Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Bars kill spiral galaxies, astronomers and volunteers discover
With the help of the army of volunteers working on the Galaxy Zoo 2 'citizen science' project, an international team of scientists has discovered that the bars found in many...
Close-up of hidden galaxies with new cosmic zoom lenses
Astronomers have discovered a new way of locating a natural phenomenon that acts like a zoom lens and allows astronomers to peer at galaxies in the distant and early Universe....
SpaceShipTwo designer Rutan retiring
MOJAVE, Calif., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Aerospace designer Burt Rutan, the man behind the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft destined to take tourists to space, has announced his retirement in California.
Will An Asteroid Crush Your House? New Web Tool Shows Exact Effects of Impact
Meteor Crater USGS Asteroids and comets come in all shapes and sizes-from small pebbles, to larger SUV-sized fragments, to massive asteroids like Ceres, which has a diameter of about 621 miles. Much of...
GOP to gain control of NASA oversight
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Two vocal critics of U.S. President Barack Obama's new direction for NASA will assume leadership of committees that oversee the space agency, observers say.
Obama's dream of Mars at risk from radiation
A peak in solar activity could coincide with planned missions
Zombie satellite to do another flyby
A so-called zombie satellite is set to fly by another operational satellite on Nov. 12 and could possibly interfere with its communications.
Gravity eases its pull
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since Galileo first dropped his balls off the top of the Tower of Pisa in the late 16th century, gravity has caused a major headache for mathematicians...
Volcanic eruptions affect rainfall over Asian monsoon region
Scientists have long known that large volcanic explosions can affect the weather by spewing particles that block solar energy and cool the air. Some suspect that extended "volcanic winters" from...
Physicists produce black hole plasma in the lab
(PhysOrg.com) -- Black holes are voracious: They devour large amounts of matter from gas clouds or stars in their neighbourhood. As the incoming "food" spirals faster and faster into the...
Space Photos This Week: Sun Cowlick, Night Lights, More
NASA honors a decade of space station living, a supercyclone moves over the U.S. Midwest, and more in the week's best space pictures.
EVALSO: A new high-speed data link to Chilean observatories
Stretching 100 kilometers through Chile's harsh Atacama Desert, a newly inaugurated data cable is creating new opportunities at ESO's Paranal Observatory and the Observatorio Cerro Armazones. Connecting these facilities to...
POLL: How Will NASA's New Direction Fare Under the New Congress?
How do you think NASA's new direction will fare under the new Congress? Vote in the poll and let us know!
Did Earth encounter pieces of an alien visitor last night?
Did Earth encounter pieces of an alien visitor last night? Apparently so! It appears tiny pieces of Comet Hartley 2 may have presented a spectacular and startling sky show across...
Architects Vie to Design the City of the Future--On the Moon [Slide Show]
BOSTON--The moon has long loomed large as the next logical site for human expansion, a frontier land still lightly explored but visible to all throughout human history. With the recent...
'Snowball Earth' Scenario Plunged Our Planet Into Million-Year Winters
Snowball Earths, eras in which our planet was locked in a global winter, have perplexed researchers studying how our planet unfroze itself.
Scientists to test if life on Mars could be related to life on Earth
Over the course of the Earth's history, about a billion tons of rocks have been exchanged between the Earth and Mars. Scientists think it's possible that one or more of...
John Gavin, Who Helped Put First Man on Moon, Dies at 90
Mr. Gavin’s shepherding of the lunar module’s development elevated him to prominence.
What will Webb see? Supercomputer models yield sneak previews
As scientists and engineers work to make NASA's James Webb Space Telescope a reality, they find themselves wondering what new sights the largest space-based observatory ever constructed will reveal. With...
Star Wars 'telepresence' tantalisingly close
Holography delivers real-time images of remote events
Scientific Advisors Meet At Vatican
Some of the world's top scientists gathered at the Vatican last weekend to discuss the scientific advances of the 20th century and their compatibility with religion.
Neutron stars may be too weak to power some gamma-ray bursts; Black holes may be power source
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts flash across the universe to signal the collapse of a massive star, but this collapsar model predicts either a neutron star or a black hole is left...
Black Holes Gave Our Baby Universe a Fever
The young universe spiked a fever 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, warming up as huge black holes poured out massive amounts of energy, a new study suggests.
See me, Obi-Wan Kenobi: Scientists seek 3-D video
By MALCOLM RITTER 2010-11-03T18:24:37Z NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists say they have taken a big step toward displaying live...
Cosmic blasts hint at inner magnetars
A twist in the plot for the Universe's most powerful explosions suggests a detour en route to forming a black hole.
Fossils Could Be Found by Next Mars Rover, Study Hints
A new theory for how oceans formed on Mars also hints that one potential landing site for NASA's next Mars rover could be a fossil hotbed.
Mars500 video diary 8 - The barber shop on the way to Mars
Need a haircut? Call Diego's barber shop! Romain is the first victim of Diego's astronaut-style cut using a vacuum cleaner. Yes - grooming is important, even when flying to Mars...
Blizzard Hits Florida in Time for Shuttle Launch
A Blizzard hit the east central Florida coast this week. Blizzard T. Husky, that is. Mascot to the Michigan Technological University Huskies, the big, furry fellow is there to...