Space News
Space-earth system produces highest-resolution astronomical image
Phys.org - 27 Jan 2016 00:55
Using an orbiting radio-astronomy satellite combined with 15 ground-based radio telescopes, astronomers have made the highest-resolution, or most-detailed, astronomical image yet, revealing new insights about a gorging b...
Ceres: Keeping well-guarded secrets for 215 years
Phys.org - 27 Jan 2016 00:51
New Year's Day, 1801, the dawn of the 19th century, was a historic moment for astronomy, and for a space mission called Dawn more than 200 years later. That night, Giuseppe Piazzi pointed his telescope at the sky and obs...
Astronomy Cast Ep. 400: State of the Universe
Universe Today - 27 Jan 2016 00:05
It’s time for us to go back and catch up with all of the projects, news stories, weird star systems, and other topics that we need updates on! Visit the Astronomy Cast Page to subscribe to the audio podcast! We record ...
Boeing, ASRC win latest U.S. Air Force rocket technology research contracts
Space News - 26 Jan 2016 23:00
The U.S. Air Force has awarded its largest research contract yet - a $6.1 million deal for Boeing - as part of a broader effort to end reliance on a Russian rocket engine. SpaceNews.com
Ceres: Keeping Well-Guarded Secrets for 215 Years
PTTU - 26 Jan 2016 21:22
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features:
A City of Stars
Bad Astronomy - 26 Jan 2016 20:45
My love of globular clusters is on record. Of all the objects in the deep sky--that is, outside our solar system--they are the ones that, through a telescope, look most like what they're supposed to look like. Nebulae ar...
Rogue Planet Finds Home in Biggest Solar System Ever Seen
SPACE.com - 26 Jan 2016 20:35
A huge alien world orbits 600 billion miles (1 trillion kilometers) from its host star, making its planetary system the most widely separated one known, a new study reports. The alien planet takes about 900,000 years to ...
Galaxy Cluster Links to Dark Matter Halos --"The Biggest, Most Mysterious Building Blocks of the Universe"
The Daily Galaxy - 26 Jan 2016 19:56
Galaxy clusters are the biggest celestial objects in the sky consisting of thousands of galaxies. They form from nonuniformity in the matter distribution established by cosmic inflation in the beginning of the Universe. ...
Star Wars: History and Legacy on Space Exploration
SPACE.com - 26 Jan 2016 19:48
A long time ago -- roughly four decades -- the world was introduced to Jedi knights, lightsabers, droids and the Force. Before long, elements of the space fantasy had an effect on real-life space technology.
Superfast "Cannonball" Star Likely Blasted from Supernova
Scientific American - 26 Jan 2016 19:00
Rocketing along at more than 960,000 miles per hour, the rare star is stained in mysterious carbon --
Russian volunteer programmers help to find mysterious black holes
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 18:50
The term "black hole" was first used in the mid-20th century by theoretical physicist John Wheeler. This term denotes relativistic supermassive objects that are invisible in all electromagnetic waves, but a great number ...
Integral X-rays Earth's aurora
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 18:40
Normally busy with observing high-energy black holes, supernovas and neutron stars, ESA's Integral space observatory recently had the chance to look back at our own planet's aurora.
Searching for orbiting companion stars
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 18:20
The search for exoplanets via the radial velocity technique has been underway for nearly 30 years. The method searches for wobbles in a star's motion caused by the presence of orbiting bodies. It has been very successful...
NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 25 January 2016
SpaceRef - 26 Jan 2016 18:11
The Expedition 46 crew brought out a pair of tiny satellites today so students can compete for the best algorithm in an ongoing competition. The crew also checked spacesuits, transferred cargo and worked on lab maintenan...
Astronomers find six new millisecond pulsars
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 17:50
(Phys.org)--NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has once again proven that it is an excellent tool to search for rotating neutron stars emitting beams of electromagnetic radiation, known as pulsars. A team of astronom...
NASA counting on humanoid robots in deep space exploration
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 17:10
As humanity moves forward with space exploration, we should prepare for risky and extremely hazardous endeavors such as manned missions to Mars and asteroids. Having fully operational robotic help ready to assist in ever...
Mars rover Opportunity busy through depth of winter
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 17:10
NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, worked through the lowest-solar-energy days of the mission's seventh Martian winter, while using a diamond-toothed rock grinder and other tools in recent weeks to investigate clues ...
Cassini heads for 'higher ground' at Saturn
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 17:10
NASA's Cassini mission is entering its next chapter with an orbital choreography meant to tilt the spacecraft's orbit out of Saturn's ringplane.
Measuring the acceleration of the universe with the Euclid spacecraft
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 17:00
Dark matter and dark energy are two of the greatest mysteries of the universe, still perplexing scientists worldwide. Solving these scientific conundrums may require a comprehensive approach in which theories, computatio...
One trillion kilometres apart--a lonely planet and its distant star
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 16:49
A team of astronomers in the UK, USA and Australia have found a lonely planet, until now thought to be a free floating or lonely planet, in a huge orbit around its star. Incredibly the object, designated as 2MASS J2126, ...
The Right Stuff, Online: Space Agency Crowdsources Astronaut Test
SPACE.com - 26 Jan 2016 16:42
A new website lets the public take an online version of an astronaut-selection test, which the European Space Agency (ESA) will use to refine the way it chooses astronaut candidates.
Image: A half-Enceladus
Phys.org - 26 Jan 2016 16:38
This half-lit view of Enceladus bears a passing resemblance to similar views of Earth's own natural satellite, but the similarities end there. Earth's rocky moon is covered in dark, volcanic basins and brighter, mountain...