Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Opinion: Solar power a strong contender
Solar power is already working well, and super-low cost solar is on the way. Can other energy sources compete?
NASA satellite to focus on carbon dioxide
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its first satellite dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide is in final preparations for a Feb. 23 launch.
NASA Calls on Public to Vote For Hubble Telescope's Target
NASA is turning over control of the Hubble telescope for the International Year of Astronomy.
Astronauts On International Space Station Lose Alarming Amounts Of Hipbone Strength
Astronauts spending months in space lose significant bone strength, making them increasingly at risk for fractures later in life.
PHOTOS: Solar Eclipse "Ring" Seen Over Indonesia
An annular solar eclipse created a "ring of fire" over the southern Indian Ocean on January 26, an event heralded as magical by at least one observer.
Researchers See the 'Dark Side' of the Sun
Today, NASA researchers announced an event that will transform our view of the Sun and, in the process, super-charge the field of solar physics for many years to come.
WWF fellow appointed to Obama administration
US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced that David Hayes, a senior WWF-US fellow, is being nominated for Deputy Secretary of the Interior, a post Hayes held during...
American Space Tragedies, Astronauts Honored This Week
NASA pays tribute this week to astronauts who lost their lives in the line of duty.
NASA seeks quiet supersonic flight
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has conducted a series of flight tests that might help produce quieter supersonic aircraft.
Ruling Gives Satellite Firm Time to Order Spare Satellite
An FCC ruling will give the satellite firm ICO time to order a spare satellite.
Students Will Carry Out Experiments In Microgravity With The European Space Agency
Several students have been selected to design, build, and carry out a scientific experiment in microgravity. For preparation the young researchers will take three parabolic flights aboard the Airbus A300...
Meteoric advances in space science program
Standing nearly 69 feet tall, the giant structure on the hill overlooking Morehead State University's campus might look to some as simply an oversize satellite TV dish.
Landmark year ahead for Earth observation science missions
With three Earth Explorer satellites set to launch this year, another three under construction and up to three more about to be selected for feasibility study, 2009 promises to be...
Frantic activity revealed in dusty stellar factories
Astronomers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain) used NACO, a sharp-eyed adaptive optics instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), to study the fine detail in NGC 253,...
Even stars get fat
Researchers have discovered evidence that blue stragglers in globular clusters, whose existence has long puzzled astronomers, are the result of 'stellar cannibalism' in binary stars. In other words, binary stars...
ESA awarded by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Based on a cooperative agreement, ESA has been delivering data from ALOS - Japan's four-tonne Earth Observation satellite - to users across Europe and Africa since its launch three years...
C1XS catches first glimpse of X-ray from the moon
The C1XS X-ray camera, jointly developed by the UK's STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has successfully detected its first X-ray signature from the Moon....
Long, Stretchy Carbon Nanotubes Could Make Space Elevators Possible
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from Cambridge University have developed a light, flexible, and strong type of carbon nanotube material that may bring space elevators closer to reality. Motivated by a $4...
Failed Telecommunications Satellite Drifts Out of Control
A dead telecommunications satellite is now drifting out of control in space.
Pope stars in Vatican's new YouTube channel
The Vatican launched its own YouTube channel on Friday, hoping to reach out to a global audience and take back some control of the Pope's online image.
Astronomy, the big picture
Four hundred years after Galileo began peering at the stars, 2009 is officially the International Year of Astronomy. And techniques have moved on since Galileo's day. Radio-observatories and space telescopes...
NASA Aims to Quiet Sonic Booms
A sonic boom is created by shock waves that form on an aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound.
Astronaut Hall of Fame Adds Space Commanders, Satellite Repairman
Veteran space commanders and a satellite repairman have been inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Thomas Harriot: A telescopic astronomer before Galileo
This year the world celebrates the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), marking the 400th anniversary of the first drawings of celestial objects through a telescope. This first has long been...
Lancets Flights Probe Supersonic Shockwaves
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA is concluding a series of flight tests to measure shock waves generated by an F-15 jet in an effort to validate computer models that could be used...
Pieces Coming Together for First Test Launch of NASA's New Spacecraft
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA is using powerful computers and software programs to design the rocket that will carry crew and cargo to space after the space shuttle retires. But those computers...
NASA, NOAA set to launch NOAA-N Prime satellite
NASA is preparing to launch NOAA'S latest polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite, called NOAA-N Prime, providing an essential resource for NOAA's weather forecasts and improving the U.S. search and rescue operations.
PHOTO IN THE NEWS: Distant "Super Neptune" Discovered
A gas giant planet 120 light-years away is the smallest world yet found outside our solar system using a method that looks for the dimming of distant stars.