Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Researchers model birth of universe in one of largest cosmological simulations ever run

The simulation, run on the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, modeled the evolution of the universe from just 50 million years after the Big Bang to the present day - from its earliest infancy to its current adulthood.

October 30, 2015 Read more

Spirals in dust around young stars may betray presence of massive planets

A team of astronomers is proposing that huge spiral patterns seen around some newborn stars, merely a few million years old, may be evidence for the presence of giant unseen planets. This idea not only opens the door to a new method of planet detection, but also could offer a look into the early formative years of planet birth.

October 30, 2015 Read more

Preparing for extreme space weather

A newly published National Space Weather Strategy identifies high-level priorities and goals for the nation, while an accompanying Action Plan outlines how federal agencies will implement the strategy.

October 29, 2015 Read more

VISTA discovers new component of Milky Way

The Vista Variables in the Via Lactea Survey (VVV) ESO public survey is using the VISTA telescope at the Paranal Observatory to take multiple images at different times of the central parts of the galaxy at infrared wavelengths. It is discovering huge numbers of new objects, including variable stars, clusters and exploding stars.

October 28, 2015 Read more

Wall-less Hall thruster may power future deep space missions

Scientists have experimentally optimized the operation of the first wall-less Hall thruster prototype, a novel electric rocket engine design suitable for long-duration, deep space missions.

October 27, 2015 Read more

Artificial intelligence finds messy galaxies

An astrophysics student has turned to artificial intelligence to help her to see into the hearts of galaxies.

October 27, 2015 Read more

Scaling the universe

Some of the most intractable scientific problems involve natural and physical processes that span many scales and disciplines, from atoms to organs, and from quarks to galaxies. Developing coherent theories that can describe these fundamental phenomena will be crucial to understanding the origins of the Universe and life on Earth. Researchers are inventing solutions to link the vast with the tiny.

October 23, 2015 Read more

Milky Way photo with 46 billion pixels

Astronomers compile the largest astronomical image of all time. In order to view it, researchers have provided an online tool. The image contains data gathered in astronomical observations over a period of five years.

October 21, 2015 Read more

Dust particles from outer space

Researchers have analyzed the Ulysses interstellar dust measurements.

October 21, 2015 Read more

To save on weight, a detour to the moon is the best route to Mars

For a piloted mission to Mars, fueling up on the moon could streamline cargo by 68 percent.

October 15, 2015 Read more

Young stars' flickering light reveals remarkable link with matter-eating black holes

An international team of astronomers has discovered a previously unknown link between the way young stars grow and the way black holes and other exotic space objects feed from their surroundings.

October 13, 2015 Read more

Mysterious ripples found racing through planet-forming disk

Astronomers have discovered never-before-seen structures within a dusty disc surrounding a nearby star. The fast-moving wave-like features in the disc of the star AU Microscopii are unlike anything ever observed, or even predicted, before now. The origin and nature of these features present a new mystery for astronomers to explore.

October 7, 2015 Read more

Where to look for life? Astronomers devise 'habitability index' to guide future search

Astronomers have created a way to compare and rank exoplanets to help prioritize which of the thousands discovered warrant close inspection in the search for life beyond Earth.

October 6, 2015 Read more

Researchers find a new way to weigh a star

Researchers have developed a new method for measuring the mass of pulsars - highly magnetised rotating neutron stars formed from the remains of massive stars after they explode into supernovae.

October 5, 2015 Read more

Dwarf planet Ceres - new name, new maps, new questions

Ceres continues to fascinate researchers; in particular, the dwarf planet's surface repeatedly raises new questions.

October 1, 2015 Read more

Hubble zooms in on shrapnel from an exploded star

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago.

September 24, 2015 Read more

New theory of stealth dark matter may explain universe's missing mass

Scientists have come up with a new theory that may identify why dark matter has evaded direct detection in Earth-based experiments.

September 24, 2015 Read more

Hot, dense material surrounds O-type star with largest magnetic field known

Observations using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed that the unusually large magnetosphere around an O-type star called NGC 1624-2 contains a raging storm of extreme stellar winds and dense plasma that gobbles up X-rays before they can escape into space.

September 23, 2015 Read more