SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: August 2009
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& science news > space & science news: August 2009: 1
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SETI telescope array produces first science
results
(Aug 19, 2009)
The only telescope array in the world that is focused on the search
for extraterrestrial intelligence, the Allen
Telescope Array, has produced its first scientific results ––
but unfortunately there's still no word from ET. Astronomers hope
to continue adding telescopes to the system to search for alien transmissions,
but in the meantime, they are also surveying intergalactic space for
'missing' star-forming gas and other astronomical phenomena.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
First amino acid on a comet found
(Aug 18, 2009)
An amino acid – glycine
– has been found on a comet for the first time, a new analysis
of samples from NASA's Stardust
mission reveals. The discovery confirms that some of the building
blocks of life were delivered to the early Earth from space.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Black hole parasites explain cosmic flashes
(Aug 18, 2009)
Some of the brightest flashes in the universe, known as gamma-ray
bursts, may be the result of black
holes burrowing into stars and devouring them from inside. The
longer flashes, lasting at least a few seconds, have long been thought
to signal the deaths of massive stars that have run out of fuel, causing
them to collapse to form black holes. Now an alternative explanation
has been given new lease of life: a black hole may instead be an external
attacker that dives into the belly of a massive star and consumes
it.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
NASA assembles Ares test rocket
(Aug 17, 2009)
The US space agency has completed the assembly of its Ares
I-X rocket ahead of a test flight scheduled for October. The Ares
I rocket is a key component of NASA's next-generation space transportation
system. The agency will use Ares I to launch the Orion
capsule – the spacecraft to be used for human space missions
after the space shuttle retires.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Meteorite found on Mars yields clues about
planet's past
(Aug 17, 2009)
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is investigating a metallic meteorite
the size of a large watermelon that is providing researchers more
details about the Red Planet's environmental history. The rock, dubbed
"Block Island," is larger than any other known meteorite on Mars.
Scientists calculate it is too massive to have hit the ground without
disintegrating unless Mars
had a much thicker atmosphere than it has now when the rock fell.
Read
more. Source: NASA/JPL |
US probe captures Saturn equinox
(Aug 15, 2009)
Raw images of the moment Saturn
reached its equinox
have been beamed to Earth by the Cassini
spacecraft. Scientists are studying the unprocessed pictures to uncover
new discoveries in the gas giant's ring system. Equinox is the moment
when the Sun crosses a planet's equator, making day and night the
same length.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Houston, we have a cashflow problem
(Aug 14, 2009)
NASA's plans to land astronauts back on the moon by 2020 are about
to disappear into a giant black hole, according to a panel of space
experts appointed by Barack Obama. Less than a month after the 40th
anniversary of Apollo 11's first lunar landing, the group will tell
White House advisers today that the space agency simply does not have
enough money to do it again. Without a significant increase in funding
NASA will almost certainly have to scrap the next-generation Ares
I.
Read
more. Source: The Guardian |
Second backwards planet found, a day after
the first
(Aug 14, 2009)
Just a day after the announcement of the first extrasolar planet found
orbiting its star backwards, two other teams announced the discovery
of a second one. A team led by Joshua Winn of MIT and another, led
by Norio Narita at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan,
used the Japanese Subaru
telescope to observe planet HAT-P-7b, a previously known planet
about 1000 light years from Earth that was recently observed by NASA's
new planet-hunting satellite Kepler.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Milky Way may have a huge hidden neighbor
(Aug 14, 2009)
A large satellite
galaxy may be lurking, hidden from view, next door to our own.
Sukanya Chakrabarti and Leo Blitz of the University of California,
Berkeley, suspected that the gravity of a nearby galaxy was causing
perturbations that have been observed in gas on the fringes of the
Milky Way. In the best-fitting
simulation, the unseen galaxy has has roughly the same mass as the
Milky Way's brightest satellite galaxy, the Large
Magellanic Cloud.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Space telescopes find trigger-happy star
formation
(Aug 14, 2009)
A new study from two of NASA's Great Observatories provides fresh
insight into how some stars are born, along with a beautiful new image
of a stellar nursery, called Cepheus B, in our Milky Way galaxy. The
research shows that radiation from massive stars may trigger the formation
of many more stars than previously thought.
Read
more. Source: Spitzer Space Telescope |
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