SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: May 2005
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| Andromeda Galaxy larger than
thought |
May 31, 2005 |
| Climate wiped out mega-marsupials |
May 31, 2005 |
| Hunting Tasmania's extinct 'tiger' |
May 30, 2005 |
| Jupiter's innermost moon just
a pile of rubble |
May 29, 2005 |
| 'Slime worlds' may reflect signs
of life |
May 28, 2005 |
| Bright spot on Titan baffles
scientists |
May 27, 2005 |
| Russia to resume Vostok drilling |
May 26, 2005 |
| Voyager 1 pushes for deep space |
May 25, 2005 |
| Lens method finds far-off world |
May 25, 2005 |
| Near-Earth asteroids buzz the
US government |
May 24, 2005 |
| Wormhole 'no
use' for time travel |
May 23, 2005 |
| 'Perfect'
spiral galaxy may harbour dark secret |
May 23, 2005 |
| New African
monkey discovered |
May 20, 2005 |
| Bush likely
to back weapons in space |
May 19, 2005 |
| Arachnid's
clue to dino wipeout |
May 18, 2005 |
| 'Pleistocene
Park' experiment |
May 17, 2005 |
| Canadian satellite
plays hide and seek with exoplanet |
May 17, 2005 |
| Stars spotted
on the edge of a massive black hole |
May 16, 2005 |
| Have we cracked
Saturn's walnut? |
May 14, 2005 |
| 'Retire shuttle
early' says NASA |
May 13, 2005 |
| US robot builds
copies of itself |
May 12, 2005 |
| Blast hints
at black hole birth |
May 11, 2005 |
| Time travellers
invited back from the future |
May 11, 2005 |
| Lost asteroid
clue to Pioneer puzzle |
May 10, 2005 |
| NASA plots
escape for stranded Mars rover |
May 9, 2005 |
| Image may
be Mars Polar Lander |
May 8, 2005 |
| Modified mice
enjoy one-fifth more life |
May 6, 2005 |
| Phoebe moon
may be captured comet |
May 5, 2005 |
| Twelve new
moons for Saturn |
May 5, 2005 |
| Fastest-evolving
genes in humans and chimps revealed |
May 3, 2005 |
| Underground
radar hunt for life on Mars |
May 2, 2005 |
| Planet 'seen'
around distant sun |
May 1, 2005 |
Andromeda Galaxy larger than thought
(May 31, 2005)
The Andromeda galaxy just got bigger – three times bigger, astronomers
said on Monday. The galaxy is not actually expanding. But new measurements
suggest that the nearest galaxy to our own Milky Way is three times
broader than astronomers had thought. They now believe a thin sprinkling
of stars once thought to be a halo is in fact part of Andromeda's
main disk. That makes the spiral galaxy more than 220,000 light-years
across – triple the previous estimate of 70,000 to 80,000 light-years.
Read
more. Source: Reuters |
Climate wiped out mega-marsupials
(May 31, 2005)
It is unlikely humans exterminated the immense marsupial Diprotodon
and other huge beasts that once roamed Australia in a short killing
spree. Two new studies refute the theory that humans moving on to
the continent more than 45,000 years ago took out its megafauna in
a 1,000-year "blitzkrieg". The studies suggest instead a more complex
pattern to the extinctions.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Hunting Tasmania's extinct 'tiger'
(May 30, 2005)
They come out as soon as the sun goes down on the Australian island
state of Tasmania. The winter has now come. The temperature is just
above freezing so they are wrapped in jumpers and thick coats as they
head out into one of the last great wilderness areas on Earth. The
bush is thick. It is hard to catch your step. The towering canopy
of the eucalyptus trees blots out all but the faintest glow of moonlight.
I have come on this expedition to join Col Bailey and a group of friends
on a tiger hunt.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Jupiter's innermost moon just a pile of
rubble
(May 29, 2005)
Jupiter's innermost moon Amalthea is a mass of icy rubble that could
not have formed as close to the planet as its present orbit. A new
analysis does not pinpoint its true origin, but does indicate that
the porous hunk of ice and rock is near its maximum possible size.
The new analysis is of data from the Galileo spacecraft, which sped
past Amalthea at a distance of only 244 kilometres on 5 November 2002
on its way to a death-plunge into the Jovian atmosphere.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
'Slime worlds' may reflect signs of life
(May 28, 2005)
"Slime worlds" may prove excellent
targets for the search for extraterrestrial life, according to new
calculations. The research suggests future space missions may be able
to detect the signature of microbial life around as many as 200 nearby
stars. One of the top priorities for future missions scouting for
Earth-like planets is to look for atmospheric components such as oxygen,
water, and methane, which could signal life. But these molecules are
not always biological in origin, so astronomers believe they can strengthen
the case for possible life if these candidates show other intriguing
signatures. One is called the "red edge" – a spike in the amount
of near-infrared light emitted from a planet.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Bright spot on Titan baffles scientists
(May 27, 2005)
Scientists are baffled by an unusual bright spot on Saturn's big moon,
Titan. The Cassini spacecraft captured an image of the 300-mile (480-kilometer)
blotch during a flyby of Titan earlier this year. "At first glance,
I thought the feature looked strange, almost out of place," Robert
Brown, a member of the Cassini project, said Wednesday. Scientists
believe the spot might have formed recently as a result of an asteroid
impact, landslide or volcanic eruption.
Read
more. Source: ESA |
Russia to resume Vostok drilling
(May 26, 2005)
Russian scientists have said they will resume drilling into Lake Vostok
in the Antarctic, to within 100m of the waters that sit below its
ice-cap. Lake Vostok's waters may hold many new species as it is an
ecosystem that has been sealed-off from the outside world for millions
of years. Scientists had previously drilled into the ice above the
lake but had stopped well short of the water-ice interface. Some have
expressed concern that the new drilling may contaminate the lake.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Voyager 1 pushes for deep space
(May 25, 2005)
Launched in 1977, the craft is now some 14 billion km (8.7 billion
miles) from the Sun and on the cusp of deep space. NASA scientists
told a conference in New Orleans on Tuesday that Voyager was moving
through a region known as the heliosheath. This is a vast, turbulent
expanse where the Sun's influence ends and particles blown off its
surface crash into the thin gas that drifts between the stars. Soon
– researchers cannot be sure when – the probe will break
into deep space.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Lens method finds far-off world
(May 25, 2005)
An international team of astronomers has found a planet which, at
about 15,000 light-years from Earth, is one of the most distant yet
detected. The new world was discovered when its parent star's gravity
distorted the light from an even more distant star. The way the distant
star's light changed betrayed the planet's presence. Two amateur astronomers
in New Zealand helped find the world using "backyard" telescopes,
showing that almost anyone can become a planet hunter.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Near-Earth asteroids buzz the US government
(May 24, 2005)
Asteroids and comets that could fly dangerously close to Earth are
getting a burst of attention from the US government this week. A science
committee in the US Congress passed a bill to provide $40 million
to expand NASA's search for the objects on Tuesday. And on Friday,
former astronaut Russell Schweickart outlined a plan to land a transponder
on an asteroid that has a small chance of hitting Earth in 2036. The
$40 million in the bill would be spent in 2006 and 2007 to detect,
track, and study Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) larger than 100 metres
across.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
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