SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: December 2005
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| 2005: The year in the solar system |
Dec 31, 2005 |
| 2005: The year in human spaceflight |
Dec 30, 2005 |
| Moongazing reveals the chaotic
world of Uranus |
Dec 28, 2005 |
| Europe's space race with US begins |
Dec 27, 2005 |
| NASA astronomers spot rare lunar
meteor strike |
Dec 26, 2005 |
| Baby stars decorate the Christmas
Tree Cluster |
Dec 24, 2005 |
| NASA to hunt smaller Earth-threatening
asteroids |
Dec 23, 2005 |
| Stardust targets lightning return |
Dec 23, 2005 |
| Life's ingredients circle Sun-like
star |
Dec 23, 2005 |
| Salty Martian rocks may have
formed without seas |
Dec 22, 2005 |
| Pluto probe
prepares for decade-long mission |
Dec 21, 2005 |
| Beagle 2 probe
'spotted' on Mars |
Dec 20, 2005 |
| Extinct mammoth
DNA decoded |
Dec 19, 2005 |
| Space-X announces
launch date for Falcon 1 rocket |
Dec 17, 2005 |
| Observatory
spots galaxy's most energetic gamma rays |
Dec 16, 2005 |
| Alien search
merges with other home projects |
Dec 16, 2005 |
| Space 'spiders'
could build solar satellites |
Dec 15, 2005 |
| Virgin Galactic
announces its first 100 space tourists |
Dec 14, 2005 |
| Strange new
object found at edge of Solar System |
Dec 14, 2005 |
| Hopes fade
for troubled Japanese asteroid probe |
Dec 13, 2005 |
| Geologists
witness 'ocean birth' |
Dec 12, 2005 |
| US group proposes
Neptune mission |
Dec 11, 2005 |
| Spiral arm
of Milky Way looms closer than thought |
Dec 9, 2005 |
| Chile desert's
super-dry history |
Dec 8, 2005 |
| Extreme bugs
back idea of life on Mars |
Dec 8, 2005 |
| It's called
Apophis. It's 390m wide. And it could hit Earth in 31 years time |
Dec 7, 2005 |
| Mystery mammal
discovered in Borneo’s forests |
Dec 6, 2005 |
| XCOR rocket
plane soars into record book |
Dec 5, 2005 |
| Black hole's
colossal sphere of influence revealed |
Dec 3, 2005 |
| Study treads
on footprint claim |
Dec 2, 2005 |
| Titan's atmosphere
revealed as multilayered mystery |
Dec 1, 2005 |
2005: The year in the solar system
(Dec 31, 2005)
In 2005, scientists pieced together more clues in our understanding
of the mysteries of the solar system. And the year yielded some exciting
discoveries on Earth’s astronomical doorstep. The Cassini spacecraft
has been a workhorse, gathering reams of data from Saturn and its
moons and rings. The Huygens probe landed on the moon Titan in January
and Cassini spotted what might be a volcano and methane downpours
there too.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
2005: The year in human spaceflight
(Dec 30, 2005)
For human spaceflight, 2005 could be labelled the year of the return.
The US space shuttle and China’s Shenzhou spacecraft both made impressive
returns to space while the Apollo capsule is poised for a comeback
of sorts. After being grounded for two-and-a-half years following
the destruction of shuttle Columbia, space shuttle Discovery returned
to the skies in July on a busy mission to the International Space
Station.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Moongazing reveals the chaotic world of
Uranus
(Dec 28, 2005)
New orbital data on two moons of Uranus and two rings suggest the
seventh planet may be a more chaotic place than thought. The two new
moons, dubbed Cupid and Mab, were discovered in 2003 using the Hubble
Space Telescope and archived images from the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
Since then, the moons' discoverers, Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute
and Jack Lissauer of NASA Ames Research Center, both in California,
US, have refined the orbits of the moons and spotted two previously
undetected dust rings.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Europe's space race with US begins
(Dec 27, 2005)
At 3am tomorrow morning a Russian Soyuz rocket is set to streak into
the skies over Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying a satellite
that is purpose built to break one of the most ubiquitous monopolies
on Earth. If all goes according to plan, the rocket will soar to a
height of 14,000 miles before releasing Giove-A, a wardrobe-sized
box of electronics, into orbit. Once in position it will gently unfold
its twin solar panels and begin to loop around the planet twice each
day. In doing so, Europe's most expensive space project, a rival to
the US military-run global positioning system GPS, will have taken
its first step.
Read
more. Source: Guardian |
NASA astronomers spot rare lunar meteor
strike
(Dec 26, 2005)
Astronomers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have recorded a
small but powerful meteoroid strike in the night on the moon’s surface.
On Nov. 7, using a 10-inch-diameter telescope, astronomers recorded
a tiny blip northwest of Mare Imbrium, the moon's "Sea of Showers."
Such impacts are not uncommon, but it was only in 1999 that scientists
first recorded a lunar strike as it happened. As NASA plans to return
to the moon, the agency has a need to understand what happens after
lunar impacts in order to protect lunar explorers.
Read
more. Source: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |
Baby stars decorate the Christmas Tree
Cluster
(Dec 24, 2005)
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered strings of baby stars
adorning the Christmas Tree Cluster, a nearby stellar grouping embedded
in dust and gas. The cluster was named for the bright stars that trace
out the triangular shape of a Christmas tree. But dust and gas block
much of the visible light from objects within the "tree". Now, Spitzer
has used its Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) and Infrared Array
Camera (IRAC) to peer through the dust. It found a clutch of about
two dozen baby stars. These have not yet heated their surroundings
much, suggesting they are less than 100,000 years old.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
NASA to hunt smaller Earth-threatening
asteroids
(Dec 23, 2005)
A NASA-led search for Earth-threatening asteroids as small as 140
metres has been approved by the US Congress and is awaiting President
George W Bush's signature. The bill provides no money, but survey
telescopes are already in development. The asteroid search is part
of a bill authorising NASA operations for 2007 and 2008. When signed,
it will give NASA a year to devise a plan to catalogue 90% of potentially
Earth-threatening asteroids within 15 years. Congressional action
in 1998 pushed NASA to begin its current hunt for dangerous asteroids
above 1 kilometre in size.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Stardust targets lightning return
(Dec 23, 2005)
The US space agency (NASA) is confident it can land samples from a
comet back on Earth next month without mishap. The Stardust mission
grabbed dusty debris from around Comet Wild 2 almost two years ago
and will return its precious cargo on 15 January. A sample capsule
will enter the Earth's atmosphere faster than any previous manmade
object and then attempt to make a soft landing in the Utah desert.
NASA scientists and engineers believe their parachute system will
cope.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Life's ingredients circle Sun-like star
(Dec 23, 2005)
The first evidence that some of the basic organic building blocks
of life can exist in an Earth-like orbit around a young Sun-like star
has been provided by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer took
infrared spectrograms of 100 very young stars in a nearby stellar
nursery, a huge cloud of dust and gas 375 light years away in the
constellation Ophiuchus. And one of those stars showed signs of the
organic molecules, acetylene and hydrogen cyanide. These gases, when
combined with water, can form several different amino acids.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Salty Martian rocks may have formed without
seas
(Dec 22, 2005)
Volcanism or meteorite impacts – and not standing water – could be
responsible for the sulphate sediments detected on Mars by NASA's
Opportunity rover, according to two separate studies. The research
bolsters other studies suggesting Mars has been dry for most of its
history and suggests life may have had a difficult time getting started
on the planet. Opportunity landed in a region called Meridiani in
January 2004. It discovered the region is composed of sedimentary,
layered rock rich in sulphate salts and riddled with small spheres
of haematite, nicknamed "blueberries".
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
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