Latest science news in Astronomy & Space

Best Space Photos of the Week - April 21, 2012

11 years ago from Space.com

See amazing views the space shuttle Discovery coming home, a zucchini in orbit and more in the best photos for the week of April 21, 2012.

India tests nuclear-capable ICBM

11 years ago from UPI

NEW DELHI, April 19 (UPI) -- India says it has successfully launched a domestically produced nuclear-capable Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of more than 3,000 miles.

Private space mission one step closer

11 years ago from UPI

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., April 18 (UPI) -- SpaceX has crossed another milestone to have the first privately built and funded spacecraft mission to the International Space Station, NASA officials...

'Sounds of silence' proving a hit: World's fastest random number generator

11 years ago from Science Daily

Researchers in Australia have developed the fastest random number generator in the world by listening to the 'sounds of silence'. The researchers have tuned their very sensitive light detectors to...

Search for Life Guides NASA's New Mars Mission Plan

11 years ago from Live Science

Budget cuts have forced the space agency to scale down its Mars exploration efforts.

Like Not Hitting Icebergs? Thank The Titanic - And Space

11 years ago from

100 years yesterday, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg while crossing the North Atlantic and sank, killing over 1500 passengers and crew.  read more

NASA to fly atomic clock to improve space navigation

11 years ago from Science Daily

When people think of space technologies, many think of high-tech solar panels, complex and powerful propulsion systems or sophisticated, electronic guidance systems. Another critical piece of spaceflight technology, however, is...

NASA engineers testing Webb telescope's OSIM and BIA instruments

11 years ago from Physorg

(Phys.org) -- Several critical items related to NASA's next-generation James Webb Space Telescope are being tested in the giant thermal vacuum test chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,...

Distant Galaxies Confirm Accelerating Growth of Universe, Dark Energy

11 years ago from Live Science

New observations through cosmic magnifying glasses support the idea that the universe's expansion is accelerating.

Stars – the essential magic vanishing from our lives | Ros Wynne-Jones

11 years ago from The Guardian - Science

Light pollution is increasingly obscuring our view of the night sky, and so destroying one of our last truly wild experiencesWe are losing our view of the heavens. Half the UK's population...

Photo Journal: Northern Lights Expedition, a Reporter's-Eye View

11 years ago from Space.com

See the northern lights of Alaska through the lens of SPACE.com reporter Mike Wall during Project Aether: Aurora.

Update: Texas Fireball was Real After All, NASA Says

11 years ago from Space.com

A bright object that streaked across the daytime sky in Texas was actually a meteor, not a jet contrail.

No Nougat in This Milky Way

11 years ago from Science Blog

If on a summer’s night you look low in the southern sky, you will see the constellation Sagittarius, a centaur [...]

Learn to dock ATV the astronaut way

11 years ago from Physorg

Do you have what it takes to be an astronaut? ESA is making actual astronaut training available on your computer and tablet, so you can see for yourself.

How to See Saturn Reach Night Sky Milestone on April 15

11 years ago from Space.com

Saturn reaches opposition on April 15, the point when it is directly opposite the sun for 2012.

Drop test for Orion crew capsule's new parachutes

11 years ago from Physorg

NASA successfully conducted a drop test of the Orion crew vehicle’s entry, descent and landing parachutes in preparation for the vehicle’s first orbital flight test, currently scheduled for 2014. Orion...

Newfangled space-propulsion technology could help clean up Earth orbit

11 years ago from Physorg

(Phys.org) -- Some of the most valuable “real estate” for humans isn’t on Earth at all but rather above the planet’s atmosphere, where all manner of human-made objects orbit. The...

Dreams of water on Mars evaporate

11 years ago from News @ Nature

Dreams of water on Mars evaporateNature 484, 153 11042012 doi: 10.1038/484153aEric HandClimate models reveal the red planet was mostly cold and dry.

Nasa man rejects coal-fired power

11 years ago from BBC News: Science & Nature

World climate change expert Dr James Hansen tells BBC Scotland the UK should not build any more coal-fired power stations.

Martian 'pit-chains' could harbor life

11 years ago from UPI

PARIS, April 10 (UPI) -- A series of grooves in the martian surface dubbed "pit-chains" could be tempting targets in the search for microbial life on Mars, European scientists...

Russian moon mission put back a year

11 years ago from UPI

MOSCOW, April 10 (UPI) -- Russia says its proposed Luna-Glob mission is expected to land on the moon in 2015, a year later than originally planned.

UFO Video Over South Korea: Fact or Faked?

11 years ago from Live Science

A UFO spotted from a plane has taken the Internet by storm.

Tall, devilish storm skids across Mars’ surface

11 years ago from Sciencenews.org

Probe captures 20-kilometer dust devil in action

Dark Matter Collides With Human Tissue An Average of Once a Minute, Study Finds

11 years ago from PopSci

A dark matter particle smacks into an average person's body about once a minute, and careens off oxygen and hydrogen nuclei in your cells, according to theoretical physicists. Dark matter is streaming through...

How Exactly Did Titanic Sink? - With James Cameron | Video

11 years ago from Live Science

In a new CGI animation that premiered in National Geographic Channel's 'Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron', the massive ship's descent to its final resting spot at the bottom...

Giant telescope may get two homes

11 years ago from News @ Nature

Giant telescope may get two homesNature 484, 154 10042012 doi: 10.1038/484154aGeoff BrumfielSplit-site solution could allow both Australia and South Africa to host parts of the Square Kilometre Array.

LADEE closer to exploration of lunar environment

11 years ago from Physorg

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) has received its integrated propulsion system that will enable the spacecraft to reach the moon. Achieving this milestone means the LADEE observatory...

When stellar metallicity sparks planet formation

11 years ago from Physorg

New research predicts the criteria needed for Earth-like planets to form around a star that have one-tenth the metallicity of our Sun. If researchers find small, rocky planets orbiting stars...