Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Liquid spacetime

What if spacetime were a kind of fluid? This is the question tackled by theoretical physicists working on quantum gravity by creating models attempting to reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics.

April 23, 2014 Read more

'Upside-down planet' reveals new method for studying binary star systems

What looked at first like a sort of upside-down planet has instead revealed a new method for studying binary star systems, discovered by a University of Washington student astronomer.

April 22, 2014 Read more

Mysteries of a nearby planetary system's dynamics now are solved

Mysteries of one of the most fascinating nearby planetary systems now have been solved. The study presents the first viable model for the planetary system orbiting one the first stars discovered to have planets.

April 22, 2014 Read more

Vitamin B3 might have been made in space, delivered to Earth by meteorites

Ancient Earth might have had an extraterrestrial supply of vitamin B3 delivered by carbon-rich meteorites, according to a new analysis by researchers. The result supports a theory that the origin of life may have been assisted by a supply of key molecules created in space and brought to Earth by comet and meteor impacts.

April 17, 2014 Read more

Bright points in sun's atmosphere mark patterns deep in its interior

Like a balloon bobbing along in the air while tied to a child's hand, a tracer has been found in the sun's atmosphere to help track the flow of material coursing underneath the sun's surface.

April 17, 2014 Read more

Kepler telescope discovers first Earth-size planet in 'habitable zone'

Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the 'habitable zone' - the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun.

April 17, 2014 Read more

Meteorites yield clues to red planet's early atmosphere

Geologists analyzed 40 meteorites that fell to Earth from Mars to understand the history of the Martian atmosphere. They show the atmospheres of Mars and Earth diverged in important ways early in the solar system's 4.6 billion year evolution.

April 17, 2014 Read more

A study in scarlet

This new image from ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile reveals a cloud of hydrogen called Gum 41. In the middle of this little-known nebula, brilliant hot young stars are giving off energetic radiation that causes the surrounding hydrogen to glow with a characteristic red hue.

April 16, 2014 Read more

Astronomers: 'Tilt-a-worlds' could harbor life

A fluctuating tilt in a planet's orbit does not preclude the possibility of life, according to new research. In fact, sometimes it helps.

April 15, 2014 Read more

Telescope apps help amateurs hunt for exoplanets

People around the world are being invited to learn how to hunt for planets, using two new online apps devised by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin and UC Santa Cruz.

April 15, 2014 Read more

Pushy neighbors force stellar twins to diverge

Much like an environment influences people, so too do cosmic communities affect even giant dazzling stars: Peering deep into the Milky Way galaxy's center from a high-flying observatory, astronomers have discovered identical, rare stars whose diverging dusty and gaseous garb are strictly influenced by an intrusive cluster of neighbors.

April 14, 2014 Read more

Cassini images may reveal birth of new Saturn moon

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to the formation of the planet's known moons.

April 14, 2014 Read more

Cosmic slurp

Researchers use supercomputers to understand and predict signs of black holes swallowing stars.

April 14, 2014 Read more

Recipe for star formation

Researchers develop a model to reconstruct spatial structure of molecule clouds.

April 10, 2014 Read more

Hubble extends stellar tape measure 10 times farther into space

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers now can precisely measure the distance of stars up to 10,000 light-years away - 10 times farther than previously possible.

April 10, 2014 Read more

Gusev Crater once held a lake after all, says Mars scientist

Evidence for an ancient Lake Gusev on Mars has come and gone several times. That lake is looking pretty good today, thanks to new research.

April 10, 2014 Read more

NASA is seeking proposals for the development of new energy storage technologies

NASA is seeking proposals for the development of new, more capable, energy storage technologies to replace the battery technology that has long powered America's space program.

April 9, 2014 Read more

Chance meeting creates celestial diamond ring

Created when an aging star blew off its outer layers, planetary nebula PN A66 33 is, by chance, aligned with a foreground star, and bears an uncanny resemblance to a diamond engagement ring. This cosmic gem is unusually symmetric, appearing to be almost circular on the sky.

April 9, 2014 Read more