Space News
Lunar Orbiter Takes a Meteorite Strike Right in the Camera
Universe Today - 30 May 2017 07:31
On October 13th, 2014, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) experienced something rare and unexpected. While monitoring the surface of the Moon, the LRO’s main instrument – the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (...
Ravenous Supermassive Black Holes May Sterilize Nearby Planets
Scientific American - 30 May 2017 16:00
A new study sheds light on how damaging black holes can be to the habitability of planets throughout the Milky Way and the universe --
Cassini finds Saturn's moon Enceladus may have tipped over
Phys.org - 31 May 2017 01:54
Saturn's icy, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus may have tipped over in the distant past, according to recent research from NASA's Cassini mission. Researchers with the mission found evidence that the moon's spin axis--the li...
Commercial crew vehicles may fall short of safety threshold
Space News - 31 May 2017 01:05
The two companies developing commercial crew vehicles for NASA may not be able to meet a safety threshold specified in their contracts, an agency safety panel found. SpaceNews.com
Construction Begins on the Next Super Telescope
Universe Today - 30 May 2017 23:43
Great progress is being made on the European Extremely Large Telescope. Construction of the dome and the main telescope was marked by the "First Stone" ceremony held at the telescope's site in Chile. The post Constructio...
High-Silica 'Halos' Shed Light on Wet Ancient Mars
PTTU - 30 May 2017 23:00
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features: Pale "halos" around fractures in bedrock analyzed by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover contain copious silica, indicating that ancient Mars had liquid water for a long time.
Some Astronomers Suggest: "A Strange, Unknown Supermassive Object May Exist At The Heart of Almost All Galaxies"
The Daily Galaxy - 30 May 2017 22:52
Supermassive black holes are thought to lie at the heart of almost all galaxies. But some theorists suggest that there's something else there instead--not a black hole, but an even stranger supermassive object that has s...
Super-Earth Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of a Nearby Star
Universe Today - 30 May 2017 22:43
A study produced by an international team of researchers, using the HARPS-N survey, has detected a potentially habitable super-Earth just 21 light years away. The post Super-Earth Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of a ...
Earth is a jewel, says astronaut after six months away
Phys.org - 30 May 2017 21:10
Observing Earth from 400 kilometres (250 miles) away has made astronaut Thomas Pesquet aware of the planet's fragility as never before, he told AFP from the International Space Station days before heading home.
Mars Curiosity-Mission Gale Crater Discovery --"Once Harbored a Lake with Drinkable Water"
The Daily Galaxy - 30 May 2017 20:35
"Gale crater once held a lake with water that we would even have been able to drink, but we still don't know how long this habitable environment" endured, said Jens Frydenvang, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laborato...
NASA's 'Webb-cam' captures engineers at work on Webb at Johnson Space Center
Phys.org - 30 May 2017 20:05
NASA's special "Webb-cam" kept an eye on the development of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, since 2012. Now that Webb telescope has moved to NASA's Johnson ...
TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanet System: In Piano Notes and Drum Beats (Video)
SPACE.com - 30 May 2017 20:05'Halos' discovered on Mars widen time frame for potential life
Phys.org - 30 May 2017 20:00
Lighter-toned bedrock that surrounds fractures and comprises high concentrations of silica--called "halos"--has been found in Gale crater on Mars, indicating that the planet had liquid water much longer than previously b...
NASA team takes on a new optical challenge--the Lyman Alpha Limit
Phys.org - 30 May 2017 19:52
NASA technologists produced telescope mirrors with the highest reflectance ever reported in the far-ultraviolet spectral range. Now, they're attempting to set another record.
SpaceX conducts static-fire test ahead of its next Falcon 9 launch; a small wildfire near pad
Space News - 30 May 2017 19:25
SpaceX said the test was a success, setting the stage for a launch late Thursday of a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. SpaceNews.com
Do Stars Fall Quietly into Black Holes, or Crash into Something Utterly Unknown?
PTTU - 30 May 2017 19:11
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University have put a basic principle of black holes to the test, showing that matter completely vanishes when pul...
NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 29 May 2017 - Crew Cardio Ox Ultrasound
SpaceRef - 30 May 2017 19:02
Today - Cardio Ox Ultrasound: A 50S crewmember completed their Flight Day (FD) 180 ultrasound, blood pressure and Electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements for the Cardio Ox investigation....
Do stars fall quietly into black holes, or crash into something utterly unknown?
Phys.org - 30 May 2017 19:00
Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University have put a basic principle of black holes to the test, showing that matter completely vanishes when pulled in. Their results constitute another succ...
Laika the Dog & the First Animals in Space
SPACE.com - 30 May 2017 18:39Solar Eclipse Science Helps Prove Einstein's Relativity Theory in Nat Geo's 'Genius'
SPACE.com - 30 May 2017 18:35Astronomers detect 22 new cataclysmic variables in globular cluster 47 Tucanae
Phys.org - 30 May 2017 17:10
(Phys.org)--An international team of astronomers led by Liliana Rivera Sandoval of the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, has found 22 new cataclysmic variable stars in a globular cluster known as 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc f...
Using the Sun as a Cosmic Telescope
Scientific American - 30 May 2017 17:00
Astronomers want to harness itsspacetime-warping gravity as a lens toimage the surface of exoplanets in astonishing detail --