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The article focuses on the camera-and-telescope combination used by solar physicists of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to discover that magnetic heating played a role in heating the sun's corona aside from the energy caused by wave heating. It says that the telescope could spot features in the solar atmosphere that were only 150 kilometers across, a six-fold improvement over other instruments orbiting the Earth.

The article discusses data from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Solar Dynamics Observatory about how the sun's shape is more spherical and steadier than previously believed. It is shown that the sun's midsection is slimmer and that the star's overall shape does not change much during the 11-year sunspot cycle. A study led by Jeffrey Kuhn and published online on the web site of "Science" on August 16, 2012 is also referenced.

The article reports on the discovery by scientists of three planets circling a star dubbed Kepler-30 using data gathered by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Kepler spacecraft. One planet orbits the star every 29 days while the other two orbit the star every 60 days and 143 days respectively. Analysis revealed a huge, dark starspot on Kepler-30. The planes of those orbits are found to be closely aligned with the rotational plane of the parent star.

The article reports new findings of carbon monoxide gasses emitted from the atmosphere of the planet Pluto as it completed its 248-years orbit around the sun. It cites other gasses previously discovered from telescopic observations including nitrogen and methane. Astrobiologist Janes Greaves also reports that its atmosphere has grown from 135 kilometers to 3,000 kilometers since it was first discovered 80 years ago to May 2010. It states that more can be learned as the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's New Horizon mission nears Pluto.