Day to Day Science

A   total solar eclipse will occur on March 9 and it will be seen as partial solar eclipse at sunrise from most places in India except from north-west and western parts of the country.

Scientists have discovered five new Jupiter-like planets that are similar in characteristics to our solar system’s biggest planet and orbit very close to their host stars. Researchers from Keele University in the United Kingdom used the Wide Angle Search for Planets-South (WASP-South) instrument — an array of eight cameras observing selected regions of the southern sky, to study five stars showing planet-like transits in their light curve.

A day-long census of birds that arrived at Otteri Lake in Vandalur was carried out by the Forest Department on Friday. The census is an annual feature and focusses on the arrival of new birds and the increase in their numbers compared to the previous years, officials said.

WASHINGTON:  Six Indian-Americans are among a talented group of 106 scientists and engineers who will be honoured by US President Barack Obama with a prestigious award, the highest US government prize for young independent researchers. The Indian Americans selected for the Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers are Milind Kulkarni (Purdue University), Kiran Musunuru (Harvard University), Sachin Patel (Vanderbilt University Medical Centre), Vikram Shyam (NASA), Rahul Mangharam (University of Pennsylvania) and Shwetak Patel (University of Washington), according to a White House statement.

Washington: Sky enthusiasts in parts of Southeast Asia will be treated to a total solar eclipse lasting for over a minute in every location on its path on March 8, 2016 EST (March 9 local time).

Scientists on Thursday said they have for the first time detected gravitational waves hypothesised by physicist Albert Einstein a century ago, in a landmark discovery that opens a new window for studying the cosmos. The researchers said they detected gravitational waves coming from two black holes — extraordinarily dense objects whose existence also was foreseen by Einstein — that orbited one another, spiralled inward and smashed together. They said the waves were the product