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Updated: 1 year 44 weeks ago
Phoenix Lander Digs And Analyzes Soil As Darkness Gathers
As fall approaches Mars' northern plains, NASA's Phoenix Lander is busy digging into the Red Planet's soil and scooping it into its onboard science laboratories for analysis.
Astronomers Get Best View Yet Of Infant Stars At Feeding Time
Astronomers have used ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer to conduct the first high resolution survey that combines spectroscopy and interferometry on intermediate-mass infant stars. They obtained a very precise view of the processes acting in the discs that feed stars as they form. These mechanisms include material infalling onto the star as well as gas being ejected, probably as a wind from the disc.
When It Comes To Galaxies, Diversity Is Everywhere
A group of galaxies in our cosmic backyard has given astronomers clues about how stars form. A thorough survey using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed around 14 million stars in 69 galaxies. Some galaxies were found to be full of ancient stars, while others are like sun-making factories.
Apollo Heat Shield Uncrated After 35 Years, Helps New Crew Vehicle Design
NASA scientists developing the next generation of exploration vehicles and heat shields for NASA's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle experienced "Christmas in July" when they uncrated the heat shields used on the Apollo missions some 35 years ago. These shields now are being analyzed to help with the development and engineering process.
Sharpest Whole-Planet Picture Of Jupiter Taken From The Ground
A record two-hour observation of Jupiter using a superior technique to remove atmospheric blur has produced the sharpest whole-planet picture ever taken from the ground. The new image reveals changes in Jupiter's smog-like haze, probably in response to a planet-wide upheaval more than a year ago.
Cosmic Eye Sheds Light On Early Galaxy Formation, Just Two Billion Years After Big Bang
Astronomers have provided unique insight into the nature of a young star-forming galaxy as it appeared only two billion years after the Big Bang and determined how the galaxy may eventually evolve to become a system like our own Milky Way.
Star Born From The Wind: Unique Multi-wavelength Portrait Of Star Birth
Telescopes on the ground and in space have teamed up to compose a colorful image that offers a fresh look at the history of the star-studded region NGC 346. This new, ethereal portrait, in which different wavelengths of light swirl together like watercolors, reveals new information about how stars form.
NASA Spacecraft Ready To Explore Outer Solar System
The first NASA spacecraft to image and map the dynamic interactions taking place where the hot solar wind slams into the cold expanse of space is ready for launch Oct. 19. The two-year mission will begin from the Kwajalein Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists Simulate Effects Of Blowing Mars Dust
Gusting winds and the pulsating exhaust plumes from the Phoenix spacecraft's landing engines could complicate NASA's efforts to sample frozen soil from the surface of Mars, according to atmospheric scientists.
It's A Gas When Galaxies Merge -- A Lot Of Gas
Picture the Milky Way galaxy--a disk of stars and gas, a stellar spheroid and an enormous halo of dark matter. It spirals around a black hole that is supermassive--about 3 million solar masses. The Milky Way's total mass is about 100 billion solar masses--enormous to us but average among galaxies. Then imagine that galaxy encountering its identical twin. The first galaxy merges with the second to produce a galaxy that's even grander and greater. Cosmologists think that's how galaxies grow--through a complex process of continuous mergers.
Two More Active Moons Around Saturn
Saturn's moons Tethys and Dione are flinging great streams of particles into space, according to data from the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini mission to Saturn. The discovery suggests the possibility of some sort of geological activity, perhaps even volcanic, on these icy worlds. The particles were traced to the two moons because of the dramatic movement of electrically charged gas in the magnetic environs of Saturn.
Astronomers Find Most Distant Black Hole
A team of astronomers from Canada, France and the United States is announcing the discovery of a record-breaking black hole located nearly 13 billion light years from the Earth. Details of the discovery, made with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, are being presented today by Dr Chris Willott, of the University of Ottawa, to astronomers and astrophysicists during the annual conference of the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA 2007) in Kingston, Ontario. Future observations of this black hole will shed light on the early evolution of the Universe.
Hidden Planet Pushes Star's Ring A Billion Miles Off-center
A young star's strange elliptical ring of dust likely heralds the presence of an undiscovered Neptune-sized planet according to astronomers. Stars in the early stages of life are surrounded by dust clouds that thin out and dissipate as the star reaches maturity, becoming rings in their final stages. One star, however, has a dust ring that has long puzzled astronomers because it is not centered around the star as usual. Instead, the ring is elliptical, with the parent star off to one side.
Mars Probably Once Had A Huge Ocean
UC Berkeley geophycists are providing strong evidence that Mars once had an ocean. Naysayers have argued that what appear to be ancient coastlines near the North Pole are too warped to be true seashores. The researchers claim, however, that this anomaly resulted from the tilt of Mars' spin axis 2 to 3 billion years ago, possibly because the weight of surface water made the planet tip like a weighted top.
New Solar Panels For Space Station Installed
The International Space Station spread its new set of wings Tuesday, and the crew members prepared for the mission's next spacewalk. The solar arrays on the newly installed Starboard 3 and 4 truss segment deployed to their full length with the assistance of the STS-117 crew.
Double Explosion Heralds The Death Of A Very Massive Star
A unique discovery of two celestial explosions at exactly the same position in the sky has led astronomers to suggest they have witnessed the death of one of the most massive stars that can exist.
To Keep Fit In Space, Train Like An Athlete
If one part of your car isn't properly maintained, it can affect how the entire vehicle runs -- especially if you're taking a long trip. The same can be said for the human body. That's why, when it comes to fitness in space, it's important to create a program addressing the whole system, parts included. To keep astronauts healthy on long missions, researchers are developing an integrated exercise program that addresses a number of the physical changes caused by microgravity.
Free From The Atmosphere: Laser Guide Star System Starts Regular Science Operations
An artificial, laser-fed star now shines regularly over the sky of ESO's VLT. This system provides assistance for the adaptive optics instruments on the VLT and so allows astronomers to obtain images free from the blurring effect of the atmosphere, regardless of the brightness and the location on the sky of the observed target. The system has now delivered its first scientific results, which prove to be unique.
NASA Scientist Finds A New Way To The Center Of The Earth
Humans have yet to see Earth's center, as did the characters in Jules Verne's science fiction classic, "Journey to the Center of the Earth." But a new NASA study proposes a novel technique to pinpoint more precisely the location of Earth's center of mass and how it moves through space.
Matter Flashed At Ultra Speed
Using a robotic telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, astronomers have for the first time measured the velocity of the explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. The material is travelling at the extraordinary speed of more than 99.999 percent of the velocity of light, the maximum speed limit in the universe.
About this image
Courtesy of SOHO/EIT consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. Image has been modified.
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is designed to study the internal structure of the Sun, its extensive outer atmosphere and the origin of the solar wind, the stream of highly ionized gas that blows continuously outward through the Solar System. An uninterrupted view of the Sun is achieved by operating SOHO from a permanent vantage point 1.5 million kilometers sunward of the Earth. SOHO was designed to observe the Sun continuously for at least two years.
- New quasar is the oldest yet
- Closing in on the gamma-ray sky
- Milky Way Black Hole May Be A Colossal 'Particle Accelerator'
- Cosmic Lighthouses: Astrophysicists Explain Differences In Brightness Of Supernova Explosions
- Universe Offers 'Eternal Feast,' Cosmologist Says
- Origin Of Darkest Galaxies In The Universe Elucidated
- Scientists Find High Energy Systems Hidden In 'Gas Cocoon'
- Astronomer Finds Closest Gravitational Lensing Galaxy
- First negatively charged molecule found in space
- Binary star pulsates with high-energy gamma rays
- Active galactic nuclei
- Gamma ray 'clock' found creating antimatter
- Astronomers Find First Ever Gamma Ray Clock
