'One-stop shop' for planet discoveries unveiled

Planet Quest gives the scoop on this protoplanetary system shock wave.

By Richard Stenger
CNN Sci-Tech

(CNN) -- Gas giants. Terrestrial planets. Brown dwarfs. Seems like each day scientists turn up new objects floating around stars. Exasperated sky watchers take heart. A new NASA Web site promises "one-stop shopping" for all the latest discoveries involving distant worlds.

Unveiled this week, Planet Quest boasts news reports about scientific discoveries as well as plenty of interactive features, including animations, 3-D models and virtual reality tours of everything from extrasolar planetary systems to a fleet of future NASA space telescopes.

"We're providing a new and continuously updated news and information hub, using multimedia, to inform Internet users about the search for new worlds beyond our solar system," said Randy Jackson, a webmaster with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which manages the site.

In one new study highlighted on the site, NASA scientists discuss a new and puzzling observation: a shock wave is observed as material falls in toward a dusk disk around a young and growing star.

"It gives is some insight into the process by which planetary systems could begin around stars," said propulsion lab scientist Thangasamy Velusamy.

Visitors can peruse an atlas of newly discovered worlds or find out the scoop on present and future NASA missions that scan the heavens, whether from atop a volcanic mountain in Hawaii or flying in formation in space.

Distant planets are the common theme of the site, or more precisely, the search for those that resemble our comfortable blue dot.

"By looking for planets with similar conditions--the right location, the right size and chemistry, we hope to find worlds where life might exist, and even search for signs of life there," jet lab scientist Rolf Danner said.

If you want to learn the four ways to find a planet or look at an exotic star system in three dimensions, then check out Planet Quest: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov