Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Cosmologists probe beyond the Big Bang

A long tradition of cosmology research has given birth to a vigorous effort by a new generation of cosmologists to understand the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the thermal radiation left over from the Big Bang.

September 4, 2014 Read more

Researcher advances a new model for a cosmological enigma - dark matter

A novel model of dark matter, dubbed 'flavor-mixed multicomponent dark matter'.

September 4, 2014 Read more

Researchers discover new clues to determining the solar cycle

Approximately every 11 years, the sun undergoes a complete personality change from quiet and calm to violently active. The height of the sun's activity, known as solar maximum, is a time of numerous sunspots, punctuated with profound eruptions that send radiation and solar particles out into the far reaches of space.

September 4, 2014 Read more

Newly identified galactic supercluster is home to the Milky Way

Astronomers have determined that our own Milky Way galaxy is part of a newly identified ginormous supercluster of galaxies, which they have dubbed Laniakea, which means 'immense heaven' in Hawaiian.

September 3, 2014 Read more

Cosmic forecast: Dark clouds will give way to sunshine

Lupus 4, a spider-shaped blob of gas and dust, blots out background stars like a dark cloud on a moonless night in this intriguing new image. Although gloomy for now, dense pockets of material within clouds such as Lupus 4 are where new stars form and where they will later burst into radiant life.

September 3, 2014 Read more

Observing the onset of a magnetic substorm

Magnetic substorms, the disruptions in geomagnetic activity that cause brightening of aurora, may sometimes be driven by a different process than generally thought, a new study shows.

September 2, 2014 Read more

$1.5M software grant to process solar astronomy data on larger scale

Researchers in Georgia State University's new Astroinformatics program have been awarded $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation to develop software tools that can process large sets of solar astronomy data and allow scientists to perform analyses on scales and detail levels that have not been possible.

September 2, 2014 Read more

Why sibling stars look alike: Early, fast mixing in star-birth clouds

Early, fast, turbulent mixing of gas within giant molecular clouds means all stars formed from a single cloud bear the same unique chemical 'tag' or 'DNA fingerprint'. Could such chemical tags help astronomers identify our own Sun's long-lost sibling stars?

August 31, 2014 Read more

Mysteries of space dust revealed

The first analysis of space dust collected by a special collector onboard NASA's Stardust mission and sent back to Earth for study in 2006 suggests the tiny specks open a door to studying the origins of the solar system and possibly the origin of life itself.

August 29, 2014 Read more

Astrophysicists report radioactive cobalt in supernova explosion

A group of astrophysicists have detected the formation of radioactive cobalt during a supernova explosion, lending credence to a corresponding theory of supernova explosions.

August 29, 2014 Read more

Uncloaking the King of the Milky Way: The largest star in our home galaxy's largest stellar nursery

Astronomers have identified the most massive star in our home galaxy's largest stellar nursery, the star-forming region W49. The star, named W49nr1, has a mass between 100 and 180 times the mass of the Sun.

August 28, 2014 Read more

Physicists observe the creation of solar energy for the first time ever

For the first time in the history of solar research, scientists have successfully measured solar energy at the instant of creation inside the sun. In the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, physicists of the Borexino Collaboration are for the first time ever directly observing the neutrinos created during the fusion of two hydrogen nuclei and the resultant production of heavy hydrogen.

August 28, 2014 Read more

EUV calibrations for satellite sensors

Thanks to precision calibration measurements recently performed at NIST, satellites may soon be looking at sunlight with new and improved vision.

August 28, 2014 Read more

Witnessing the early growth of a giant

Astronomers have uncovered for the first time the earliest stages of a massive galaxy forming in the young Universe. The growing galaxy core is blazing with the light of millions of newborn stars that are forming at a ferocious rate.

August 27, 2014 Read more

Looking into the heart of a stellar explosion

Researchers observe gamma-ray lines from a type Ia supernova.

August 27, 2014 Read more

Orion rocks! pebble-size particles may jump-start planet formation

Rocky planets like Earth start out as microscopic bits of dust tinier than a grain of sand, or so theories predict.

August 27, 2014 Read more

Measurement at Big Bang conditions confirms lithium problem

The field of astrophysics has a stubborn problem and it's called lithium. The quantities of lithium predicted to have resulted from the Big Bang are not actually present in stars. But the calculations are correct - a fact which has now been confirmed for the first time in experiments conducted at the underground laboratory in the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy.

August 27, 2014 Read more

Looking for a landing site for the Philae comet lander

Researchers select five areas on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet where Philae could touch down.

August 27, 2014 Read more