Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Chang'E-1 has blazed a new trail in China's deep space exploration
A huge amount of scientific data have been accumulated by the CE-1 lunar orbiter. Using laser altimeter data, Jinsong Ping and Qian Huang et al obtained improved 3D lunar topography,...
Large Hadron Collider roars to life
The world's largest particle accelerator is spurred to a record-breaking speed, suggesting that it will deliver on its scientific promise. And it's not even at full power yet. The much-delayed, problem-plagued European Large...
WISE Snug in Its Nose Cone
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has been wrapped in the outer nose cone, or 'fairing,' that will protect it during its scheduled Dec. 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base,...
Thirsk's Canadian experiments in space
Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk has participated in dozens of experiments, many of them Canadian, during his six-month stint on the International Space Station.
Rocket test will carry Purdue experiment
(PhysOrg.com) -- Purdue University researchers are designing and building an experiment that will operate during a test flight of a new type of reusable rocket to be launched by aerospace...
Superior Super Earths
Super Earths are named for their size, but these planets - which range from about 2 to 10 Earth masses - could be superior to the Earth when it comes...
beginnings and endings
1. dark matter: the force that holds stars in the sky. it can be proven in several ways: dark matter neither absorbs or emits light, scientist can observe it by...
NASA captures Typhoon Nida's clouds from 2 angles
NASA satellites capture amazing views of tropical cyclones, and the Aqua and CloudSat satellites captured a top-down look at temperatures in Typhoon Nida's clouds, and an image of what they...
Texus-46's flight to the weightless world
The Texus-46 sounding rocket was launched on Nov. 22 from the Esrange space center in Swedish Lapland to provide 388 seconds of microgravity for its two experiment payloads.
Hydrogen-Powered Ion Tiger Sets 26-hour Flight Endurance Record
The Naval Research Laboratory's Ion Tiger, a hydrogen-powered fuel cell unmanned air vehicle (UAV), has flown 26 hours and 1 minute carrying a 5-pound payload, setting another unofficial flight endurance...
New evidence for early life on Mars: NASA
A new NASA study of a Martian meteorite that made headlines 13 years ago strengthens the original claim that the rock contains evidence of life on ancient Mars.
NASA assessing new roles for ailing QuikScat satellite
NASA mission managers are assessing options for future operations of the venerable QuikScat satellite following the age-related failure of a mechanism that spins the scatterometer antenna. This spinning antenna had...
Black hole caught zapping galaxy into existence?
"The 'chicken and egg' question of whether a galaxy or its black hole comes first is one of the most debated subjects in astrophysics today," says lead author David Elbaz....
Solar panel costs 'set to fall'
The cost of installing and owning solar panels will fall even faster than expected according to new research.
Clue Found to Origin of Cosmic Misfits
Spitzer Space Telescope spots youngest possible brown dwarf pair yet found.
NZ company fires rocket
A New Zealand company sent a rocket into space Monday in what it claimed was the first private missile launch in the Southern Hemisphere.
Caltech scientists explain puzzling lake asymmetry on Titan
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggest that the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit around the sun may be responsible for the unusually uneven distribution of methane and ethane...
Japan Launches Spy Satellite Under Veil of Secrecy
In an unpublicized launch lacking fanfare, an H-2A rocket successfully boosted Japan's most advanced spy satellite to orbit on Saturday from the country's island space center.
'Cosmic fruit machine' matches galactic collisions
A new website will give everyone the chance to contribute to science by playing a 'cosmic fruit machine' and compare images of colliding galaxies with millions of simulated images of...
Herschel studying massive dying star
CARDIFF, Wales, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Europe's new Herschel telescope is examining a dying star that is 30 to 40 times more massive than Earth's sun, astronomers said.
Volunteers wanted for simulated 520-day Mars mission
Starting in 2010, an international crew of six will simulate a 520-day round-trip to Mars, including a 30-day stay on the martian surface. In reality, they will live and work...
Face to faith: Galileo's lunar work drew on another Christian iconoclast who had lived 1,000 years earlier, says Mark Vernon
Face to faith: Galileo's lunar work drew on another Christian iconoclast who had lived 1,000 years earlierGalileo's earliest surviving drawing of the moon can be dated to 30 November 1609, almost exactly 400...
A nation divided by the weather
The Atlantic's storm track has slipped south, and the rain is more persistent than everThe life of the writer RB Cunninghame Graham is now much more interesting than anything he wrote –...
Signal fading on radio traffic reports
(AP) -- For more than 20 years, Mike Nolan was known to radio listeners as the "eye in the sky." He flew over Southern California freeways in his single-engine...
Satellites identify mosquito breeding sites
Researchers are using satellite data such as soil moisture patterns to identify likely breeding sites of mosquitoes.
The Energy Sources of Ultraluminous Galaxies
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ultraluminous infrared galaxies ((ULIRGs) are galaxies whose luminosity exceeds that of a trillion suns; for comparison, the Milky Way galaxy has a typical (and much more modest) luminosity...
Hammerhead Sharks See 360 Degrees in Stereo
Hammerheads have outstanding forward stereo vision and depth perception, study finds.
China set for second lunar probe
BEIJING, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The Chinese space scientist who designed the country's first lunar probe says the second probe is set for October of next year, he told...