Carnival of Space 240

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The Carnival of Space 240 is up at Linksthroughspace.

Discovery news by Ian O’neill writes about the Cassini mission that has sniffed oxygen in Dione’s exosphere, how does this affect the search for life beyond Earth.

Why is the discovery of oxygen in Dione’s exosphere important? If Dione’s got it, then perhaps its sibling moons also have it, giving us a tantalizing clue as to the possibility of life on the natural satellites around Saturn and Jupiter.

“Some of the other moons have liquid oceans and so it is worth looking more closely at them for signs of life,” Andrew Coates, of University College London and lead scientist of the study

Nextbigfuture- NASA – 1,091 new transiting planet candidates have emerged from analysis of Kepler spacecraft data spanning May 2009 to September 2010, bringing the total count to 2,321 Kepler planet candidates orbiting 1,790 host stars. A clear trend toward smaller planets at longer orbital periods is evident with each new catalog release. This suggests that Earth-size planets in the habitable zone are forthcoming if, indeed, such planets are abundant.

Nextbigfuture – Star Wars Phantom Menace 3D will make about $45-50 million domestically. It will make about two times that amount in foreign box office. It is already at $46 million in foreign box office. There will be Blu-ray and other revenue and it re-invigorates toy sales. Toys sales are about 4 times the movie box office money. It costs about $10-15 million to convert the movie to 3D. Even after other costs and sharing with distributors, this will make 10-30 times its money back. Leia quote – If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive. I wonder if he really cares about anything.

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