Sun Spots - A few months ago several stories appeared about solar flares from the Sun, which

can disrupt all cell phones, pose a hazard for astronauts on spacewalks and damage satellites and electrical equipment. The Earths magnetic poles are now in the process of flipping and this weakens our magnetic shield and we will be susceptible to damage by radiation sent out by these solar flares. The Sun Spots have started again and are now even bigger than ever. The Big Spot which appeared a few days ago, and looked as if it was nothing special has now grown wider than 8 planet Earths. The Sun spot has been given the number 564.

Tenth Planet Found - Astronomers have just announced that they have found a tenth planet in our solar system. It is beyond Pluto and more than six billion miles from the Earth. Temperatures there never rise above minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit , its calendar year takes 10,500 of our years and it is the most distant object orbiting the sun which has ever been detected.It is believed to be about 1,250 miles wide and may even be larger than Pluto, which is the furthest-known planet. It makes a highly elliptical orbit, looping out from eight billion to 84 billion miles away from the Sun - or 900 times the Earth's distance from the star. The planet has been named "Sedna", after the Inuit goddess who was reputed to have created the sea creatures of the Arctic. It was discovered during a Nasa-funded research project by the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and astronomers found it in the Kuiper Belt, which is a huge area of rock and ice left over from the creation of the solar system. The name "Sedna" make not remain though. If it's planetary status is confirmed, the International Astronomical Union may make the name more consistent with the other planets. They are all named after figures from Greek and Roman mythology.

Water On Mars - Even though Nasa has found no traces of life they believe that Mars once had water, it has been disclosed. The discovery has been made by the Nasa Rover Opportunity whilst working on the Meridiani Planum, which is a flat plain containing the iron-rich mineral grey haematite. It was drilling into a layered rock called "El Capitan" by the scientists and the scientists will now try and see if the rock previously lay at the bottom of a salty lake or sea in the distant past. The chemicals in the rock have proved that water existed in the past. The other rover "Spirit" is busy on the opposite side of Mars surveying the planet. This is great news for Nasa as it would prove that Mars was once suitable for life to exist, It is also known that large amounts of ice are locked up in the polar regions.

Permanent Sun On The Moon - Scientists have discovered that there is a mountain on the moon where the sun never sets. They have called it "Peak of eternal light" and it is on the rim of Peary, a crater 50 miles wide at the Lunar North pole. Finding this peak which is permanently illuminated means that the Lunar North pole might be ideal for the first moonbase to be built The location most probably has a daily temperature which changes only about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. At the lunar equator, the daily temperature changes are as much as 450 degrees daily, so this illuminated peak might be an ideal place to build Earth's first moonbase. The moon's axis of rotation is tilted to about 1.5.degrees and it has small seasons at it's poles. By contract, Earths tilt is 23.5. degree's. The low tilt angle means that there are some crater floors and the walls at the poles that never see the sun, but at least one mountain always protrudes into the sunlight.