Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

NASA seeks proposals for Europa mission science instruments

NASA has issued an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for proposals about science instruments that could be carried aboard a future mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. Selected instruments could address fundamental questions about the icy moon and the search for life beyond Earth.

July 15, 2014 Read more

Out of an hours-long explosion, a stand-in for the first stars

Astronomers analyzing a long-lasting blast of high-energy light observed in 2013 report finding features strikingly similar to those expected from an explosion from the universe's earliest stars. If this interpretation is correct, the outburst validates ideas about a recently identified class of gamma-ray burst and serves as a stand-in for what future observatories may see as the last acts of the first stars.

July 11, 2014 Read more

Venus Express rises again (w/video)

After a month surfing in and out of the atmosphere of Venus down to just 130 km from the planet's surface, ESA's Venus Express is about to embark on a 15 day climb up to the lofty heights of 460 km.

July 11, 2014 Read more

Amid revelations of a universe rich with planets, what's next for exoplanet hunters?

Earlier this week, three planet hunters came together during a live Google Hangout to discuss the discovery boom, consider what state-of-the-art telescopes can - and can't - tell us about exoplanets, as well as ponder the likelihood of finding evidence of life on another planet.

July 11, 2014 Read more

Astronomers find 7 dwarf galaxies with new telescope

Meet the seven new dwarf galaxies. Yale University astronomers, using a new type of telescope made by stitching together telephoto lenses, recently discovered seven celestial surprises while probing a nearby spiral galaxy. The previously unseen galaxies may yield important insights into dark matter and galaxy evolution, while possibly signaling the discovery of a new class of objects in space.

July 11, 2014 Read more

Sun-like stars reveal their ages

A new technique for measuring the age of a star using its spin - gyrochronology - is coming into its own. Today astronomers are presenting the gyrochronological ages of 22 sun-like stars. Before this, only two sun-like stars had measured spins and ages.

July 10, 2014 Read more

New report flags up non-space breakthroughs that could enable future space missions

The European Science Foundation (ESF) has released a new report on 'technological breakthroughs for scientific progress'. While the sector is known to be a key driver of society-benefiting innovation, both ESF and the European Space Agency are banking on part of its future lying in non-space technologies.

July 10, 2014 Read more

Hubble spots spiral bridge of young stars linking two ancient galaxies

The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed an unusual structure 100,000 light years long, which resembles a corkscrew-shaped string of pearls and winds around the cores of two colliding galaxies.

July 10, 2014 Read more

Radio-burst discovery deepens astrophysics mystery

The discovery of a split-second burst of radio waves using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico provides important new evidence of mysterious pulses that appear to come from deep in outer space.

July 10, 2014 Read more

Friction from tides could help distant earths survive, and thrive

As anybody who has started a campfire by rubbing sticks knows, friction generates heat. Now, computer modeling by NASA scientists shows that friction could be the key to survival for some distant Earth-sized planets traveling in dangerous orbits.

July 10, 2014 Read more

Asteroid mapper sent into orbit (w/video)

Technology that can create thermal maps of asteroids, giving us vital information about how their trajectories might change, is about to undergo trials in space.

July 10, 2014 Read more

NASA MESSENGER and STEREO measurements open new window into high-energy processes on the sun

Understanding the sun from afar isn't easy. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft - which orbits Mercury, and so is as close as 28 million miles from the sun versus Earth's 93 million miles - is near enough to the sun to detect solar neutrons that are created in solar flares.

July 9, 2014 Read more

New observations reveal how stardust forms around a supernova

A group of astronomers has been able to follow stardust being made in real time - during the aftermath of a supernova explosion.

July 9, 2014 Read more

NameExoWorlds: An IAU worldwide contest to name exoplanets and their host stars

For the first time, in response to the public's increased interest in being part of discoveries in astronomy, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is organizing a worldwide contest to give popular names to selected exoplanets along with their host stars.

July 9, 2014 Read more

New technology illuminates colder objects in deep space

Researchers engineered a new technology that can detect very long wavelength infrared light.

July 9, 2014 Read more

Astronomers bring the third dimension to a doomed star's outburst

In the middle of the 19th century, the massive binary system Eta Carinae underwent an eruption that ejected at least 10 times the sun's mass and made it the second-brightest star in the sky. Now, a team of astronomers has used extensive new observations to create the first high-resolution 3-D model of the expanding cloud produced by this outburst.

July 9, 2014 Read more

Planet Mercury a result of early hit-and-run collisions

New simulations show that Mercury and other unusually metal-rich objects in the solar system may be relics left behind by hit-and-run collisions in the early solar system.

July 8, 2014 Read more

Laboratory models suggest that stretching forces shaped Jupiter moon's surface

Processes that shaped the ridges and troughs on the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede are likely similar to tectonic processes seen on Earth, according to a team of researchers led by Southwest Research Institute. To arrive at this conclusion, the team subjected physical models made of clay to stretching forces that simulate tectonic action.

July 8, 2014 Read more