Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

'Gravity'-style space debris threat from giant satellite explored in student paper

Physics students at the University of Leicester have pointed out that the huge observational satellite Envisat - which lost contact with Earth in 2012 - could potentially pose a threat similar to the events which plague Sandra Bullock in the Oscar-nominated sci-fi thriller Gravity.

February 19, 2014 Read more

Diamonds in the tail of the scorpion

A new image from ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile shows the bright star cluster Messier 7. Easily spotted with the naked eye close to the tail of the constellation of Scorpius, it is one of the most prominent open clusters of stars in the sky - making it an important astronomical research target.

February 19, 2014 Read more

Rife with hype, exoplanet study needs patience and refinement

collected, and most of these data are of 'marginal utility,' according to a review of exoplanet research by a Princeton University astrophysicist. The dominant methods for studying exoplanet atmospheres are not intended for planets trillions of miles from Earth. Instead, the future of exoplanet study should focus on the more difficult but comprehensive method of spectrometry.

February 18, 2014 Read more

Chandra sees runaway pulsar firing an extraordinary jet

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has seen a fast-moving pulsar escaping from a supernova remnant while spewing out a record-breaking jet - the longest of any object in the Milky Way galaxy - of high-energy particles.

February 18, 2014 Read more

Hubble watches stars' clockwork motion In nearby galaxy

Using the sharp-eyed NASA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have for the first time precisely measured the rotation rate of a galaxy based on the clock-like movement of its stars.

February 18, 2014 Read more

When a black hole shreds a star, a bright flare tells the story (w/video)

A new study explains what happens during the disruption of a normal sun-like star by a supermassive black hole. The study shows why observers might fail to see evidence of the hydrogen in the star, casting doubt on a 2012 report of the disruption of an exotic helium star.

February 18, 2014 Read more

Ancient gas-rich galaxies found in cosmic crib

Squinting close to the beginning of time, astronomers have discovered an association of gas-rich galaxies near the infancy of cosmic time. It's an early epoch - some 12.7 billion years ago - telling a tale that revolves around an exceptionally dusty galaxy called AzTEC-3.

February 17, 2014 Read more

Scientists reveal cosmic roadmap to galactic magnetic field

Scientists on NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission, including a team leader from the University of New Hampshire, report that recent, independent measurements have validated one of the mission's signature findings - a mysterious 'ribbon' of energy and particles at the edge of our solar system that appears to be a directional 'roadmap in the sky' of the local interstellar magnetic field.

February 13, 2014 Read more

Source of 'moon curse' revealed by eclipse

Signals bounced off reflectors on the lunar surface return surprisingly faint echoes on full moon nights. Scientists think it's the result of uneven heating of the reflective lenses, which would alter their refractive index, dispersing the return beam, and they found compelling evidence for this explanation during an eclipse as Earth's shadow passed over each reflector in turn.

February 11, 2014 Read more

NASA captures 360 degree views of dancing lights of Saturn (w/video)

'Glamorous' images of the dancing lights around Saturn have been captured in greater detail than ever before, thanks to two NASA spacecraft.

February 11, 2014 Read more

Flowing water on Mars appears likely but hard to prove

Martian experts have known since 2011 that mysterious, possibly water-related streaks appear and disappear on the planet's surface.

February 10, 2014 Read more

Massive neutrinos solve a cosmological conundrum

Scientists have solved a major problem with the current standard model of cosmology identified by combining results from the Planck spacecraft and measurements of gravitational lensing in order to deduce the mass of ghostly sub-atomic particles called neutrinos.

February 10, 2014 Read more

WASP gives NASA's planetary scientists new observation platform

Scientists who study Earth, the sun and stars have long used high-altitude scientific balloons to carry their telescopes far into the stratosphere for a better view of their targets. Not so much for planetary scientists. That's because they needed a highly stable, off-the-shelf-type system that could accurately point their instruments and then track planetary targets as they moved in the solar system. That device now exists.

February 8, 2014 Read more

Red skies discovered on extreme brown dwarf

A peculiar example of a celestial body, known as a brown dwarf, with unusually red skies has been discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hertfordshire's Centre for Astrophysics Research.

February 6, 2014 Read more

Heavy metal in the early cosmos

Using the Stampede, Lonestar and Ranger supercomputers, University of Texas researchers simulated the formation of the Universe from the Big Bang through the first few hundred million years of its existence. The researchers found that more realistic models of supernova blasts help explain the range of metalicity found in different galaxies. The results of the simulations will assist in guiding the James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in 2018.

February 5, 2014 Read more

New study finds early universe 'warmed up' later than previously believed

A new study reveals that black holes, formed from the first stars in our universe, heated the gas throughout space later than previously thought. They also imprinted a clear signature in radio waves which astronomers can now search for. The study is a major new finding about the origins of the universe.

February 5, 2014 Read more

Solving a 30-year-old problem in high mass star formation

Some 30 years ago, astronomers found that regions of ionized gas around young high mass stars remain small (under a third of a light-year) for ten times longer than they should if they were to expand as expected in simple models. Recent supercomputer simulations predicted that these regions actually flicker in brightness over this period rather than grow continuously.

February 5, 2014 Read more

The anatomy of an asteroid

ESO's New Technology Telescope has been used to find the first evidence that asteroids can have a highly varied internal structure. By making measurements astronomers have found that different parts of the asteroid Itokawa have different densities. As well as revealing secrets about the asteroid's formation, finding out what lies below the surface may also shed light on what happens when bodies collide in the Solar System, and provide clues about how planets form.

February 5, 2014 Read more