Space News
SpaceX Successfully Launches THAICOM 6 Satellite
SpaceRef - 7 Jan 2014 04:17
SpaceX successfully launched the THAICOM 6 communication satellite today on a Falcon 9 v.1.1....
2013: The Year in Pictures, an addendum
Planetary Society - 7 Jan 2014 23:22
Every year, I write a feature article for the year's final issue of The Planetary Report titled "The Year in Pictures." Because The Planetary Report is a printed product, I have to compose the article before the year has...
Arianespace Reports Slight Loss for 2013, Girds for Busy 2014
Space News - 7 Jan 2014 18:26
Arianespace said it had set aside sufficient reserves to cover most of the loss and will not need to request a fresh cash injection from its shareholders, a group made up mainly of Ariane 5 rocket contractors and CNES.
Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized "Gas Giant"
Universe Today - 7 Jan 2014 03:37
Gas planets aren’t always bloated, monstrous worlds the size of Jupiter or Saturn — or larger — they can also apparently be just barely bigger than Earth. This was the discovery announced earlier today during the 2...
NASA and Smithsonian to Host 10-Year Anniversary Events for Mars Rovers
PTTU - 7 Jan 2014 03:34
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features: NASA and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington are sponsoring events to commemorate 10 years of roving across the Red Planet.
Eye on the Unseen | Space Wallpaper
SPACE.com - 7 Jan 2014 23:51
This space wallpaper is a long-exposure Hubble Space Telescope image of massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The image shows some of the faintest and youngest galaxies ever detected in space.
Storms on 'Failed Stars' Rain Molten Iron
SPACE.com - 7 Jan 2014 23:33
Violent storm clouds and molten iron rain may be common occurrences on the failed stars known as brown dwarfs, new research suggests. Astronomers found changes in brightness that they believe signify the presence of stor...
Hubble unveils a deep sea of small and faint early galaxies
Phys.org - 7 Jan 2014 22:26
(Phys.org) --NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered the long-suspected underlying population of galaxies that produced the bulk of new stars during the universe's early years. They are the smallest, faintest, and mo...
Recently reactivated NASA spacecraft spots its first new asteroid
Phys.org - 7 Jan 2014 22:18
(Phys.org) --NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft has spotted a never-before-seen asteroid--its first such discovery since coming out of hibernation last year.
Fast-Spinning Star Tests Einstein's General Relativity Theory
SPACE.com - 7 Jan 2014 21:50
A fast-spinning star packed tightly with two white dwarf companions may be the best test yet of Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Lift-Off! SpaceX Launches Thaicom 6 Satellite | Video
SPACE.com - 7 Jan 2014 00:59
The commercial space company has launched a second satellite in 2 months aboard an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket. It launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 6th, 2014.
SpaceX Delivers Thaicom-6 Satellite to Orbit
Space News - 7 Jan 2014 00:48
For SpaceX, the Thaicom 6 launch demonstrated the company's ability to return to flight in short order following the successful Dec. 3 launch of Luxembourg-based SES's SES-8 telecommunications satellite.
Hubble's First Frontier Field Finds Unseen, Faraway Galaxies
SpaceRef - 7 Jan 2014 23:57
The first of a set of unprecedented, super-deep views of the universe from an ambitious collaborative program called The Frontier Fields is being released today at the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society i...
The Most Common Exoplanets Might be "Mini-Neptunes"
Universe Today - 7 Jan 2014 22:45
If the dataset from the Kepler mission is any indication, the most common type of exoplanets in our galaxy aren't Earth-sized rocky worlds or hot Jupiters. In fact, the most common type of exoplanet isn't one that we see...
Hubble images become tactile 3-D experience for the blind
Phys.org - 7 Jan 2014 22:30
(Phys.org) --Three-dimensional printers are transforming the business, medical, and consumer landscape by creating a vast variety of objects, including airplane parts, football cleats, lamps, jewelry, and even artificial...
Massive exoplanets may be more earth-like than thought: 'Super-earths' likely to have both oceans and continents
Phys.org - 7 Jan 2014 22:24
(Phys.org) --Massive terrestrial planets, called "super-Earths," are known to be common in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Now a Northwestern University astrophysicist and a University of Chicago geophysicist report the odds ...
X-Flare Exploded From Massive Earth-Facing Sunspot | Video
SPACE.com - 7 Jan 2014 22:24
An X1-class flare erupted from sunspot AR1944 on Jan. 7th, 2014. A geomagnetic storm may affect Earth, possibly resulting in radio interference, or even electrical blackouts. Earlier in the day, a less powerful M-class f...
Hubble's first frontier field finds thousands of unseen, faraway galaxies
Phys.org - 7 Jan 2014 22:22
(Phys.org) --The first of a set of unprecedented, super-deep views of the universe from an ambitious collaborative program called The Frontier Fields is being released today at the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomi...
NASA great observatories team up to discover ultra-bright young galaxies
Phys.org - 7 Jan 2014 22:19
(Phys.org) --NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope joined forces to discover and characterize four unusually bright galaxies as they appeared more than 13 billion years ago, just 500 million years aft...
Stormy stars? Spitzer probes weather on brown dwarfs
Phys.org - 7 Jan 2014 22:16
(Phys.org) --Swirling, stormy clouds may be ever-present on cool celestial orbs called brown dwarfs. New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that most brown dwarfs are roiling with one or more planet...
Super-sensitive Camera Captures a Direct Image of an Exoplanet
Universe Today - 7 Jan 2014 22:10
The world’s newest and most powerful exoplanet imaging instrument, the recently-installed Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) on the 8-meter Gemini South telescope, has captured its first-light infrared image of an exoplanet: B...
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Mission Nears 10-Year Milestone, Oppy Roves On, We Look Back on 2013
Planetary Society - 7 Jan 2014 22:00
Opportunity wrapped a landmark year in December, sending home more evidence of ancient habitable environments at Endeavour Crater as the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission geared up to celebrate an historic milestone ...