Space News
Rosetta Spacecraft Spots 'Pyramid' Boulder on Comet (Photos)
SPACE.com - 13 Oct 2014 23:22
Rosetta team members have named the 82-foot-tall boulder on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko "Cheops," after the largest pyramid in Egypt's famous Giza complex.
NASA Inaugurates New Space Station Era as Earth Science Observation Platform with RapidScat Instrument
Universe Today - 13 Oct 2014 02:29
NASA inaugurated a new era of research for the International Space Station (ISS) as an Earth observation platform following the successful installation and activation of the ISS-RapidScat science instrument on the outpos...
Someplace Like Home? Hunting for Life-Supporting Worlds
SPACE.com - 13 Oct 2014 23:22
A recently discovered planet-like star may offer insight into which of the thousands of planets so far discovered in the universe could support life.
Get Ready for the Fireballs of October
Universe Today - 13 Oct 2014 21:55
On October 31st 2005, trick-or-treaters across the central U.S. eastern seaboard were treated to a brilliant fireball, a celestial spectacle that frequently graces October skies.(...)Read the rest of Get Ready for the Fi...
A New Look at Dark Matter -- Is the Milky Way Less of a Behemoth Than Previously Thought?
Universe Today - 13 Oct 2014 21:18
Astronomy is notorious for raising more questions than it answers. Take the observation that the vast majority of matter is invisible. Although astronomers have gathered overwhelming evidence that dark matter makes up ro...
NASA Contest Will Let You Name a Space Station Droid
SPACE.com - 13 Oct 2014 21:14
NASA needs your help to name a new robot, and you could win some money doing it.
Were Lunar Volcanoes Active When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth?
Universe Today - 13 Oct 2014 19:17
The Moon’s a very dusty museum where the exhibits haven’t changed much over the last 4 billion years. Or so we thought. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has provided researchers strong evidence the Moon's vo...
Britain's "Best Loved Psychic" and the Very Definition of Irony
Bad Astronomy - 13 Oct 2014 19:17
File this under "Too Ironic to Describe Without Making Your Head Asplode": Briefly, Sally Morgan is a self-proclaimed "psychic" who says she can to talk to the dead, and so on. However, reports on her readings make me ex...
Search for Mars Life Starts on Earth
SPACE.com - 13 Oct 2014 19:05
Frigid lakes bombarded by UV radiation and boiling, acidic springs are some of the otherworldly Earth environments where scientists plan to hunt for clues to life on Mars.
Former NASA Deputy Administrator to Join FAA Commercial Space Office
Space News - 13 Oct 2014 18:27
Shana Dale is starting a similar position at the Federal Aviation Administration's commercial space office in November.
MESSENGER's View of Lunar Eclipse
SpaceRef - 13 Oct 2014 17:16
As millions of people observed the total lunar eclipse on October 8, MESSENGER was also watching....
Bigelow Inflatable Module to be Added to Space Station in 2015
Universe Today - 13 Oct 2014 17:13
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are going to be getting an addition in the near future, and in the form of an inflatable room no less. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is the first privatel...
The Look of a Young Mars
SpaceRef - 13 Oct 2014 16:39
This artist's concept depicts the early Martian environment (left) - believed to contain liquid water and a thicker atmosphere - versus the cold, dry environment seen at Mars today (right)....
The Death Throes of NGC 6302
SpaceRef - 13 Oct 2014 16:35
Many celestial objects are beautiful - swirling spiral galaxies or glittering clusters of stars are notable examples....
Europa CubeSat Proposals Selected for Study
SpaceRef - 13 Oct 2014 16:33
NASA has chosen proposals from 10 universities to study CubeSat concepts that could enhance a Europa mission concept currently under study by NASA....
New optical device designed to measure gravitational pull of a planet should speed the search for Earth-like exoplanets
Phys.org - 13 Oct 2014 16:20
Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venus--that familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.
Watch the "blood moon" eclipse from Mercury (w/ Video)
Phys.org - 13 Oct 2014 16:00
Yes, it's another time-lapse of the October 8 lunar eclipse that was observed by skywatchers across half the Earth... except that these images weren't captured from Earth at all; this was the view from Mercury!
Move Over Rover: Snakebot Slithers Like a Sidewinder [Video]
Scientific American - 13 Oct 2014 16:00
Careful study of desert-dwelling snake mobility sheds light on the physics of crossing sandy surfaces --
New ceramic bonding technique promises rigid composite structures
Phys.org - 13 Oct 2014 15:50
A new ultrastable adhesive identified through ESA research could be a key to assembling rock-solid structures for space, including large telescopes, instruments and antennas to peer deeper into the cosmos or sharpen view...
Image: Hubble captures the Butterfly Nebula
Phys.org - 13 Oct 2014 15:20
Many celestial objects are beautiful - swirling spiral galaxies or glittering clusters of stars are notable examples. But some of the most striking scenes are created during the death throes of intermediate-mass stars, w...
Violent eruptions in Mercury's past could hold clues to its formation
Phys.org - 13 Oct 2014 15:20
Volcanoes on Mercury may have been more explosive than previously anticipated, and they may have erupted more recently, as well.
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 10 October 2014
SpaceRef - 13 Oct 2014 15:19
Today: Zebrafish Muscle: Gerst performed the water quality measurement of aquarium water. This experiment asks if the atrophy of muscles under the condition of microgravity also occurs in zebrafish and why their atrophy ...