However, given that its host star, the red dwarf Gliese 581 [2], is smaller and colder than the Sun – and thus less luminous – the planet nevertheless lies in the habitable zone, the region around a star where water could be liquid!

“We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid,” explains Stéphane Udry, from the Geneva Observatory (Switzerland) and lead-author of the paper reporting the result. “Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth’s radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky – like our Earth – or covered with oceans,” he adds.

Re: Astronomers Find First Habitable Earth-like Planet Astronuc    April 25th, 2007 - 9:22 PM I read about this early this morning.  New 'super-Earth' found in space http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6589157.stm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_c Quote The host star, Gliese 581, is among the 100 closest stars to us, located only 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra (“the Scales”). Only 20.5 ly away!  Practically in the neighborhood. Too bad about the 5g's though.  I'd weigh over 850 lbs on that planet. I imagine that it is quite cool there with a red dwarf nearby. I wonder if any Librans are looking back.

Re: Astronomers Find First Habitable Earth-like Planet smich    May 11th, 2007 - 3:32 PM Hi all, I'm interested in this one from a weather point of view! A 13 day orbit....a bit of axis tilt, and you get 4 seasons in 2 weeks! Also - tides. Given the size of the two other companions, they would be almost tsunami-like. And another - if it's tidally locked and the orbit isn't too eccentric, possibility of life on the terminator? If the atmosphere is substantial enough, it might just spread the heat out too...rather than evaporating on the inward side and freezing on the other. One sobering thought though. From 20 light years away, I expect Venus would look like a very life supporting world... ...but then, perhaps it was once?! Steve M

Re: Astronomers Find First Habitable Earth-like Planet Astronuc    June 8th, 2007 - 7:55 PM Earth-Like Planet Discovered in Libra http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9796321 · Morning Edition, April 25, 2007 Quote Scientists have discovered a new planet in the constellation Libra. The small, rocky planet is special because it appears to have mild temperatures, like Earth. Researchers believe it looks like the first planet outside of our solar system that could be home to liquid water, and maybe even life. Our solar system has only eight planets — nine if you count Pluto. But outside of our solar system, around other stars, scientists have found dozens and dozens of planets. "We have discovered more than 100 planets, here in Geneva," says Michel Mayor, a planet hunter at the University of Geneva. Almost all of these known "extrasolar" planets are giant balls of gas, much like Jupiter or Saturn. Such massive planets are relatively easy to find. They have a gravitational pull that makes their stars wobble, and when scientists see that wobble, they know there is a planet. Small, rocky planets cause less of a wobble, making them harder to find. Still, Mayor and his colleagues have had some luck using the European Southern Observatory's big telescope at La Silla, Chile. They recently pointed it at a nearby star called Gliese 581, in the constellation Libra.

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