Astronomy News

planetary — Geek craft: GRAIL twins Ebb and Flow in plastic canvas

universetoday — ISS research finds plasma has killing power against some of the nastiest of crittersIt might sound obvious to anyone who’s ever played a video game in the past thirty years, but plasma has been found to be very effective at destroying some truly dangerous beasts. Except in this case, the...

blogs.discovermagazine — I’ve posted a lot of stuff about Sunday’s annular eclipse (see Related Links below), and I figured I was done… but then I got a pretty remarkable picture sent to me. During the eclipse, in northern California, two men sent a small (6 cubic meter) helium-filled balloon up to 90,000...

blogs.discovermagazine — Via my pal Miss Cellania (possibly not her real name) at Neatorama, I saw this short cat video which is really pretty funny: Ha! This is a great example of audio pareidolia; hearing (instead of seeing, as it’s usually done) some recognizable pattern in a completely unrelated series of noises. It...

universetoday — The Earth from SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle after May 22, 2012 blast off. Credit: SpaceXAll systems are functioning nominally aboard the Earth orbiting Dragon cargo carrier launched yesterday, May 22, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.SpaceX has released the picture above of the Earth...

blogs.discovermagazine — Take 7+ years of Saturn observations by the Cassini spacecraft, stitch a whole lot of them together into short, film-noir-like segments, and add a Beethoven soundtrack. What do you get? Awesomeness. The video was put together by Nahum Chazarra, who says on Twitter he’s a "Geology student, science lover". There’s literally...

universetoday — Opportunity's shadow aims eastward to the rim of Endeavour craterThe rover Opportunity captured a view into Endeavour crater as a low Sun cast a long shadow in this image, acquired back on March 9.Endeavour is a large crater — 14 miles (22 km) wide, it’s about the same area as...

planetary — SpaceX moved closer to spaceflight history last night as their Falcon 9 rocket rose from its launch pad, sending the Dragon capsule on a journey to berth with the International Space Station.

universetoday — An automated image taken from inside SpaceX's Dragon capsule after launch. Credit: SpaceXSpaceX has released this automated image, a first look inside the Dragon spacecraft in orbit after the successful launch early this morning. What is all on board the Dragon? The payload includes over 300 kilograms of food,...

universetoday — While Kepler and similar missions are turning up planets by the fist full, there’s long been many places that astronomers haven’t expected to find planetary systems. The main places include regions where gravitational forces conspire to make the region around potential host stars too unstable to form into planets. And...

planetary — The apparently simple device of running Cassini images together like a flipbook makes for a dramatic movie, especially with the help of well-timed musical cues.

universetoday — If these videos don’t get your heart pumping or your eyes misting, I don’t know what will. Let’s all cheer along with SpaceX on their incredible accomplishment today! As has been said on Twitter, these are the people who really powered today’s launch.More below: (...)Read the rest of...

universetoday — SETI's Jill Tarter. Credit: SETIAfter thirty-five years of listening for extra-terrestrial intelligence, astronomer Jill Tarter is stepping down from the research and will now be doing a more Earthly task: making sure there’s enough money for SETI to continue its search. (...)Read the rest of Alien Hunter Jill Tarter Changing...

planetary — Full Free Intro Astronomy Class Now Online

blogs.discovermagazine — At 07:44 UTC, May 22, 2012, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered into space, carrying the Dragon capsule into orbit. So first, holy wow, and yay! That’s fantastic news! This was the second attempt, after a glitchy valve caused a launch abort a few days ago. This morning’s launch went...

universetoday — The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at 3:44 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., to begin a demonstration test flight to the International Space Station as the first private spacecraft to dock at the orbiting laboratory complex. Credit: Ken KremerFollowing this morning’s (May...

blogs.discovermagazine — [First: CONGRATS to SpaceX for the successful launch of the Falcon 9 and deployment of the Dragon capsule! Everything looked great and things are apparently going smoothly. You can watch the whole thing here, and I'll have more about all this in a little while. Until then, back to your...

planetary — The upcoming rare transit of Venus is one step in a long dance among Earth, Venus and the Sun. Transits of Venus follow a peculiar pattern—two transits 8 years apart, then 105.5 years with no transits, then two transits 8 years apart, then 121.5 years with no transits, for a...

universetoday — Do you believe in Dragons? In a spectacular night launch, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule is now heading for the first commercial rendezvous at the International Space Station. With an official launch time of 07:44:38 UTC/3:44:38 a.m. EDT, the Dragon capsule is now safely in...

universetoday — Most of our regular readers understand why astronauts and objects appear to float around on the International Space Station, but there are some misconceptions and preconceived notions out there on this topic that aren’t true and don’t represent a very good understanding of physics! This video provides an entertaining...

universetoday — A shadow over Earth near the maximum during the Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20-21, 2012. Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory at UPR Arecibo, NASA, EUMETSAT, NERC Satellite Receiving Station, University of Dundee.Here’s a few unique vantage points of seeing the annular solar eclipse on May 20/21 2012. Above, one...

planetary — Cassini obtained its first high-resolution images of Methone on May 20, 2012. Methone is one of the smallest regular moons of Saturn, having a diameter of only about six kilometers. It was the first moon that Cassini discovered, very early in Cassini's mission at Saturn, in 2004.

universetoday — SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket poised at Pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for 2nd liftoff attempt on Tuesday, May 22 at 3:44 a.m. after repairs to first stage engine which caused a launch abort on May 19 Credit: Ken KremerSpaceX engineers have successfully replaced a faulty valve...

universetoday — The Milky Way and moonrise over ESO's Paranal observatory (ESO/H.H. Heyer)Recent reports of dark matter’s demise may be greatly exaggerated, according to a new paper from researchers at the Institute for Advanced Study.(...)Read the rest of Researchers Bring Dark Matter Back (573 words)© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. |...

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