Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Wearable tech makers look to push boundaries
Will your clothes and accessories change how you live your daily life? Wearable devices like smart watches, glasses and activity monitors were a big topic of conversation at South By...
Plasma Plumes Help Shield Earth From Damaging Solar Storms
The Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere, stretches from the planet's core out into space, where it meets the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emitted by the sun. For...
Nasa scientists witness asteroid breaking apart - video
Images released by Nasa show an asteroid of around 600m in diameter breaking into pieces over a period of several months
Mojave Crater may be source of many Martian meteorites
Many of the roughly 150 Martian meteorites found on Earth probably came from the Mojave Crater on Mars.
Kepler Team Marks Five Years in Space
Exactly five years ago, on March 6, 2009, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope rocketed into the night skies above Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to find planets around other...
Public could virtually 'travel' to space for $90 through new project
Researchers have launched a unique campaign that will enable the public to ‘travel’ to space for the cost of a pair of trainers. Virtual Ride to Space will use cutting-edge...
Mystery of planet-forming disks explained by magnetism
Astronomers say that magnetic storms in the gas orbiting young stars may explain a mystery that has persisted since before 2006. Researchers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to study developing...
Did dark matter kill the dinosaurs?
The Solar System's periodic passage through a 'dark disk' on the galactic plane could trigger comet bombardments that would cause mass extinctions.Nature News doi: 10.1038/nature.2014.14839
Alien Comet Swarms Hint at Mysterious Undiscovered Exoplanet (Video, Images)
An enormous belt of carbon monoxide gas lies in the disk of debris surrounding Beta Pictoris, a young star 63 light-years from Earth. The source of the gas is probably...
Rocket launches into an aurora to study auroral swirls
If you've ever wondered what makes the aurora take on the amazing forms it does you've got company. Marilia Samara and the crew of aurora researchers at Alaska's Poker Flat...
Icy wreckage discovered in nearby planetary system
Astronomers have discovered the splattered remains of comets colliding together around a nearby star. The researchers believe they are witnessing the total destruction of one of these icy bodies once...
Image: Hubble catches detail of the Large Magellanic Cloud
(Phys.org) —This stunning new Hubble image shows a small part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to our own. This collection of small baby stars, most...
Image: Martian sand dunes in spring
(Phys.org) —Mars' northern-most sand dunes are beginning to emerge from their winter cover of seasonal carbon dioxide (dry) ice. Dark, bare south-facing slopes are soaking up the warmth of the...
Catching signals from a speeding satellite
Soaring high above Earth as they speed through space, satellites are difficult targets to track. Now a new approach developed in Europe is helping ground stations to acquire signals faster...
NASA radar demonstrates ability to foresee sinkholes
(Phys.org) —New analyses of NASA airborne radar data collected in 2012 reveal the radar detected indications of a huge sinkhole before it collapsed and forced evacuations near Bayou Corne, La.,...
Margarita
Earth observation image of the week: Venezuela’s Margarita Island, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme
Cowboy 'trick rope physics' revealed
A French scientist has unravelled a formula for trick roping, made famous in Western movies, to teach himself how to lasso like a cowboy.
Study pinpoints source of Mars meteorites
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - About 5 million years ago, an asteroid or comet slammed into Mars so hard that rocks and other debris launched into space.
Bright Fireball Over New Mexico Rattles Houses - See and Hear It | Video
On March 6th, 2014, a meteor slammed into the Earth's atmosphere and burned up over the night skies of north central New Mexico. Thomas Ashcraft captured the sights with a...
Head of China's space science reaches out
First collaboration between Chinese Academy of Sciences and ESA builds momentum for joint missions, says director of National Space Science Centre.Nature News doi: 10.1038/nature.2014.14797
Armstrong Flight Research Puts The Aeronautics In NASA | Video
The research center (formerly Dryden F.R.C.) is testing next generation airplanes with plans to increase their efficiency and design. The flight center was renamed after Neil Armstrong, the first moonwalker.
NASA Hot-Fires Mini-Engines in SLS Test | Video
A tiny model (2 percent actual size) of the proposed Space Launch Systems was tested fired by Marshall Flight Center engineers to provide data on convective heating environments during ascent...
Blazing Hybrid | Space Wallpaper
This vivid space wallpaper is a color composite image made from a ground-based eclipse image obtained by the Williams College Eclipse Expedition in Gabon and a wide-field EUV mosaic of...
Channel 4 to broadcast footage of 9/11 New York attacks filmed from space
Video, filmed by an astronaut from the International Space Station, shows huge plume of smoke from World Trade CentreVideo footage of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York filmed from...
NASA Meteor Experts Host Reddit 'Ask Me Anything' @ 2pm ET Today
Three of NASA's top meteor and fireball experts will answer questions from the public about the science behind space rocks from the sky today in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything"...
Israeli scientists shoot for the moon with dishwasher-sized spacecraft
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - It's only the size of a dishwasher and weighs as much as giant panda, but its inventors are hoping this spacecraft will go where no other Israeli...
Testing roadkill badgers for bovine TB
(Phys.org) —Scientists at the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with farming groups and wildlife charities, are investigating the presence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in Cheshire wildlife by testing badgers that...
GOSSS catalogue clears the way for study of massive stars
Only one in two million stars in our galactic environment is of type O, a category that includes stars with anywhere between sixteen and more than one hundred solar masses,...