Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

New meteorite suggests that asteroid surfaces more complex than previously thought

Meteorites that had fallen from an asteroid impact that lit up the skies over California and Nevada in April are showing scientists just how complex an asteroid surface can be.

December 20, 2012 Read more

Stars reveal the secrets of looking young

In certain circumstances, stars can be given a new burst of life, receiving extra fuel that bulks them up and substantially brightens them. This can happen if one star pulls matter off a neighbour, or if they collide.

December 19, 2012 Read more

Closest Sun-like star may have planets

An international team of scientists, including Carnegie's Paul Butler, has discovered that Tau Ceti, one of the closest and most Sun-like stars, may have five planets.

December 19, 2012 Read more

Researchers find a 'glitch' in pulsar 'glitch' theory

Researchers from the University of Southampton have called in to question a 40 year-old theory explaining the periodic speeding up or 'glitching' of pulsars.

December 18, 2012 Read more

A swoosh in space: Merry Christmas from Hubble

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the holiday season with a striking image of the planetary nebula NGC 5189. The intricate structure of the stellar eruption looks like a giant and brightly coloured ribbon in space.

December 18, 2012 Read more

Researchers confirm 'gusty winds' in space turbulence

Study is first direct measurement of its kind in the lab.

December 18, 2012 Read more

Commercial space travel carries implications for health

A new UCSF study looks at the health implications of flying into outer space and suggests establishing health screening standards for private citizens who want to blast off.

December 17, 2012 Read more

How white dwarfs mimic black holes

New research has revealed that bright X-ray flares in nearby galaxies, once assumed to indicate the presence of black holes, can in fact be produced by white dwarfs.

December 17, 2012 Read more

Hot iron in the cosmos

A precision experiment has provided details of the X-ray emissions from highly ionised iron, advancing our understanding of black holes and supernovae.

December 16, 2012 Read more

Physical constant passes the alcohol test

Fundamental properties of molecules have not changed during the past seven billion years.

December 14, 2012 Read more

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.

December 13, 2012 Read more

Twin 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.

December 13, 2012 Read more

Hubble 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.

December 13, 2012 Read more

24-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.

December 12, 2012 Read more

Researchers 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.

December 12, 2012 Read more

X-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.

December 12, 2012 Read more

Microquasar found in neighbor galaxy, tantalizing scientists

Object is first of its type found beyond our own Milky Way.

December 12, 2012 Read more

Astronomers 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.

December 12, 2012 Read more