Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Stars, Stripes and Space: NASA and the 50-Star American Flag
NASA and the American flag have a long history of flying in space together datnig back to the first 50-star star-spangled banner.
NASA TRMM satellite data show areas of Alex’s heavy rainfall
Areas of northeastern Mexico were slammed with heavy rainfall, and NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Satellite estimated more than 10 inches of rainfall fell in various locations and...
Faulty Hayabusa Space Probe Tests Japan’s Expertise
Japan’s hopes for a bigger share of the global market for satellites and other space infrastructure may rest on an asteroid mission with only qualified success.
NASA Mars rover seeing destination in more detail
Mars rover team members have begun informally naming features around the rim of Endeavour Crater, as they develop plans to investigate that destination when NASA's Opportunity rover arrives there after...
Swiss team postpones solar plane night flight
(AP) -- A Swiss team planning to circle the globe in a solar-powered plane has postponed a 24-hour test flight because of an equipment problem.
Voyager 2 at 12,000 days: The super-marathon continues
NASA's plucky Voyager 2 spacecraft has hit a long-haul operations milestone June 28 -- operating continuously for 12,000 days. For nearly 33 years, the venerable spacecraft has been returning data...
"First" Picture of Planet Orbiting Sunlike Star Confirmed
A team of astronomers says it holds bragging rights to releasing the first ever direct picture of an alien planet around a sunlike star. ...
White House Energy Session Changes No Minds
Twenty-three senators from both parties met with President Obama on Tuesday at the White House to discuss energy policy, but large differences remain between them.
NASA instrument will identify clues to Martian past
NASA's Curiosity rover, coming together for a late 2011 launch to Mars, has a newly installed component: a key onboard X-ray instrument for helping the mission achieve its goals. Researchers...
Private Falcon 9 Rocket Meets Fiery End After 3 Weeks in Space
After riding a flame into Earth orbit more than three weeks ago, the dormant upper stage of the first Falcon 9 rocket plunged back into the atmosphere Sunday.
Justifying Solar Sonification
While I'm busy building an instrument to convert the ionosphere to music, this NASA group has sonified the Sun. Sample this 18 sec flare music: read more
Cryosat-2 focuses on ice target
Europe’s ice explorer space mission begins to deliver on its promise to make high-precision radar measurements of polar ice.
Redshift by Cosmic Dust trumps Hubble and Tired Light Theories
Hubble and Tired Light Theories In 1929, Hubble formulated a law that the velocity of a receding galaxy is proportional to its distance to the Earth. The Hubble relation held...
Why Climate Stumps Even the Brightest Scientists
A study finds that 14 of the world's top climate scientists have widely varying views about how much the planet might heat up in the future.
A Solar Start-Up Rakes In Capital
SunRun, a San Francisco start-up that leases rooftop solar arrays to homeowners, said Tuesday it had raised $55 million from investors.
Cosmic Noise Could Improve Space Weather Forecasts
Contamination in astrophysical soft X-ray observations could actually hold the key to dramatically improving space weather forecasts.
Southern Pinwheel Galaxy Shines In New Photo
A new photo taken by a NASA space telescope has revealed the brilliant southern pinwheel galaxy in a new light, though it�s a cosmic half-pint when compared to our own...
MetOp-B is ESA test centre’s latest task of busy year
A large section of the giant MetOp-B weather satellite has been lowered into ESA’s largest vacuum chamber at the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands, ready for engineers to subject...
Even the midnight sun won't convince bees to work nights
Bees observe a strict working day, even in conditions of 24-hour sunlight. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology tagged worker bumblebees with a radio identifier, similar to...
Future looks sunny for Bangkok's tuk-tuks
Prapai Hemsuwan gunned the engine of his emerald green three-wheeler, sending it into a fit of rasping coughs and causing clouds of black smoke to belch into the air.
ScienceShot: Quasar Caught Dining on a Galaxy
Rare view reveals what powers these cosmic beacons
Six-time champions win American Solar Challenge
(PhysOrg.com) -- Finishing more than two hours ahead of its nearest competitor, the University of Michigan Solar Car Team has won the American Solar Challenge for a third consecutive North...
Redshift in cosmic dust resolves the galaxy rotation problem without dark matter and MOND
Background The Tully-Fisher relation based on Newtonian mechanics requires the rotation velocity of spiral galaxies to vary inversely with the square root of the distance from the galactic center....
Students Record Spellbinding Video of Disintegrating Spacecraft (w/ Video)
Last year, high school science teacher Ron Dantowitz of Brookline, Mass., played a clever trick on three of his best students. He asked them to plan a hypothetical mission to...
NASA Science Visualizer Creates Earth from Hundreds of Images (w/ Video)
The Earth floats delicately in space, sunlight illuminating the fluid mottling of white clouds suspended over its surface. The scene, the leading sequence in a recent NASA video about ship...
Strong medicine for French research
The medical-research adviser to France's president aims to shift power and money to universities.
India Joins Mega-Telescope as Astronomy Battle Heats Up
For some time now, the teams behind two rival megaprojects - the $1 billion...
Map-Making TanDEM-X Satellite Returns First Images, Showing Fine Detail of Earth's Surface
TanDEM-X Madagascar Charting the ups and downs of waves in the Indian Ocean, represented by the pale yellow area, is one example of the TanDEM-X satellite's capabilities. This picture shows northern Madagascar. The...