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ASTRONOMY PHYSICS The Nobel Prize in Physics goes to John C. Mather and George F. Smoot "for their discovery of the bl US space scientists John Mather and George Smoot were awarded the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for a pioneering space mission which supports the "Big Bang" theory about the origins of the Universe. ASTRONOMY PHYSICS Cyclic universe could explain cosmological constant Two theoretical physicists have developed a model that could explain why the cosmological constant takes the small, positive value that it does in today's universe. The value of the constant is responsible for the observed acceleration in the expansion of the universe. However, the new model, developed by Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University in the US and Neil Turok at Cambridge University in the UK, will be controversial. It requires that time existed before the Big Bang, assumes that the universe is older than the 14 billion years we think it is, and says that the universe regularly undergoes repeating "cycles" of big bangs and big crunches (Sciencexpress 1126231). ASTRONOMY Pluto relegated to dwarf status Considered by many to be the ninth planet in the solar system, Pluto is now defined as a “dwarf planet” by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The controversial decision was made yesterday and is based on the fact that Pluto’s orbital path overlaps with other objects such as asteroids and the planet Neptune. ASTRONOMY PHYSICS Gravity lens reveals dark matter US astronomers claim to have observed dark matter – the elusive substance that is believed to be five times as common as normal matter, accounting for nearly a quarter of the universe. ASTRONOMY The Final IAU Resolution on the definition of "planet" ready for voting Resolution 5A is the principal definition for the IAU usage of "planet" and related terms. Resolution 5B adds the word "classical" to the collective name of the eight planets Mercury through Neptune. ASTRONOMY Newfound Ice World Alters Perceptions of Planetary Systems Astronomers announced today the discovery of a frigid extrasolar planet several times larger than Earth orbiting a small red dwarf star roughly 9,000 light years away. ASTRONOMY ASTRONAUTICS NASA spacecraft finds water on Saturn moon It's almost 1300-million kilometres from earth, but scientists believe they have discovered evidence of water on one of Saturn's icy moons -- rekindling hope in the existence of life outside planet Earth. ASTRONOMY 'Laser star' enhances cosmic view The world's largest optical telescope facility can now use an "artificial star" to improve its vision. ASTRONOMY New type of star discovered Astronomers have found a new type of neutron star. The objects send out short bursts of radio waves lasting just two to 30 milliseconds followed by "dark spells" lasting minutes to hours. Conventional plusars, in contrast, emit flashes of radio waves at regular intervals. The new objects -- dubbed "rotating radio transients" or RRATs -- were discovered by a team led by Maura McLaughlin from the Jodrell Bank Observatory at the University of Manchester in the UK. She believes that the RRATs may outnumber conventional radio pulsars by a ratio of four to one (Nature 439 817). ASTRONOMY Three's company A team of astronomers in the US has confirmed the existence of two new moons orbiting around Pluto. The moons, dubbed rather prosaically P1 and P2, were initially detected by the Hubble Space Telescope last year and are the first objects to be discovered around the planet since its first moon, Charon, was found nearly 30 years ago. The moons are estimated to have diameters of between about 48 and 165 kilometres and are therefore much smaller than Charon, which is around 1200 km across. The discovery also makes Pluto the first Kuiper-belt object to have more than one satellite (Nature 439 943).