Space News
Cassini spacecraft obtains best views of Saturn hexagon
Phys.org - 5 Dec 2013 00:47
(Phys.org) --NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained the highest-resolution movie yet of a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the hexagon, around Saturn's north pole.
Is Anything Left of ISON? Spacecraft Continue to Monitor Comet's Remains
Universe Today - 5 Dec 2013 23:33
Could Comet ISON possibly still be alive? The latest high-resolution images available from the STEREO spacecraft are still showing some remains of the comet, although each day seems to show less and less activity. "If an...
Goddard Planetary Instruments Score a Hat Trick
PTTU - 5 Dec 2013 22:51
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: Planetary instruments from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., hit the trifecta on Dec. 4, running three experiments of the same kind at different places in space.
Scientists to Congress: We Have the Technology to Find Alien Life
SPACE.com - 5 Dec 2013 22:20
For thousands of years, humans have been wondering whether there's life elsewhere in the universe. Now, the technology finally exists to search for it.
Space Station Astronauts Fire-Up Awesome 'Cubesat Cannon'
SPACE.com - 5 Dec 2013 22:01
As if the International Space Station couldn't get any cooler, the Japanese segment of the orbiting outpost has launched a barrage of small satellites -- known as "cubesats" -- from their very own Cubesat Cannon!
Suiting Up for the AXE Apollo Space Academy (Photo)
SPACE.com - 5 Dec 2013 21:55
Things are about to get extreme. I flew down here to Florida Wednesday (Dec. 4) to cover the AXE Apollo Space Academy, a space camp designed to give away 23 tickets to space.
Sun's Super-Size Heat-Cells Surprise Scientists | Video
SPACE.com - 5 Dec 2013 21:50
Solar physicists have long suspected that giant heat-flow structures drive the Sun's surface motions. Now they finally have proof from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Martian laser surpasses 100,000 zaps
Phys.org - 5 Dec 2013 21:48
(Phys.org) --The ChemCam laser instrument aboard NASA's Curiosity rover fired its 100,000th shot recently, chronicling its adventures on Mars with a coffee-table-book's worth of spectral data that might rival snapshots g...
New Sunspot Spits Geysers Of Fire | Video
SPACE.com - 5 Dec 2013 21:31
On 5 December 2013, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a sun storm that recently rotated into Earth's view spewing plasma. The largest eruption is over 15 Earth-diameters "tall."
Mars' chemical history: Phyllosian, Theiikian, Siderikian, oh my
Planetary Society - 5 Dec 2013 21:08
I'm returning to the deep dive into the literature that began with articles about lunar basins and then explored the geologic time scales of Earth, Moon, and Mars. Now it's time to catch up to the last decade of Mars res...
NASA Finds Reducing Salt Is Bad for Glacial Health
PTTU - 5 Dec 2013 21:04
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features: A NASA-led study has discovered a link between sea ice conditions and the melting rate of Totten Glacier in East Antarctica that has implications for sea-level rise.
Science Results - Marching to the Beat: Subaru's FMOS Reveals the Well-Orchestrated Growth of Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe
PTTU - 5 Dec 2013 21:00
NAOJ Top News: Using Subaru Telescope's FMOS, a team of astronomers has found that galaxies, over nine billion years ago, provided a nurturing environment for the birth of new stars at remarkable, orderly rates.
Second Light | Space Wallpaper
SPACE.com - 5 Dec 2013 20:09
This space wallpaper by NASA's Kepler spacecraft shows the telescope's full field of view taken in a new demonstration mode in late October.
Secretive US Space Plane Spotted Over Ontario (Twice) | Video
SPACE.com - 5 Dec 2013 19:26
On Nov 24th and 28th, 2013, Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario captured imagery of the U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane in the night sky. Orbiting Earth for over year, the mission's purpose and capability is "in the b...
Astronomers discover planet that shouldn't be there
Phys.org - 5 Dec 2013 19:22
An international team of astronomers, led by a University of Arizona graduate student, has discovered the most distantly orbiting planet found to date around a single, sun-like star. It is the first exoplanet - a planet ...
Academia and Entrepreneurial Space Companies Seek Closer Ties
Space News - 5 Dec 2013 19:14
The high public profile of some "newspace companies has already helped inspire the current generation of students to pursue degrees in related fields.
400,000-Year-Old Human Ancestor DNA Sequenced --"Shows Link to Extinct Relatives of Neanderthals"
The Daily Galaxy - 5 Dec 2013 19:13
Researchers sequenced the mitochondrial genome of a 400,000-year-old hominin from Sima de los Huesos, the "bone pit", is a cave site in Northern Spain that has yielded the world's largest assembly of Middle Pleistocene h...
New Instrument Continues Gathering Sun's Effects on the Earth
PTTU - 5 Dec 2013 19:04
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: Maintaining a record of solar measurements is important in understanding the sun's effect on Earth and the Total solar irradiance Calibration Transfer Experiment, or TCTE, is now provi...
Could Particle 'Spooky Action' Define The Nature Of Gravity?
Universe Today - 5 Dec 2013 18:49
Quantum physics is a fascinating yet complicated subject to understand, and one of the things that freaks out physics students every is the concept of entanglement. That occurs when physicists attempt to measure the stat...
Make It So, Make It So, Make It So
Bad Astronomy - 5 Dec 2013 18:33
If you're a nerd (and you read my blog, so: guilty) then you may have already seen this, but it's worth making sure anyway: Brilliant! And it must have taken a lot of work. ... but the programmer in me has to wonder. If ...
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 4 December 2013
SpaceRef - 5 Dec 2013 18:30
Today: Thermolab Control Unit Battery Compartment Repair: Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Mastracchio successfully repaired the battery compartment of the Thermolab Control Unit which is used to support ESA's Circadian Rhythms ex...
Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon Behaves Like Earth's Ozone Hole
Universe Today - 5 Dec 2013 18:07
A raging hurricane is creating a “suck zone” at Saturn’s north pole. The handy Cassini spacecraft recently captured a bunch of images of the six-sided jet stream surrounding the storm, which mission managers then p...