Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Moon's Craters Hold Clues to the Lunar Interior
Lunar orbiter finds possible similarities between moon's and Earth's mantles
Enjoy Some Cosmic Fireworks For Independence Day
It's been a good month for cosmic wonderment. The Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile caught the region around the star R Coronae Australis and...
RXTE homes in on a black hole's jets
For decades, X-ray astronomers have studied the complex behaviour of binary systems pairing a normal star with a black hole. In these systems, gas from the normal star streams toward...
Engineers assess reaction wheel on NASA's Dawn spacecraft
Engineers are studying the reaction wheels on NASA's Dawn spacecraft after automatic sensors detected excess friction building up in one of them and powered it off early on the morning...
Herschel reveals details of distant galaxies and quasars
(PhysOrg.com) -- Amazing new data captured by ESA's (European Space Agency) Herschel Space Observatory - carrying the largest mirror ever launched into space - have just been publicly released, allowing...
Milky Way stars born of violent collisions
DURHAM, England, July 1 (UPI) -- Many ancient stars in the Milky Way are remnants of small galaxies torn apart in violent galactic collisions 5 billion years ago, U.K....
NASA Retires TRACE Spacecraft After Highly Successful Mission
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Transition Region And Coronal Explorer, known as TRACE, conducted its final observations of the sun on June 21.
Gemini-Titan Rocket Display Delivered to Houston Space Center
An historic Gemini-Titan rocket rolled into Houston last week to join the small collection of very large launch vehicles populating the rocket park at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
NASA Tests Engine Technology to Assist With Future Space Vehicle Landings
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA, in partnership with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), recently completed the fourth and final series of tests on the Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine (CECE).
Order of Canada appointees announced
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean has announced 74 new appointments to the Order of Canada, including Grammy Award-winning violinist James Ehnes and astronaut Julie Payette.
Air Force Launches Ballistic Missile In Successful Test
The U.S. Air Force launched a Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on a test flight early Wednesday that sent the weapon soaring thousands of miles downrange over the Pacific...
Supernovae mystery solved
(PhysOrg.com) -- Supernovae are gigantic stellar explosions that can be seen across the entire universe. Type Ia supernovae are a relatively homogeneous class of stellar explosions, which researchers use as...
Satellite spots soggy soil
European Space Agency mission provides the first global map of a key climate variable.
Spending Panel: Unclear Direction of Manned NASA Flights Adds to Uncertainty
A House appropriations subcommittee has marked up a NASA budget of $19 billion for...
Titan's atmosphere could give life clues
TUCSON, June 30 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've shown how the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Titan, similar to that of pre-life Earth, may have created molecules necessary for...
Proba-2 tracks Sun surging into space (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Proba-2 is a small but innovative member of ESA's spacecraft fleet, crammed with experimental technologies. In its first eight months of life it has already returned more than...
'Space chopper' makes global maps
Europe's Smos mission is slowly but surely meeting the challenge of measuring soil moisture and ocean salinity from orbit.
5 Real Hazards of Air Travel
Airport body scanners are small change compared with the cosmic rays, loud noise, spread of disease and other hazards of air travel.
Stars Become Two-Faced When They Explode
Depending on the angle that astronomers view a supernova, it will look somewhat different, like two faces of the same coin.
Cassini's Latest Work of Art
Ghostly Encounter NASA's Cassini spacecraft snapped this image of Dione and Titan April 10, 2010. NASA Check out this latest image from Cassini, NASA's orbiting Saturn outpost. It shows the small Saturnian moon...
GOES satellite sees Celia's remnants a shadow of her former self
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-11 captured a visible image of Celia's remnants on June 29 at 8:45 a.m. EDT revealing it to be a light swirl of clouds in...
New Tips to See Ancient Star Clusters With Telescopes
Early summer is a good time to search for ancient star clusters, known as globular clusters, in the night sky.
Call for Media: Rosetta flyby of asteroid Lutetia on 10 July
ESA PR-14 2010: The media are invited to ESA’s Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany to follow Rosetta’s encounter with asteroid Lutetia on 10 July, 18:00–23:00. The first images of the asteroid...
Sauropods in Argentina kept their eggs warm near geothermal vents
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working in Argentina have found 100-million-year-old neosauropod nesting sites in which clutches of eggs were kept warm by geothermal vents.
Radiation fears stalk stellar mission
Technical problems could hinder the satellite's ability to map a billion stars in the Milky Way
Quebec health-care fee starts July 1
Quebec's new health-care charge, which starts at $25 a year, will come into effect Thursday.
Technology-loving Virgin America goes international
Billionaire Sir Richard Branson propped up his shoeless feet as he headed from San Francisco to Toronto on his technology-loving airline's inaugural international flight.
ESA to set tiny hair-like Webb Telescope microshutters
Tiny little shutters as small as the width of a human hair are a key component in the James Webb Space Telescope's ability to see huge distances in the cosmos,...