Water hidden in the Moon may have proto-Earth origin
Water found in ancient Moon rocks might have actually originated from the proto-Earth and even survived the Moon-forming event.
Sep 10th, 2013
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Microscopic signs of life shown to survive the harsh environment on Mars
An instrument similar to those used on Earth by art detectives and to sense explosives at airports will be taken into space for the first time by ExoMars, the European Space Agency's mission to Mars in 2018. This Raman spectrometer will help space scientists to hunt for traces of Martian life.
Sep 10th, 2013
Read moreCyborg astrobiologist uses phone-cam to search for signs of life
A novel, hybrid part-human, part-machine visual system that uses a simple mobile phone camera has been developed to search for evidence of past or present life in planetary analogue sites on Earth.
Sep 10th, 2013
Read moreScientists are still in the dark understanding how the biggest black holes were born
Unresolved questions about the nature of supermassive black holes, gravitational monsters at the heart of nearly all large galaxies, were at the forefront of a recent conference at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Sep 10th, 2013
Read moreUpgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds
Mars rovers, such as Curiosity, currently can't make science decisions on their own. That has to change if future rover missions are to make discoveries further out in the solar system, scientists say. To help future rover missions spend less time waiting for instructions from Earth, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., developed an advanced two-lens camera, called TextureCam, that can think about the pictures it snaps and make science-based decisions.
Sep 9th, 2013
Read more'Hubble bubble' may explain different measurements of expansion rate of the universe
Heidelberg scientists develop theoretical model to interpret data from the Planck satellite.
Sep 9th, 2013
Read moreReflecting on Earth's albedo
The amount of sunlight being absorbed or reflected by Earth is one of the driving forces for weather and climate. Satellites are providing this information with unprecedented accuracy.
Sep 6th, 2013
Read moreA radiating beauty on Mars
Exceptional structures deposited and shaped by water and winds adorn these interlocking craters and sculpt radiating patterns in the sands of Mars.
Sep 6th, 2013
Read moreThe quasar and its Fata Morgana
Astronomers discover how the image of a distant quasar splits into multiple images by the effects of a cloud of ionized gas in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Such events were predicted as early as in the 1970s, but the first evidence for one now has come from observations performed with the telescope array VLBA and analysed in the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
Sep 6th, 2013
Read morePowerful jets blowing material out of galaxy
Astronomers using a worldwide network of radio telescopes have found strong evidence that a powerful jet of material propelled to nearly light speed by a galaxy's central black hole is blowing massive amounts of gas out of the galaxy. This process, they said, is limiting the growth of the black hole and the rate of star formation in the galaxy, and thus is a key to understanding how galaxies develop.
Sep 5th, 2013
Read moreInterstellar winds buffeting our solar system have shifted direction
Scientists, including University of New Hampshire astrophysicists involved in NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission, have discovered that the particles streaming into the solar system from interstellar space have likely changed direction over the last 40 years.
Sep 5th, 2013
Read moreColdest brown dwarfs blur lines between stars and planets
Astronomers are constantly on the hunt for ever-colder star-like bodies, and two years ago a new class of such objects was discovered. However, until now no one has known exactly how cool their surfaces really are -- some evidence suggested they could be room temperature. A new study shows that while these brown dwarfs, sometimes called failed stars, are warmer than previously thought with temperatures about 250-350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sep 5th, 2013
Read moreTerramechanics research aims to keep Mars rovers rolling (w/video)
Simulations predict safest path for rovers to travel.
Sep 5th, 2013
Read moreNew computational approaches speed up the exploration of the universe
How many different molecules can be created when you release one of the universe's most reactive substances, hydrogen cyanide, in the lab? And will the process create some particularly interesting molecules?
Sep 5th, 2013
Read moreNo evidence of planetary influence on solar activity
In 2012, Astronomy and Astrophysics published a statistical study of the isotopic records of solar activity, in which Abreu et al. claimed that there is evidence of planetary influence on solar activity. A+A is publishing a new analysis of these isotopic data by Cameron and Schuessler. It corrects technical errors in the statistical tests performed by Abreu et al. They find no evidence of any planetary effect on solar activity.
Sep 5th, 2013
Read moreChinese Moon landing mission to use 'secret weapons'
Multiple 'secret weapons' will be used on China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe, scheduled to launch at the end of this year for a moon landing mission, a key scientist said on Wednesday.
Sep 5th, 2013
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