Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Antarctic IceCube observatory to hunt dark matter
An extraordinary underground observatory for subatomic particles has been completed in a huge cube of ice one kilometre on each side deep under the South Pole, researchers said.
New solar cells could even work at night
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've developed a new kind of solar cell that can generate energy even at night, promising a new form...
Satellite yields arctic current map
PARIS, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency's Cryosat-2 satellite has produced its first major result, agency officials say: a radar map of ocean circulation across the arctic.
Students' Water-Testing Tool Wins $40,000, Launches Nonprofit
Engineering students won an international contest for designing a system to tell when water disinfected by solar rays is safe to drink. They share a $40,000 prize from the Rockefeller...
Volunteers to hunt for 'lost planets'
(PhysOrg.com) -- The public are being asked to help Oxford University astronomers find planets orbiting other stars which may have been 'lost' in the data from over 100,000 stars. Volunteers...
Japan May Scale Back Its Space Ambitions After Probe Misses Venus
The failure of a Venus probe to reach orbit last week will likely prompt the Japanese space program to take a more cautious tack, according to scientists attending the American Geophysical Union fall...
Why winter officially begins Tuesday
Mother Nature apparently didn't get the memo that winter officially starts Tuesday, at least on the astronomical calendar.
Weather May Dampen Tonight's Lunar Eclipse Show
It appears that for about half the country, the local weather will unfortunately not cooperate for a view of tonight's big moon show.
AUDIO: The man who killed Pluto
Mike Brown started out trying to find the 10th planet and ended up destroying the ninth. Thanks to Brown, Pluto was demoted to the status of 'dwarf planet' in 2006.
Pictures: Entire Sun Rocked by Explosions
Intense storms can envelop the entire sun at the same time, a new NASA satellite reveals for the first time.
Chameleon model tries to explaining the origin of dark energy
Scientists at DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report new experimental constraints on a theoretical model that tries to explain the origin of dark energy, the mysterious force that accelerates the...
Commercial rocket engine testing moves forward
NASA conducted a test fire Friday of the liquid-fuel AJ26 engine that will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle. The test at the...
Solar panels, anti-freeze beetles in space
San Diego engineering students recently sent a weather balloon up 80,000 feet to near space to study the effects of solar power, climate change and even the survival rate of...
Backing grows from TAPI pipeline
NEW DELHI, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Moscow is in talks with officials in India about joining a multilateral gas pipeline from Turkmenistan, sources from Russia said.
Japan's low-cost space programme pushes the limits
Despite its shoestring budget, Japan's space programme has boldly reached for the stars, pioneering solar-powered galactic travel, exploring a distant asteroid and planning a robot base on the Moon.
NASA's LRO creating unprecedented topographic map of moon
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is allowing researchers to create the most precise and complete map to date of the moon's complex, heavily cratered landscape...
NASA satellite tracks soaking System 91S in western Australia
NASA's Aqua satellite captured a series of images from its Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument over the last two days and saw the low pressure area known as System 91S...
Cosmic reincarnation idea may be dead
Recently proposed evidence for preâ€Big Bang universe relied on flawed analysis, critics say
NRL launches nano-satellite experimental platforms
Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, December 8, 2010, as secondary payloads on a Space Exploration (SpaceX) Technologies, Inc., Falcon 9 launch vehicle, two NRL Naval Center for Space...
Looking back in time to see stars bursting into life
Astronomers have presented the first conclusive evidence for a dramatic surge in star birth in a newly discovered population of massive galaxies in the early universe. Their measurements confirm the...
Rare Space Molecules Point Toward Star Nurseries
Astronomers have mapped a rare type of molecule in cosmic clouds that could reveal secrets about how stars form.
Peering into the interior of a dark interstellar cloud with the APEX telescope
Rare molecular species like H2D+ and D2H+, built from the hydrogen atom H and its heavier isotope deuterium D have gained great attention as probes of cold and dense molecular...
Visiting an asteroid
Asteroids (or comets) whose orbits bring them close to the earth's orbit are called Near Earth Objects (NEOs). Some asteroids are old, dating from the origins of the solar system...
The Verdict: Smolin Vs Susskind Final Part 4
This is the last of the four part series about the Edge discussion between Lee Smolin and Leonard Susskind. I previously discussed the physics and the philosophical issues. You will have...
My Life on Mars: The Beagle 2 Diaries by Colin Pillinger – review | Tim Radford
On Christmas Day seven years ago Beagle 2 failed to signal its arrival on the surface of the Red Planet. My Life on Mars is Colin Pillinger's personal account of the mission...
Earth’s final growth spurt
What led to water on the interior of the Moon or the formation of the Borealis basin that covers 40 percent of the surface of Mars? And what caused at least some...
Mission to sense ocean magnetism
European scientists are planning to launch three satellites to try to measure the movement of ocean currents by tracing their magnetism alone.
Video: Navy's Record-Breaking Missile Launch
The U.S. Navy says its electromagnetic railgun is the cannon of the future. On December 10, 2010, the gun launched a non-explosive missile at 33 megajoules, tripling the record it...