Topicfire Astronomy News

NASA Administrator Highlights Advanced Propulsion Systems at JPL

2013-05-24T07:21:34+00:00

Charles Bolden stopped by JPL to highlight research being done on advanced propulsion techniques that would be used in the proposed asteroid retrieval mission.

Statement from the AAS on Proposed Elimination of NASA Science Education & Public Outreach Programs

2013-05-23T20:24:32+00:00

The American Astronomical Society has issued a strongly worded statement against NASA's proposed elimination of its education and public outreach programs, and I agree with it.

Astonishing Hi-Resolution Satellite Views of the Destruction from the Moore, Oklahoma Tornado

2013-05-23T18:48:51+00:00

Sceenshot of a satellite view from Google/Digital Globe of the destruction in Moore, Oklahoma after the May 20, 2013 tornado. Click image to have access to an interactive, zoomable version via NPR. A new satellite map from Google and Digital Globe shows just-released satellite imagery of the damage from the tornado...

Planetary Society Hangout: Advocacy Update

2013-05-23T17:23:00+00:00

The Planetary Society just returned from a major political advocacy trip out to D.C. what did we do and what did we achieve? What's going on with the current funding situation regarding Planetary Science and NASA at large? How does the asteroid retrieval mission help or hurt planetary exploration goals?...

How radar tracking of asteroids helps us know where they are

2013-05-23T17:20:32+00:00

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Awesome View of the Active Pavlov Volcano, as Seen from the Space Station

2013-05-23T17:04:22+00:00

The Pavlof Volcano in Alaska on May 18, 2013. The oblique perspective from the ISS reveals the three dimensional structure of the ash plume, which is often obscured by the top-down view of most remote sensing satellites. Credit: NASA The Pavlof Volcano began erupting on May 13, 2013, shooting lava into...

The Ring Nebula is Really a Football-Shaped Jelly Donut

2013-05-23T16:32:24+00:00

Hubble Space Telescope view of the Ring Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration Sometimes the popular names given to an astronomical object hit the mark of describing its features. Other times…. not so much. Case in point, the Ring Nebula. While the distinctive loop shape and colorful...

Report from the Starship Century Conference: Tuesday

2013-05-23T00:15:26+00:00

This week Jon Lomberg is attending the Starship Century conference, which brings together scientists, writers, and futurists to imagine the future of interstellar travel. Here he reports on presentations by Freeman Dyson, Peter Schwartz, Robert Zubrin, Geoff Landis, Neal Stephenson, and Patti Grace Smith.

NASA Looks at 3-D Food Printer for Star Trek-like Replicator

2013-05-22T23:31:22+00:00

The International Space Station may soon have its very own Star Trek food replicator. Earlier this week, NASA awarded a $125,000 six month grant to the Systems & Materials Research Cooperation to design a 3D printer capable of printing a pizza from 30-year shelf stable foodstuffs. (...)Read the rest of NASA Looks...

Finally, a Sci-Fi Movie Heavy on the Science: “Europa Report”

2013-05-22T23:22:40+00:00

Poster by Start Motion Pictures. The producers of a new movie called “Europa Report” have released a new trailer about their film, which features a near-future mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, in search of extraterrestrial life. From the trailer, the film looks to be of extremely high quality, and it stars...

Dream Chaser Readies, Gets Set For Flight Testing

2013-05-22T23:09:48+00:00

The Dream Chaser space plane atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Image Credit: SNC It was surely one of those moments where NASA could hardly wait to tear off the shrink wrap. (...)Read the rest of Dream Chaser Readies, Gets Set For Flight Testing (310 words) © Elizabeth Howell for Universe...

Revolutionary New Space-Diving Suit Will Rival Anything You’ve Ever Seen In The Movies

2013-05-22T22:41:05+00:00

Sol-X CEO Blaze Sanders wearing a Final Frontier Design space suit. Credit: Solar System Express. Editor’s note: This guest post was written by Ron Atkins, a life-long supporter of human space exploration and an ardent advocate of “NewSpace” and Commercial Spaceflight. He curates and maintains “The NewSpace Daily” on Scoop.it Tony...

Cassini Flyby Will Look for Waves on Titan’s Seas

2013-05-22T22:28:30+00:00

A dense network of small rivers or swampy areas appears to connect some of the seas on Saturn’s moon Titan, as seen in this comparison of data of the same area from two instruments on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Images from the radar instrument are on the left and images from...

What Do Comet PANSTARRS And Pinocchio Have In Common?

2013-05-22T14:33:52+00:00

Wow – that’s a tail! Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS on May 21, 2013, when its anti-tail (left) had grown to more than 12 full moons in length. Meanwhile, what was once the main dust tail (right) has faded and shortened over the past few weeks. Click to enlarge. Credit: Damian...

The E-Cat is back, and people are still falling for it!

2013-05-22T07:19:59+00:00

“Science literacy is a vaccine against the charlatans of the world that would exploit your ignorance.” -Neil deGrasse Tyson Well, I guess it’s that season again. The charlatan who claims to have invented a cold fusion device — the same device whose flaws were exposed here two years ago — has...

The Birth of a Saros – This Weekend’s Hidden Eclipse

2013-05-21T19:07:49+00:00

A Full Moon sans eclipse. (Photo by Author) As the first eclipse season of 2013 comes to an end this weekend, an extremely subtle lunar eclipse occurs on the night of Friday, May 24th going into the morning of Saturday, May 25th. And we do mean subtle, as in invisible to the naked...

India's Mars Orbiter Mission update: six months from launch

2013-05-21T16:30:50+00:00

A couple of articles on India's Mars Orbiter Mission were published on the news website The Week yesterday, and they're much more in-depth and insightful than the norm.

Report from the Starship Century Conference

2013-05-21T16:22:13+00:00

This week Jon Lomberg is attending the Starship Century conference, which brings together scientists, writers, and futurists to imagine the future of interstellar travel. The organizers are Greg and Jim Benford, and among the attendees are: David Brin, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge, Joe Haldeman, Alan Steele, Geoffrey Landis, Freeman Dyson,...

Mystery of Escaping Planetary Atmospheres Comes Under Japanese Scrutiny

2013-05-21T15:21:10+00:00

Artist’s conception of the solar system, often used in the Eyes on the Solar System 3D Simulator. Credit: NASA Venus and Mars may be all right tonight, but there’s still a lot we don’t understand about these planets. Why does one, Venus, have such a thick atmosphere? Why is that of...

Lovely Astrophoto: Cottonwoods and the Milky Way

2013-05-21T00:15:12+00:00

Cottonwood trees and the Milky Way on May 12, 2013. Credit and copyright: Randy Halverson/Dakotalapse. Admittedly, I’m partial to Randy Halverson’s night sky photography from South Dakota. Having grown up in neighboring North Dakota myself, Halverson’s images bring back memories of the dark skies that grace the northern plains. But this...

Gerbils, mice perish as Russian spacecraft returns to Earth

2013-05-20T21:38:33+00:00

Bion-M’s mission patch. Credit: NASA A menagarie of animals launched to space last month has arrived back on Earth — with a few casualties for the voyage. (...)Read the rest of Gerbils, mice perish as Russian spacecraft returns to Earth (415 words) © Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Post...

Messier Monday: A Hyper-Smooth Globular Cluster, M5

2013-05-20T21:22:25+00:00

“The Milky Way is nothing else but a mass of innumerable stars planted together in clusters.” -Galileo Galilei Welcome back to another Messier Monday here on Starts With a Bang! With 110 deep-sky objects making it up, the Messier Catalogue is the first comprehensive, accurate catalogue of faint (but not too faint) fixtures in the...

Astronomers Detect Dust Feature in Comet ISON’s Inner Coma

2013-05-20T20:36:35+00:00

Image from May 7, 2013 of a the inner region of Comet ISON, as seen with the 2-meter La Palma Telescope. Credit: Nick Howes and Ernesto Guido, Remanzacco Observatory. In April, when the Hubble Space Telescope looked out towards Jupiter’s orbit and observed what has been billed as the “Comet of...

The British (Astronauts) Are Coming!

2013-05-20T20:16:40+00:00

Lucky sod: Major Tim Peake, British astronaut (BNSC) Really, we are. But for the love of god old chap, make sure the first 2015 space station cargo run is packed to the brim with tea bags! Ever since I heard the first UK government-funded astronaut was being trained to join the European...

‘Major Tim’ Peake to Make first British Long-duration Spaceflight

2013-05-20T18:42:26+00:00

British astronaut Timothy Peake training in a Soyuz simulator. Credit: European Space Agency The name is Peake. Timothy Peake. And he’s set to follow in the (fictional) footsteps of fellow British citizen James Bond with a stay on a space station. In 2015, Peake will be the first British citizen to live...