RECENT NEWS: 1
RECENT NEWS: 2 | LATEST NEWS | NEWS ARCHIVES
(Jan 12, 2012) Adding to its already long roster of firsts, NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found the three smallest extrasolar planets ever detected – all of them smaller than Earth, and the most diminutive no larger than Mars. The newly discovered trio forms a miniature planetary system orbiting a cool, dim red dwarf called KOI-961. Read more. Scientific American |
(Jan 11, 2012) The largest distant galaxy cluster has been spotted by astronomers using a telescope in Chile. Galaxy clusters are the largest stable structures in our Universe. Seven billion light years away and with two million billion times the mass of our Sun, the cluster was nicknamed "El Gordo" – "the Fat One" in Spanish. Read more. BBC |
(Jan 10, 2012) Researchers have released the biggest images yet detailing dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up three-quarters of the Universe's mass. Each image, a billion light-years across, shows vast dark matter clumps and voids scattered through the cosmos. The team from the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope inferred the dark matter's existence by the way it bends light. Read more. BBC |
(Jan 9, 2012) The hunt for signals from intelligent extraterrestrials has been in full swing for half a century. But the effort's flagship facility recently came to a grinding halt. A funding drive raised money from SETI enthusiasts including former astronaut Bill Anders, sci-fi author Larry Niven, and even Hollywood actress Jodie Foster. But it's only enough to keep going for a few months. Read more. BBC |
(Jan 7, 2012) Barely has the New Year got started and the first four exoplanets of 2012 have been spotted orbiting distant stars. All four alien worlds are"hot Jupiters" – large gas giant planets orbiting very close to their stars. Their orbits are aligned just right with the Earth so that when they pass in front of their parent stars, they slightly dim the starlight from view. Read more. Discovery.com |
(Jan 6, 2012) The Moon may look lonely, but it is far from alone. Small asteroids too dim to detect seem to stray into Earth's orbit quite frequently and stay for short periods of time. We may even be able to bring one of these moonlets back to Earth for study. Read more. New Scientist |
(Jan 5, 2012) America's classified X-37B spaceplane is probably spying on China, according to a report in Spaceflight magazine. The unpiloted vehicle was launched into orbit by the US Air Force in March last year and has yet to return to Earth. The Pentagon has steadfastly refused to discuss its mission but amateur space trackers have noted how its path around the globe is nearly identical to China's spacelab, Tiangong-1. Read more. BBC |
(Jan 4, 2012) After years of being hampered by Earth's turbulent atmosphere, which limited astroseismology to about 20 of the brightest nearby stars, researchers have been astonished by the trove of information coming from a new generation of space observatories. Thanks to the French-led COROT space telescope, launched in 2006, and NASA's Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, they can now listen in on hundreds of stars at a time. Read more. Nature |
(Jan 3, 2012) Examples of a crystal previously thought to be impossible in nature may have come from space, a study shows. Quasicrystals have an unusual structure – in between those of crystals and glasses. Until two years ago, quasicrystals had only been created in the lab – then geologists found them in rocks from Russia's Koryak mountains. Read more. BBC |
(Jan 1, 2012) The first of two NASA spacecraft to study the Moon in unprecedented detail has entered lunar orbit. NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)-A spacecraft successfully completed its planned main engine burn at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST) today. As of 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST), GRAIL-A is in an orbit of 56 miles by 5,197 miles (90 km by 8,363 km) around the Moon that takes approximately 11.5 hours to complete. Read more. NASA/JPL |
(Dec 31, 2011) Twin satellites are due to go into orbit around the Moon this weekend with the intention of mapping its gravity. NASA's GRAIL spacecraft are expected to give scientists remarkable new insights into the internal structure of the lunar body. This new data should clarify ideas about the Moon's formation and resolve many mysteries, such as why its near and far sides look so different. Read more. BBC |
(Dec 29, 2011) It's a way off, I know, but don't bother to order a diary for 2013 – you won't be needing one. On 21 December 2012, the world as we know it will come to an end. It's all been revealed in an old calendar of the Mayans, if you believe how it's interpreted by various self-appointed experts on their slightly whacky websites. (My op piece in New Scientist.) Read more. New Scientist |
(Dec 28, 2011) Remarkable images of life from one of the most inhospitable spots in the ocean have been captured by scientists. Researchers have been surveying volcanic underwater vents – sometimes called black smokers – in the South West Indian Ridge in the Indian Ocean. The UK team found an array of creatures living in the super-heated waters, including yeti crabs, scaly-foot snails and sea cucumbers. Read more. BBC |
(Dec 25, 2011) Hundreds of thousands of pictures of the Moon will be examined for telltale signs that aliens once visited our cosmic neighbourhood if plans put forward by scientists go ahead. Passing extraterrestrials might have left messages, scientific instruments, heaps of rubbish or evidence of mining on the dusty lunar surface that could be spotted by human telescopes and orbiting spacecraft. Read more. The Guardian |
(Dec 24, 2011) Russia's recent poor launch record has continued with yet another Soyuz rocket failure. This time, a Soyuz-2 vehicle failed to put a communications satellite into orbit after lifting away from the country's Plesetsk spaceport. Debris is said to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere near the western Siberian town of Tobolsk. Read more. BBC |
(Dec 22, 2011) Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have discovered that one of the most distant galaxies known is churning out stars at a shockingly high rate. The blob-shaped galaxy, called GN-108036, is the brightest galaxy found to date at such great distances. The galaxy, which was discovered and confirmed using ground-based telescopes, is 12.9 billion light-years away. Read more. NASA/Spitzer |
(Dec 22, 2011) NASA's Dawn spacecraft has sent back the first images of the giant asteroid Vesta from its low-altitude mapping orbit. The images, obtained by the framing camera, show the stippled and lumpy surface in detail never seen before, piquing the curiosity of scientists who are studying Vesta for clues about the solar system's early history. Read more. NASA/JPL |
(Dec 22, 2011) The Large Hadron Collider on the Franco-Swiss border has made its first clear observation of a new particle since opening in 2009. It is called Chi-b (3P) and will help scientists understand better the forces that hold matter together. The new particle is made up of a beauty quark and a beauty anti-quark, bound together, and is a more excited state of Chi particles already seen in previous collision experiments. Read more. BBC |
(Dec 21, 2011) Just a day after announcing the discovery of the first Earth-size planets ever detected outside our Solar System, scientists have confirmed the existence of two even smaller worlds. There is something very unusual about these objects, however. It appears they are the roasted remains of planets that spent a period of time inside the outer layers of their star. Read more. BBC |
(Dec 20, 2011) Astronomers have detected the first Earth-sized planets, which are orbiting a star similar to our own Sun. In the distant past they may have been able to support life and one of them may have had conditions similar to our own planet – a so-called Earth-twin – according to the research team. They have described their findings as the most important planets ever discovered outside our Solar System. Read more. BBC |
(Dec 19, 2011) The Hubble Space Telescope's latest image of the star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) reveals dramatic changes in the illumination of surrounding dusty cloud structures. The effect, called a light echo, has been unveiling never-before-seen dust patterns ever since the star suddenly brightened for several weeks in early 2002. Read more. NASA/Hubble |
(Dec 17, 2011) The heaviest interplanetary spacecraft ever launched is about to become one of the most dangerous man-made objects to fall from space when it crashes to the ground early in the new year. The Russian Phobos-Ground probe was destined to land on a moon of Mars but problems soon after launch in November meant that it was stuck in an unstable, low-Earth orbit. Read more. The Independent |
(Dec 16, 2011) A stellar explosion has helped astronomers to confirm the leading theory as to what causes Type Ia supernovae. The explosion is the closest to the Solar System in the past 25 years, and was spotted a mere 11 hours after light from its eruption first reached Earth. Read more. Nature |
(Dec 16, 2011) NASA is developing a harpoon capable of taking samples from comets. The space agency has already built a prototype capable of launching test harpoon tips across a distance of a mile (1.6km). The engineers believe it would be safer to collect comet material using the equipment rather than trying to land on the celestial bodies. Read more. NASA/JPL |
(Dec 15, 2011) Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have discovered a gas cloud with several times the mass of the Earth accelerating fast towards the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This is the first time ever that the approach of such a doomed cloud to a supermassive black hole has been observed. Read more. ESO |
(Dec 15, 2011) Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has announced plans to launch unmanned rockets and carry cargo into space. The 58-year-old plans to develop a giant aircraft that would put spaceships into orbit, rather than lifting them off from a launch pad. Other moguls are in the private space race, too, after Nasa this year ended its 30-year space shuttle program. Read more. BBC |
(Dec 14, 2011) If a single Higgs boson and nothing else is discovered at the LHC it will be a mixed blessing. Indeed, perhaps the worst empirical possibility we theorists can imagine. We will have discovered the origin of mass, as advertized, but there will be no new experimental guidance on how to take the next step, or where to search for empirical answers to the outstanding puzzles in particle physics, from the origin of the electroweak scale, or ultimately to a possible unification of all four known forces in the cosmos. Read more. The Guardian |
(Dec 13, 2011) Cassini successfully completed its closest-ever pass over Saturn's moon Dione on Dec. 12, slaloming its way through the Saturn system on its way to today's close flyby of Titan. Cassini is expected to glide about 2,200 miles (3,600 km) over the Titan surface on Dec. 13. In the selection of the raw images obtained during the Cassini Dione flyby, Dione is sometimes joined by other moons. Mimas appears just beyond the dark side of Dione in one view. In another view, Epimetheus and Pandora appear together, along with Saturn's rings. Read more. NASA/JPL |
(Dec 13, 2011) NASA's Dawn spacecraft successfully maneuvered into its closest orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta today, beginning a new phase of science observations. The spacecraft is now circling Vesta at an altitude averaging about 130 miles (210 km) in the phase of the mission known as low altitude mapping orbit. Read more. NASA/JPL |
