Physical constant passes the alcohol test
Fundamental properties of molecules have not changed during the past seven billion years.
Dec 14th, 2012
Read more
Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines
Subscribe to our Space Exploration News feed
Study reveals a remarkable symmetry in black hole jets
A new study using data from NASA's Swift satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope shows that high-speed jets launched from active black holes possess fundamental similarities regardless of mass, age or environment. The result provides a tantalizing hint that common physical processes are at work.
Dec 13th, 2012
Read moreTwin NASA spacecraft prepare to crash into moon
Twin lunar-orbiting NASA spacecraft that have allowed scientists to learn more about the internal structure and composition of the moon are being prepared for their controlled descent and impact on a mountain near the moon's north pole at about 5:28 p.m. EST Monday, Dec. 17.
Dec 13th, 2012
Read moreHubble census finds galaxies at redshifts 9 to 12
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered seven primitive galaxies from a distant population that formed more than 13 billion years ago.
Dec 13th, 2012
Read more24-armed giant to probe early lives of galaxies
The K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS), attached to the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Unit Telescope 1 at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile, has successfully achieved first light.
Dec 12th, 2012
Read moreResearchers discover galaxies near cosmic dawn
A team of astronomers led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to discover seven of the most primitive and distant galaxies ever seen.
Dec 12th, 2012
Read moreX-ray laser takes aim at cosmic mystery
Scientists have used powerful X-rays from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, to study and measure, in atomic detail, a key process at work in extreme plasmas like those found in stars, the rims of black holes and other massive cosmic phenomena.
Dec 12th, 2012
Read moreMicroquasar found in neighbor galaxy, tantalizing scientists
Object is first of its type found beyond our own Milky Way.
Dec 12th, 2012
Read moreAstronomers discover 'missing link' of black holes
The discovery of a bingeing black hole that is expelling powerful beams of material has shed new light on some of the brightest X-ray sources seen in other galaxies, according to new research led by Durham University.
Dec 12th, 2012
Read moreProviding a clearer view of our early Universe
A new data analysis tool will be used by researchers of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) at Curtin University to handle large quantities of data coming in from the new low frequency radio telescope, the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA).
Dec 12th, 2012
Read moreGeminid meteors set to light up winter sky
On the evening of 13 and the morning of 14 December, skywatchers across the world will be looking up as the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak, in potentially one of the best night sky events of the year.
Dec 12th, 2012
Read moreStudent team provides real-time video of asteroid Toutatis
An asteroid that some day might threaten Earth is passing relatively close by on the night of December 11-12, and its gliding path among the stars will be tracked by a team of high-school students at the Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Dec 11th, 2012
Read moreEUNIS mission: 6 minutes in the life of the sun
In December, a NASA mission to study the sun will make its third launch into space for a six-minute flight to gather information about the way material roils through the sun's atmosphere, sometimes causing eruptions and ejections that travel as far as Earth.
Dec 11th, 2012
Read moreAn older Vega: New insights about the star all others are measured by
Vega, a star astronomers have used as a touchstone to measure other stars' brightness for thousands of years, may be more than 200 million years older than previously thought.
Dec 11th, 2012
Read moreAir Force sends mystery X-37B mini-shuttle back to space (w/video)
A top-secret mini-space shuttle has blasted off from Cape Canaveral.
Dec 11th, 2012
Read moreNew knowledge about the remarkable properties of black holes
Black holes are surrounded by many mysteries, but now researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, have come up with new groundbreaking theories that can explain several of their properties. The research shows that black holes have properties that resemble the dynamics of both solids and liquids.
Dec 11th, 2012
Read moreCubeSats in orbit after historic Space Station deployment
Typically satellites launch from Earth, requiring dedicated launch vehicles to propel them into the proper orbit. The cost for this launch scenario could be reduced considerably if there was another way to get the satellites into their optimal orbit. The Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA) found a way to cut the costs of this activity by designing a small satellite launcher, installed recently on the International Space Station.
Dec 11th, 2012
Read moreAn elusive effect measured during the last Venus transit
The challenge was the observation of effect occurred during the transit of Venus across the Sun on June 6th, dubbed "Rossiter-McLaughlin effect". This is a phenomenon that occurs when a celestial body passes in front of a star, hiding a part of its rotating surface and that produces a temporary distortion in the profiles of the spectral lines of light coming from the eclipsed star.
Dec 11th, 2012
Read more