Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Gas cloud in the galactic centre

Researchers discover that two clouds belong to the same complex.

November 25, 2014 Read more

NASA opens Cube Quest Challenge for largest-ever prize of $5 million

Competitors have a shot at a share of $5 million in prize money and an opportunity to participate in space exploration and technology development, to include a chance at flying their very own CubeSat to the moon and beyond as secondary payload on the first integrated flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

November 25, 2014 Read more

It's filamentary: How galaxies evolve in the cosmic web

How do galaxies like our Milky Way form, and just how do they evolve? Are galaxies affected by their surrounding environment? An international team of researchers proposes some answers. The researchers highlight the role of the 'cosmic web' on the evolution of galaxies that took place in the distant universe, a few billion years after the Big Bang.

November 21, 2014 Read more

Philae's triple play

A short but significant 'thud' was heard by the Cometary Acoustic Surface Sounding Experiment (CASSE) as Philae made its first touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The two-second recording from space is the very first of the contact between a man-made object with a comet upon landing.

November 21, 2014 Read more

How to estimate the magnetic field of an exoplanet?

Scientists developed a new method which allows to estimate the magnetic field of a distant exoplanet, i.e., a planet, which is located outside the Solar system and orbits a different star.

November 20, 2014 Read more

Unravelling the mystery of gamma-ray bursts

A team of scientists hope to trace the origins of gamma-ray bursts with the aid of giant space 'microphones.' Researchers are trying to work out the possible sounds scientists might expect to hear when the ultra-sensitive LIGO and Virgo detectors are switched on in 2015.

November 20, 2014 Read more

A jettisoned black hole?

Astronomers have discovered an object in space that might be a black hole catapulted out of a galaxy. Or, according to an alternative interpretation, it might be a giant star that is exploding over an exceptionally long period of several decades. In any case, one thing is certain: This mysterious object is something quite unique, a source of fascination for physicists the world over because of its potential to provide experimental confirmation of the much-discussed gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein.

November 19, 2014 Read more

Spooky alignment of quasars across billions of light-years

Observations with ESO's Very Large Telescope have revealed alignments over the largest structures ever discovered in the universe. A research team has found that the rotation axes of the central supermassive black holes in a sample of quasars are parallel to each other over distances of billions of light-years. Also found was that the rotation axes of these quasars tend to be aligned with the structures in the cosmic web in which they reside.

November 19, 2014 Read more

Physicists suggest new way to detect dark matter

For years physicists have been looking for the universe's elusive dark matter, but so far no one has seen any trace of it. Maybe we are looking in the wrong place? Now physicists from University of Southern Denmark propose a new technique to detect dark matter.

November 18, 2014 Read more

Gravity may have saved the universe after the Big Bang, say researchers

New research by a team of European physicists could explain why the universe did not collapse immediately after the Big Bang.

November 18, 2014 Read more

Research suggests warmth, flowing water on early Mars were episodic

There is ample evidence that water once flowed on the surface of ancient Mars. But that evidence is difficult to reconcile with the latest generation of climate models that suggest Mars should have been eternally icy. A new study suggest that warming and water flow on Mars were probably episodic and related to ancient volcanic eruptions.

November 17, 2014 Read more

Hiding in plain sight: Elusive dark matter may be detected with GPS satellites

The everyday use of a GPS device might be to find your way around town or even navigate a hiking trail, but for two physicists, the Global Positioning System might be a tool in directly detecting and measuring dark matter, so far an elusive but ubiquitous form of matter responsible for the formation of galaxies.

November 17, 2014 Read more

Mission to discover hundreds of black holes could unlock secrets of the Universe

When two detectors are switched on in the US next year, researchers hope their research will help pick up the faint ripples of black hole collisions millions of years ago, known as gravitational waves.

November 14, 2014 Read more

Galaxy evolution: Caught in the act

One of the mysteries of the Universe is the question of how all the galaxies we see around us came to be. Astronomers have now uncovered new insights into the processes that have shaped galaxies, using the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory telescope.

November 14, 2014 Read more

Pulling together the early solar system

New study finds that a strong magnetic field whipped the early solar system into shape.

November 14, 2014 Read more

The answer is blowing in the intergalactic wind

Astronomers have provided the first direct evidence that an intergalactic 'wind' is stripping galaxies of star-forming gas as they fall into clusters of galaxies. The observations help explain why galaxies found in clusters are known to have relatively little gas and less star formation when compared to non-cluster or 'field' galaxies.

November 13, 2014 Read more

Is there organic matter on Mars?

Chloromethane discovered on the Red Planet possibly comes from the Martian soil - meteorites probably provided its carbon and hydrogen.

November 13, 2014 Read more

Explainer: why Rosetta comet mission is such a big deal (w/video)

The first attempted landing on the surface of a comet is a huge landmark in the history of space exploration that will not only uncover further details about comets but could unlock further clues about the origins of our solar system and the development of life on Earth.

November 12, 2014 Read more