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Astronomers are keen to find extrasolar planets that are similar in size to Earth, as well as those significantly smaller. Now during observations of a planetary system known to have at least one orbiting planet, a second very small planet was found. The object, called UCF-1.01, orbits around the red-dwarf star GJ 436.Spitzer Space Telescope news release on the planetInformation about exoplanets and NASA's planet-finding program

It's Hubble's 22nd anniversary, and the telescope is celebrating with a glorious image of the 30 Doradus star-forming region. Hubble catches sight of brief auroras on Uranus, and will turn its eye closer to home in June, using the Moon to watch the Venus transit.Hubble's 22nd Anniversary Image Shows Turbulent Star-making RegionHubble Spots Auroras on the Planet UranusHubble to Use Moon as Mirror to See Venus Transit

Recently, two Earth-sized planets were discovered around a dying star. The star has passed beyond its red giant stage, in which it would have engulfed the planets, and the planets survived. The discovery provides new information about how planets affect the course of a star's evolution.

Astronomers discover another moon around Pluto, the smallest body to yet be found around the Kuiper Belt object. And Hubble reaches its millionth science observation while studying the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet.

At the site of a supernova witnessed in 1987, the remnants of an exploded star are undergoing a transformation that astronomers are able to watch in detail for the first time. And new movies made from Hubble images taken over a span of 14 years show material shooting away from young stars and across space at supersonic speeds.

Something doesn't add up about the ages of "blue straggler" stars. And Hubble takes a picture of the star that revealed the true nature of the universe.

Interacting pairs and groups of galaxies seem to be common in the universe. For 21 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been providing beautiful images of such encounters along with amazing images of all kinds of other objects. Hubble took an anniversary image of interacting galaxy Arp 273, showing the beautiful but disturbed spiral structure of the main galaxy. The star formation and distortion apparent is most likely due to interaction with at least one, and possibly two, smaller galaxies in the vicinity.

Interacting pairs and groups of galaxies seem to be common in the universe. For 21 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been providing beautiful images of such encounters along with amazing images of all kinds of other objects. Hubble took an anniversary image of interacting galaxy Arp 273, showing the beautiful but disturbed spiral structure of the main galaxy. The star formation and distortion apparent is most likely due to interaction with at least one, and possibly two, smaller galaxies in the vicinity.HubbleSite news release on the image.

A strange green blob creeps up on an unsuspecting galaxy. And Hubble monitors a cosmic explosion unlike anything ever seen before.

Hubble has located the faintest galaxy yet seen, a dim collection of blue stars that existed just 480 million years after the Big Bang. And astronomers find that tiny red dwarf stars can unleash mighty eruptions, making life difficult for any planets orbiting nearby.

A trio of planets is now shining in our skies. Venus is rising higher in the western sky, Mars is still visible but getting fainter, but Saturn is now at its brightest for the year. Saturn is visible just about all night, rising at sunset, highest in southern sky at midnight.

NASA's radar experiment aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft orbiting the Moon has identified thick deposits of water-ice in more than 40 small craters near the Moon's north pole. Ranging from one to 9 miles across, the craters likely contain ice at least a few meters thick, leading to total estimates of at least 600 million metric tons of ice within these craters.

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, continues to show indications of its intriguing surface. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004 and recently came across signs of floods, large impacts, and even ice volcanoes under the smoggy atmosphere. Long obscured by thick hazy clouds, Titan is finally revealing its secrets to Cassini.

Planetary nebulae form when a Sun-sized star dies, ejecting clouds of gas and dust into space. In fact, when our Sun ends its life, it will be as a planetary nebula. Scientists are trying to discover how such dying stars form the complex, colorful structures of nebulae. If they can discover how the process works, it will help explain how the elements in stars find their way into space, and then into new star systems and planets.Space.com talks about how nebulae form.

In February, a new telescope opened its gaze to the sky. A new telescope isn't that unusual, but this one's location stands out. The telescope is located at the South Pole. The South Pole Telescope, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, is designed to help answer some fundamental questions about the universe. Many of the telescope's observations will be focused around dark matter and dark energy, twin mysteries that present a major hole in our understanding of the cosmos. South Pole Telescope Web site.National Science Foundation telescope animations and news.

We know quite a bit about the Sun's surface and what goes on at the Sun's equator, but the poles remain a puzzle. We can't see the poles very well, and most solar satellites have viewed the sun from mid-latitudes. The Ulysses satellite has been circling the Sun over the poles to sample these exotic regions. The poles spew out charged particles in a blast of plasma. Observations taken in February 2007 of the Sun's south pole will be compared with observations of the north pole in 2008. Science@NASA discusses the Sun's south pole flyby.Ulysses finds one of the Sun's poles is cooler than the other.