Space News
SES Books a SpaceX Falcon Heavy for 2016 Launch
Space News - 20 Feb 2014 14:16
SES said its SES-10 satellite will be built by Airbus Defence and Space and will operate from 67 degrees west, an orbital slot SES gained access to from the Andean Community of Nations in an unusual arrangement with sate...
Opportunity rover Spied atop Martian Mountain Ridge from Orbit - Views from Above and Below
Universe Today - 20 Feb 2014 02:39
NASA's renowned Mars rover Opportunity has been spied anew in a fabulous new photo captured just days ago by NASA's 'Spy in the Sky' orbiter circling overhead the Red Planet. See orbital view above – just released toda...
Real 'Death Star' Fires High-Energy Particle Beam At Sister Star | Video
SPACE.com - 20 Feb 2014 23:51
A rare black widow binary star system consists of one of heaviest neutrons stars (~2X Sun Mass) known and a small companion star (12X Jupiter Mass) in the tightest orbit ever seen. High-energy particles from the former a...
Toy Fair 2014: Winners of Space.com's Space Age Toy Awards
SPACE.com - 20 Feb 2014 23:07
From a build-it-yourself UFO to a robot that can balance a can of soda, 2014's Toy Fair showcased a diverse range of playthings and gadgets for kids of all ages. Here are the winners of Space.com's space-age toy awards.
Spot Huge Asteroid Pallas in the Night Sky This Week
SPACE.com - 20 Feb 2014 22:57
Although asteroids figure large in doomsday predictions, science fiction stories and video games, most stargazers have never actually seen one with their own eyes. This week you will get an opportunity to observe one of ...
Telescope detects rare form of nitrogen in comet ISON
Phys.org - 20 Feb 2014 22:44
A team of astronomers, led by Ph.D. candidate Yoshiharu Shinnaka and Professor Hideyo Kawakita, both from Kyoto Sangyo University, successfully observed the Comet ISON during its bright outburst in the middle of November...
Limits on Binarity of Exoplanet Host Stars
PTTU - 20 Feb 2014 22:36
Gemini Observatory : Figure 1: Gemini DSSI speckle image of HD 168443 at a wavelength of 880 nanometers. Field of view is 2.8" across with north up and east to the left.
X PRIZE Teams Shoot for Milestone Awards en Route to the Moon
Scientific American - 20 Feb 2014 22:15
For the first time, an X PRIZE is offering award money to participants during a competition --
NASA Researcher Finds Planet-Sized Space Weather Explosions at Venus
PTTU - 20 Feb 2014 21:28
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: A common space weather phenomenon on the outskirts of Earth's magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere, has much larger repercussions for Venus, where they can be so large that they're bigge...
NASA Mars Probe Shifts Orbit to Study Early-Morning Fogs and Frosts
SPACE.com - 20 Feb 2014 21:16
A maneuver undertaken by NASA's Odyssey orbiter will allow the craft to begin a systematic study of temperature and atmospheric changes that occur around sunrise and sunset each day.
We 'Hype' Alien World Findings Amid Little Data, Exoplanet Scientist Says
Universe Today - 20 Feb 2014 21:12
With exoplanet discoveries coming at us several times a month, finding these worlds is a hot field of research. Once the planets are found and confirmed, however, there’s a lot more that has to be done to understand th...
How NASA's MAVEN Probe Will Investigate Mars Atmosphere Mystery
SPACE.com - 20 Feb 2014 21:11
Mars' upper atmosphere is swarming with atoms, ions and molecules actively exiting the planet's sphere of influence. That's why NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft is headed there: to discove...
Remote Antarctic Telescope Reveals Gas Cloud Where Stars Are Born
SpaceRef - 20 Feb 2014 20:49
Using a telescope installed at the driest place on Earth -- Ridge A in Antarctica -- a UNSW-led team of researchers has identified a giant gas cloud which appears to be in an early stage of formation....
NASA Time-lapse Video Shows MIRI Installation on Webb Telescope
PTTU - 20 Feb 2014 18:58
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: NASA has released a time-lapse video showing how clean room engineers installed one of the James Webb Space Telescope's instruments.
Asteroid Swarm 'Pounded' Pulsar Star, Causing Changes Visible From Earth
Universe Today - 20 Feb 2014 18:57
When you throw a bunch of rock and debris at a rapidly spinning star, what happens? A new study suggests that so-called pulsar stars change their dizzying spin rate as asteroids fall into the gaseous mass. This conclusio...
Hubble Finds Possible Oldest Object Ever Seen
Scientific American - 20 Feb 2014 18:30Space History Photo: Artist's conception of the deployment of the Advanced Communication Technology Satellite
SPACE.com - 20 Feb 2014 18:26
An artist's conception of the ACTS just after release from the space shuttle's cargo bay in September of 1993.
Colossal Clouds Observed Orbiting Supermassive Black Holes
The Daily Galaxy - 20 Feb 2014 18:16
Astronomers have discovered huge clouds of gas orbiting supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. Once thought to be a relatively uniform, fog-like ring, the accreting matter instead forms clumps dense enough ...
Asteroids Pound A Tiny Star
SpaceRef - 20 Feb 2014 18:15
Scientists using CSIRO's Parkes telescope and another telescope in South Africa have found evidence that a tiny star called PSR J0738-4042 is being pounded by asteroids -- large lumps of rock from space....
GPM's Fairing: Encapsulation Complete
PTTU - 20 Feb 2014 18:15
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: The Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory is scheduled to launch on Feb. 27 (EST) from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Ae...
INCREDIBLE Footage of An Aurora Dancing in Real Time!
Bad Astronomy - 20 Feb 2014 18:11
There's been a lot of aurora activity the past few months, though few big "storms" where the northern lights can be seen even at midlatitudes. But there was a warning of a possible geomagnetic storm around Valentine's Da...
Image: NASA Mars orbiter views Opportunity rover on ridge
Phys.org - 20 Feb 2014 18:10
(Phys.org) --A new image from a telescopic camera orbiting Mars shows NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at work on "Murray Ridge," without any new impact craters nearby.