Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Giffords' husband will lead shuttle mission
The husband of the US congresswoman injured in an Arizona gun attack will lead one of the final space shuttle missions in April, Nasa has said.
U.S. Military to Launch Secret Spy Satellite Demo Saturday
The U.S. military will launch a Minotaur rocket Saturday with a secret technology research mission for the NRO.
Cost of NASA's Next Mars Rover Hits Nearly $2.5 Billion
NASA needs another $82 million to complete its next Mars rover, now almost $2.5 billion.
In Virtual Space, Mock Mars Mission 'Arrives' at Red Planet
A 520-day mock mission to Mars has reached a major milestone, "arriving" at Mars after 244 days of virtual interplanetary flight.
Rare meteorites reveal Mars collision caused water flow
Rare fragments of Martian meteorites have been investigated at the University of Leicester revealing one of the ways water flowed near the surface of Mars...
Solar sail flares can be seen in broad daylight
It's a calm and peaceful night. Stars twinkle in the velvety darkness overhead as a distant plane blinks silently on the horizon. You could almost hear a pin drop. That...
'Space net' for orbiting debris proposed
TOKYO, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Japan's space agency says it is teaming up with a maker of fishing nets to create a "space net" for safely collecting orbiting space...
A Wealth of Worlds: Kepler Spacecraft Finds 6 New Exoplanets and Hints at 1,200 More
Thirty million kilometers away, trailing the pale blue dot that is Earth as it orbits the sun, is a spacecraft designed to find some of the countless other pale blue...
First evidence for a spherical magnesium-32 nucleus
Elements heavier than iron come into being only in powerful stellar explosions, supernovae. During nuclear reactions all kinds of short-lived atomic nuclei are formed, including more stable...
Oddball Spiral Galaxy Is Flat as a Pancake
A bright galaxy, called NGC 3621, appears to be a good example of a classical spiral galaxy, but astronomers have found that it is actually rather unusual: it does not...
Astronomy: Exoplanets on the cheap
The search for planets outside our Solar System will always be pricey. But creative solutions are proving that it no longer has to break the bank.
Astronomy: Beyond the stars
Launched in 2009 to seek out worlds beyond the Solar System, the Kepler mission is exceeding expectations. Is it closing in on another Earth?
Cosmologists explore Universe with new supercomputer
A supercomputer capable of doing a billion calculations each second has been installed at the University of Portsmouth, enabling cosmologists to test our understanding of the origin of galaxies and...
Cassini sends back postcards of Saturn moons
On 31 January 2011, NASA's Cassini spacecraft passed by several of Saturn's intriguing moons, snapping images along the way. Cassini passed within about 60,000 kilometres (37,282 miles) of Enceladus and...
Satellite eye on Earth: January 2011
Flooding in Brisbane's suburbs and mud volcanoes off the coast of Pakistan were among the images captured by Nasa satellites during January
Milky Way Gems Now Visible in Telescopes
The Milky Way to the east of the constellation Orion is filled with deep sky gems.
Working together to take the pulse of the universe
Using the Parkes radio telescope, CSIRO astronomers are working closely with NASA to unlock one of astronomys great enigmas the science behind pulsars.
US pandas hold yearly romantic romp
The doors to the outside world were closed, the lights dimmed. Video cameras angled down from multiple locations, and a couple dozen onlookers watched intently.
Crew 'arrives at Red Planet'
The crew of the Mars500 simulated mission to the Red Planet have gone into "orbit" around their target.
Study: Bees can follow sun on cloudy days
BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Bees can navigate using the sun even on cloudy days using clues from polarized light to determine the hidden sun's position, Australian researchers...
Paranal-mal Activity
The Milky Way shines in all its majesty, as well as the Magellanic Clouds on the right, at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
Spacewatch: International Space Station timings and positions
The ISS (International Space Station), back on morning view, was joined by two unmanned supply vessels in the past week: the Japanese HTV-2 craft on Thursday and a Russian Progress on Saturday. Europe's...
February 2011 Geosphere highlights
Boulder, CO, USA - The February 2011 Geosphere includes two articles designated for the latest Geosphere theme, "New developments in Grenville geology: In honor of James McLelland." Other topics...
Actor George Clooney Using Satellites as Sentinels of Sudanese Rights
Actor George Clooney is leading a project to use satellites to aid Sudan humanitarian causes.
New Photos: Mars' Biggest Moon Phobos Up Close
Mars' largest moon is an oblong cratered rock named after the Greek god of fear. See the latest photos.
New Model Says the Cosmos Is At Least 250 Times Larger Than the Visible Universe
Hubble Deep Field Image Hubble eyes the universe. How big is the universe anyhow? We know the universe is roughly 4 billion years old and we know how far light travels in...
BigBOSS receives favorable review from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory
The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) research and development center for ground-based astronomy, has announced its conditional approval of the BigBOSS Collaboration's proposal to use...
Superfluid state for Galaxy's youngest neutron star?
A neutron star in Cassiopeia A could be cooling to form an exotic state of matter.