As the search for extrasolar planets continues, researchers are finding systems more and more like our own Solar System. And today researchers announced another significant find: a system with two planets smaller than Jupiter and Saturn. It's almost starting to sound like home.

The report, due to be published in the February 15th edition of the journal Science discusses a series of observations made back on March 28, 2006. An experiment, known as the Optical Gravitational Microlensing Equipment (OGLE), detected the telltale signal of a microlensing event on a star 5,000 light-years away.

The problem with supernovae is that you never know where they're going to happen. Your only clue is the bright flash in the sky, and then it's too late. But a team of European researchers think they were lucky enough to have spotted the precursor to supernova.

Since asteroids have mass, they have gravity. And if you've got gravity, you can have moons. Several asteroids have been discovered in the outer Solar System with smaller asteroidlets circling them. But now the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico has turned up the closest example - a triple system just a mere 11 million km (7 million miles) from Earth.

Highly energetic solar particles are generated by solar flares and can be harmful to astronauts and sensitive satellite circuits. Solar flares are most likely to occur during periods of heightened solar activity (i.e. during solar maximum at the peak of the 11 year solar cycle), and future manned missions will need to be highly cautious not to be unprotected in space at these times. Many attempts are underway at forecasting solar activity so "solar storms" can be predicted, but a form of early warning system is required to allow time for astronauts to seek cover and satellites put in a low-power state. Now, using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), scientists are testing a new method of detecting high energy solar ions, in real-time.