Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

MicroObservatory catches comet ISON

Comet ISON recently brightened and is currently visible with telescopes or binoculars in the constellation Virgo. Today the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is releasing new images of ISON obtained with the MicroObservatory robotic telescope system.

November 18, 2013 Read more

Evidence found for granite on Mars

Researchers now have stronger evidence of granite on Mars and a new theory for how the granite - an igneous rock common on Earth - could have formed there, according to a new study. The findings suggest a much more geologically complex Mars than previously believed.

November 18, 2013 Read more

Scientists document, quantify deep-space radiation hazards

Scientists from the University of New Hampshire and colleagues have published comprehensive findings on space-based radiation as measured by a UNH-led detector aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The data provide critical information on the radiation hazards that will be faced by astronauts on extended missions to deep space such as those to Mars.

November 18, 2013 Read more

Research programme to tackle asteroid and space debris manipulation

World-leading scientists will push the boundaries of studies on how to deflect asteroids and manipulate space debris, as the University of Strathclyde gets set to transform international space research.

November 18, 2013 Read more

Researchers develop algorithm to identify individual grains of Mars soil

The algorithm uses a variety of image processing steps to segment the image, first into coarser (foreground) and finer (background) grains. The image is then further segmented until most grains are outlined. The code processes a single image within 1 to 5 minutes.

November 15, 2013 Read more

Variation of halogens in martian soil calls for an atmosphere-surface cycle

Researchers assessed the details of halogen variability and an unusual process that may influence it. The group investigated the potential for an existing halogen cycle on Mars, which would alter the current paradigm of halogens distributed mostly by water-related processes.

November 15, 2013 Read more

Rescuing the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA crewmembers reflect on the most complex space repair in history.

November 15, 2013 Read more

Hubble views an old and mysterious cluster

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best ever image of the globular cluster Messier 15, a gathering of very old stars that orbits the center of the Milky Way. This glittering cluster contains over 100 000 stars, and could also hide a rare type of black hole at its center.

November 14, 2013 Read more

Surprising image provides new tool for studying galaxy

A new, detailed radio image showed that what astronomers thought was one galaxy actually is two, superimposed on the sky. The alignment allows using the farther one as an unexpected tool for studying the foreground galaxy.

November 14, 2013 Read more

Hubble reveals first scrapbook pictures of Milky Way's formative years

The Hubble Space Telescope has provided the first visual evidence showing how our home galaxy, the Milky Way, assembled itself into the majestic pinwheel of stars we see today. Perusing Hubble's deep-sky surveys, astronomers traced 400 galaxies similar to our Milky Way at various stages of construction over a time span of 11 billion years.

November 14, 2013 Read more

New theoretical models aid the search for Earth-like planets

Researchers from Bern have developed a method to simplify the search for Earth-like planets: By using new theoretical models they rule out the possibility of Earth-like conditions, and therefore life, on certain planets outside our solar system - and limit their search by doing so.

November 14, 2013 Read more

Black hole jets pack a powerful punch

High-speed 'jets' spat out by black holes pack a lot of power because they contain heavy atoms, astronomers have found.

November 13, 2013 Read more

Young stars paint spectacular stellar landscape

Astronomers at ESO have captured the best image so far of the clouds around the star cluster NGC 3572. This image shows how these clouds of gas and dust have been sculpted into bubbles, arcs and the odd features known as elephant trunks by the stellar winds flowing from this gathering of hot stars. The brightest of these cluster stars are much heavier than the Sun and will end their short lives as supernova explosions.

November 13, 2013 Read more

Electron beams and radio signals from the surface of the Sun

The sun emits light, but it also emits particle beams. A scientist at the Swedish Insitute of Space Physics (IRF) in Uppsala has revealed how these beams generate radio waves.

November 13, 2013 Read more

Cassini spacecraft provides new view of Saturn and Earth

NASA has released a natural color image of Saturn from space, the first in which Saturn, its moons and rings, and Earth, Venus and Mars, all are visible.

November 12, 2013 Read more

Cosmic oddball

P/2013 P5 is an atypical asteroid which rotates so rapidly that it loses mass and thus forms several tails.

November 12, 2013 Read more

Indian Mars mission beats neighbours, sniffs for methane

Last Tuesday the Indian space agency launched a mission to Mars. Its goal is to place a satellite into orbit around that planet.

November 12, 2013 Read more

Mission to Mars moon could be a sample-return twofer, study suggests

Brown researchers have helped to confirm the idea that the surface of Phobos contains tons of dust, soil, and rock blown off the Martian surface by large projectile impacts. That means a sample-return mission planned by the Russian space agency could sample two celestial bodies for the price of one.

November 11, 2013 Read more