PARIS, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Astronomers have found the biggest stellar black hole so far, a monster with a mass 15.65 times that of our Sun, lurking in a nearby spiral-shaped galaxy.

The find, located in a galaxy called Messier 33, has an even bigger companion -- a close-orbiting star that is 70 times the mass of the Sun, according to an investigation led by Jerome Orosz of San Diego University, California.

CHICAGO, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Images from a NASA probe have shown that lightning does occur at the poles on Jupiter, a phenomenon previously only seen on Earth, a study released Tuesday said.

Lightning strikes had previously been observed at lower latitudes and around the equator on the gas planet but the jagged bolts of electricity had never been observed at either of its two poles, puzzling astronomers.

CHICAGO, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Snuggled into a huge belt of warm dust, an Earth-like planet appears to be forming some 424 light years away, scientists said Wednesday.

At somewhere between 10 and 16 million years old, the planet's solar system is still in its 'very young adolescence,' but is at the perfect age for forming Earth-like planets, said lead researcher Carey Lisse of Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The US space agency NASA on Thursday launched the space probe Dawn on its eight-year mission to unlock the secrets of the solar system by studying the two largest asteroids orbiting the sun.

The unmanned spacecraft successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida and began its 1.7 billion mile (three billion kilometer) journey to Ceres and Vesta in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Dawn's long-haul to Vesta is expected to take four years, as NASA anticipates its arrival in orbit around Vesta in October 2011.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The US space agency on Thursday launched the space probe Dawn on an eight-year mission to learn about the two largest asteroids orbiting the sun, according to NASA televised images.

The liftoff of the unmanned probe took place at 7:34 am (1134 GMT) at the US Air Force base in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Dawn is to head toward Vesta and Ceres in a bid to unlock the secrets of the solar system's creation.

WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - The US space agency is set to launch on Thursday the space probe Dawn on an eight-year mission to unlock the secrets of the solar system and how it was born.

After several delays in recent months, NASA said Sunday it is finally ready to launch the unmanned craft on its mission to Ceres and Vesta, the two largest asteroids orbiting the sun, in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

AMSTERDAM, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - Most of the universe -- 96 percent, to be exact -- is made of dark matter and energy whose composition we simply do not fathom, a Nobel laureate told physicists gathered this week to explore the intersection of the infinitely small and the infinitely large.

'We think we understand the universe, but we only understand four percent of everything,' said James Watson Cronin, who won the 1980 Nobel for physics by proving that certain subatomic reactions escape the laws of fundamental symmetry.

WASHINGTON, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - A NASA spacecraft found seven possible cave entrances on Mars, triggering interest in hunting for other caverns that might be hiding life on the Red Planet, the US space agency said Friday.

While the possible caves discovered are too high in altitude to host life, scientists say caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet could be underground habitats or even one day become shelters for astronauts.

PARIS, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - An international team of astronomers say that Neptune, long dismissed as a cobalt-blue gas giant cloaked in deathly cold, has a relatively warm south pole.

Temperature maps, made using Europe's Very Large Telescope (VLT) located in the Chilean desert, show that Neptune's south pole is warmer than anywhere else on the planet by about 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit), the team says.

WASHINGTON, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - The formation of the first stars at the birth of the universe could shed light on the nature of dark matter which still baffles scientists, according to a study published Thursday.

Using sophisticated computer simulations, cosmologists at Britain's Durham University concluded that dark matter, which has been divided into both 'warm' and 'cold' matter, was key to the formation of the stars.