Starquakes hold secrets of stellar evolution

[captdude]

The following link will take you to the full article. The first few paragraphs of that article have been reproduced below the link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39857355/ns/technology_and_science-space


Starquakes hold secrets of stellar evolution
NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft reveals new details By Mike Wall
Space.com
updated 10/26/2010

A NASA spacecraft designed to seek out alien worlds has also revealed new details about the structure and evolution of stars, and should help astronomers better understand the future of our own sun, researchers announced Oct. 26.

Researchers measured so-called " starquakes," observing oscillations in the brightness of thousands of stars in much the same way geologists study earthquakes to probe our planet's interior. NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft served as their tool.

The method, called asteroseismology, is helping astronomers characterize stars as never before, researchers said during a news conference at Aarhus University in Denmark.

"We are just about to enter a new area in stellar astrophysics," Thomas Kallinger, of the University of British Columbia and the University of Vienna, said in a statement. "Kepler provides us with data of such good quality that they will change our view of how stars work in detail."

 

[MeteorWayne]

There's also more detail in the Kepler topic in Missions and Launches...

 

[captdude]

Thanks for the heads up on the additional information. This is pretty interesting stuff.