Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
How I Finally Saw a Rocket Launch: A New Reporter's Firsthand Account
Last week, I traveled down to Cape Canaveral to cover the launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule, and witnessed the future of American spaceflight.
SpaceX's 'secret' payload? A wheel of cheese
In the historic launch of its Dragon space capsule Wednesday, Hawthorne, Calif.,-based rocket venture SpaceX didn't carry astronauts or cargo into outer space.
The Odyssey Gets Ready to Break a Martian Record
Gallery: NASA's Orbiter Will Have Worked Longer at the Red Planet Than any Other Spacecraft in History
Crater Creation: Big Bangs Through the Millennia
Gallery: Photo Collection of the Biggest Craters Ever Created by Comet Collisions
U.S. Military in Talks to Share Fireball Data
Secret U.S> military satellites perform vital national security roles for reconnaissance, but they also spot fireballs in Earth's atmosphere.
Wind and water have shaped Schiaparelli on Mars
The small crater embedded in the northwestern rim of the Schiaparelli impact basin features prominently in this new image from ESA's Mars Express. All around is evidence for past water...
Kerfuffle! Scientific Discoveries Cause a Ruckus
Timeline of media kerfuffles - cases of science blown out of proportion or just plain misunderstood.
Image: The Greatest Stars
The small open star cluster Pismis 24 lies in the core of the NGC 6357 nebula in Scorpius, about 8,000 light-years away from Earth.
An abundance of small stars
(PhysOrg.com) -- Stars form from giant clouds of gas and dust in space, as the matter in these clouds comes together under the influence of gravity.
Southern Corridor more than just Nabucco
MOSCOW, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The so-called Southern Corridor requires the support of all projects involved, not just the storied Nabucco gas pipeline, a U.S. energy envoy said.
Russian Proton Rockets Grounded Pending Launch Failure Investigation
Russia's space agency chief has announced that the country's Proton rocket fleet will be grounded pending an investigation into a Dec. 5 launch failure.
Austria to launch first satellites in 2011
Austria will launch its first ever satellites into space next year to measure variations in the brilliance of stars, a project leader from the Technical University (TU) of Graz announced...
FYI: How Would NASA Rescue An Astronaut Who Floated Away From The International Space Station?
International Space Station NASA It's never happened, and NASA feels confident that it never will. For one thing, astronauts generally don't float free. Outside the ISS, they're always attached to the spacecraft with...
The Webb Telescope's actuators: Curving mirrors in space
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is a wonder of modern engineering. As the planned successor to the Hubble Space telescope, even the smallest of parts on this giant observatory will...
Skepticism About Skepticism
Anyone can be skeptical about a scientific result. It's good to state your skepticism, to make your view known. But are you done once you speak your view? Is that...
The three ages of Mars
There is no place on Earth that is a perfect copycat of Mars as it is now, or as it was at any specific point in the past. But scientists...
Canadian blogger gets bail in Iran
An Iranian rights group says a pioneering Canadian-Iranian blogger has been temporarily freed from prison on bail of about $1.5 million.
Postcards from space: Top astronomy images | Space monthly
Our choice of some of the most stunning astronomy images captured by telescopes, probes and astronauts over the past month
Study: Earth's precious metals from space
BOULDER, Colo., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Gigantic collisions 4.5 billion years ago injected precious elements such as gold and platinum into on Earth, the moon and Mars, a study...
New images confirm the moon is shrinking
ERIE, Pa., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The unchanging moon humans gaze up at every night may be slightly smaller than the one our ancestors saw, recent research by U.S....
Record set for crossing Antarctica
LONDON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A United Kingdom expedition to the Antarctic has claimed the record for the fastest land crossing of the ice-covered continent, officials said.
Scientist at Work: A Long Stay at Palm Canyon
In the extreme weather of Madagascar's Makay Massif, scientists make use of extra time in a palm oasis to explore nearby caves and canyons.
Feature: How a trail of darkness leads to a planet born
Julian Cribb explains how complex supercomputer models of galactic dust and gas are helping to spot newborn planets.
Flying Telescope Snaps First Science Photos
A jumbo jet outfitted with a telescope completed its first science flight Wednesday (Dec. 1), demonstrating the aircraft's potential to observe the infrared universe.
Probing Question: Is the moon shrinking?
While everything else changes, itэs comforting to think that some things in the universe will always stay the same. The sun always rises and sets, the tides ebb and flow,...
Letters defend Nobel laureate against Nazi charges
Peter Debye may have been an Allied informer.
Allan Sandage obituary
Influential American astronomer who helped calculate the size of the universeThe astronomer Allan Sandage, who has died aged 84, showed that the universe was at least six times larger than was previously thought....
The SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Blasts Off
Gallery: The Era of Commercial Space Travel Takes a Big Step Forward