Featured Posts
Air & Space Magazine
15 Nov 2018, 20:25 UTC
A hot debate about how best to advance Mars exploration has been going on this week in the cold northern town of Lulea, Sweden. Scientists from many international space agencies and research organizations attended, including NASA, ESA, the Chinese and Japanese space agencies, and even the United Arab Emirates, which plans its own Martian mission for 2021.
Moving Mars Exploration Forward
15 Nov 2018, 20:25 UTC
A hot debate about how best to advance Mars exploration has been going on this week in the cold northern town of Lulea, Sweden. Scientists from many international space agencies and research organizations attended, including NASA, ESA, the Chinese and Japanese space agencies, and even the United Arab Emirates, which plans its own Martian mission for 2021.
Universe Today
15 Nov 2018, 16:27 UTC
How in the world could you possibly look inside a star? You could break out the scalpels and other tools of the surgical trade, but good luck getting within a few million kilometers of the surface before your skin melts off. The stars of our universe hide their secrets very well, but astronomers can outmatch their cleverness and have found ways to peer into their hearts using, of all things, sound waves.
Scientists are using artificial intelligence to see inside stars using sound waves
15 Nov 2018, 16:27 UTC
How in the world could you possibly look inside a star? You could break out the scalpels and other tools of the surgical trade, but good luck getting within a few million kilometers of the surface before your skin melts off. The stars of our universe hide their secrets very well, but astronomers can outmatch their cleverness and have found ways to peer into their hearts using, of all things, sound waves.
astrobites
15 Nov 2018, 07:35 UTC
Imagine if we could watch planetary systems take shape. We would point our telescopes at the nearest and brightest newly-formed stars that are still surrounded by some of the leftover material from the cloud in which they formed. We would then see this leftover material mold itself into a disk around the star, a so-called “proto-planetary disk” made up of mostly gaseous molecules and a small, but sufficient amount of dust for building planets. Every day, we could observe each disk and watch each system evolve.
How can you tell if a young planet is migrating?
15 Nov 2018, 07:35 UTC
Imagine if we could watch planetary systems take shape. We would point our telescopes at the nearest and brightest newly-formed stars that are still surrounded by some of the leftover material from the cloud in which they formed. We would then see this leftover material mold itself into a disk around the star, a so-called “proto-planetary disk” made up of mostly gaseous molecules and a small, but sufficient amount of dust for building planets. Every day, we could observe each disk and watch each system evolve.
Astro Bob
14 Nov 2018, 23:21 UTC
There are 190 confirmed impact structures on the Earth. Er, make that 191. An international team of researchers, including a NASA glaciologist, has discovered a new crater hiding beneath more than a half-mile of ice in northwest Greenland. The crater — the first of any size found under the Greenland ice sheet — is one of the 25 largest impact craters on Earth, measuring roughly 1,000 feet (305 meters) deep and more than 19 miles (31 km) in diameter.
Massive Crater Discovered Under Greenland Ice
14 Nov 2018, 23:21 UTC
There are 190 confirmed impact structures on the Earth. Er, make that 191. An international team of researchers, including a NASA glaciologist, has discovered a new crater hiding beneath more than a half-mile of ice in northwest Greenland. The crater — the first of any size found under the Greenland ice sheet — is one of the 25 largest impact craters on Earth, measuring roughly 1,000 feet (305 meters) deep and more than 19 miles (31 km) in diameter.
Universe Today
14 Nov 2018, 21:54 UTC
Ever since the Pioneer and Voyager probes passed through the Jovian system in the 1970s, NASA and other space agencies have dreamed of one-day sending a mission to Europa. Beyond Earth, it is considered one of the most promising candidates for finding life, which could exist in the subsurface ocean that lies beneath the moon’s icy crust. One of these concepts is known as the Cool High Impact Method for Exploring Down into Europan Subsurface (ARCHIMEDES), a proposed direct-laser penetrator that will use a laser light carried by an optical fiber tether to penetrate Europa’s icy crust. This mission could provide future missions with access to the ocean that exists beneath Europa’s surface and enable the search for life there.
ARCHIMEDES: Digging into the ice on Europa with lasers
14 Nov 2018, 21:54 UTC
Ever since the Pioneer and Voyager probes passed through the Jovian system in the 1970s, NASA and other space agencies have dreamed of one-day sending a mission to Europa. Beyond Earth, it is considered one of the most promising candidates for finding life, which could exist in the subsurface ocean that lies beneath the moon’s icy crust. One of these concepts is known as the Cool High Impact Method for Exploring Down into Europan Subsurface (ARCHIMEDES), a proposed direct-laser penetrator that will use a laser light carried by an optical fiber tether to penetrate Europa’s icy crust. This mission could provide future missions with access to the ocean that exists beneath Europa’s surface and enable the search for life there.
NASA Space Station Blog
14 Nov 2018, 17:33 UTC
Dismal weather on Virginia’s Atlantic coast has pushed back the launch of a U.S. cargo craft to the International Space Station one day to Friday. Russia’s resupply ship is still on track for its launch to the orbital lab from Kazakhstan less than nine hours later on the same day.
Dual Cargo Missions Set for Friday Launch and Sunday Delivery
14 Nov 2018, 17:33 UTC
Dismal weather on Virginia’s Atlantic coast has pushed back the launch of a U.S. cargo craft to the International Space Station one day to Friday. Russia’s resupply ship is still on track for its launch to the orbital lab from Kazakhstan less than nine hours later on the same day.
Astrobiology Magazine
14 Nov 2018, 15:33 UTC
The Atacama Desert, the driest and oldest desert on Earth, located in northern Chile, hides a hyper-arid core in which no rain has been recorded during the past 500 years. But this situation has changed in the last three years.
The first rains in centuries in the Atacama Desert devastate its microbial life
14 Nov 2018, 15:33 UTC
The Atacama Desert, the driest and oldest desert on Earth, located in northern Chile, hides a hyper-arid core in which no rain has been recorded during the past 500 years. But this situation has changed in the last three years.
Astronomy Now
14 Nov 2018, 14:23 UTC
NASA’s Juno spacecraft carried out its 16th close flyby of Jupiter on 29 October, sailing just 7,000 kilometres (4,400 miles) above the giant planet’s turbulent atmosphere. This Junocam image was processed by citizen scientists Seán Doran and Gerald Eichstädt, showing bright white “pop-up” clouds and a huge white anticyclonic storm in Jupiter’s North North Temperate Belt. The image is centred on a latitude of about 40 degrees north latitude. Junocam is a public outreach camera and its images are available on line for processing by interested citizen scientists.
Juno orbiter captures another stunning view of Jupiter
14 Nov 2018, 14:23 UTC
NASA’s Juno spacecraft carried out its 16th close flyby of Jupiter on 29 October, sailing just 7,000 kilometres (4,400 miles) above the giant planet’s turbulent atmosphere. This Junocam image was processed by citizen scientists Seán Doran and Gerald Eichstädt, showing bright white “pop-up” clouds and a huge white anticyclonic storm in Jupiter’s North North Temperate Belt. The image is centred on a latitude of about 40 degrees north latitude. Junocam is a public outreach camera and its images are available on line for processing by interested citizen scientists.
