Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Space droids battle to save Earth from comet

A comet heading towards Earth threatens humanity's existence - that was the virtual scenario of this year's Zero Robotics tournament. Secondary-school students from across Europe controlled miniature satellites on the International Space Station in a competition to save our planet.

January 21, 2014 Read more

Milky Way may have formed 'inside-out': Gaia provides new insight into Galactic evolution

Research on first data release from Gaia-ESO project suggests the Milky Way formed by expanding out from the centre, and reveals new insights into the way our Galaxy was assembled.

January 20, 2014 Read more

Black hole illuminates cosmic web

For the first time, astronomers capture image of the large-scale filamentary structures in space.

January 19, 2014 Read more

Rosetta's final sprint to the comet

After a ten-year journey and a long, deep sleep the Rosetta space probe will be awoken on 20 January. The vehicle then starts the last leg of its journey which will lead it to the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet. The Philae lander is to descend to the comet's surface in November.

January 17, 2014 Read more

ALMA discovers a formation site of a giant planetary system

A team of Japanese astronomers has obtained a firm evidence of formatino of a giant planetary system around a young star by the observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). This result has a transformative impact on the theories of planet formation and gives us a clue to the origin of a wide variety of planetary systems.

January 17, 2014 Read more

Chang'e-3 probe sets out on new missions

The Chang'e-3 lunar probe has started its long-term scientific missions and will have its durability tested when it continues lunar surface surveys, sources with the Beijing Aerospace Control Center said on Thursday.

January 17, 2014 Read more

'Standing on a Comet': Rosetta mission will contribute to space weather research

A comet-bound spacecraft that's been in sleep mode for more than two years is scheduled to wake up on the morning of Jan. 20 - beginning the home stretch of its decade-long journey to a mile-wide ball of rock, dust and ice.

January 16, 2014 Read more

Space station MAXI-mizing our understanding of the universe

The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) collects data that help researchers discover, study and understand the physics behind the lifecycle of our universe. MAXI was key in two recent publications sharing results that make strides in advancing astrophysics.

January 16, 2014 Read more

Astronomoers discover the first black hole orbiting a 'spinning' star

Spanish scientists have discovered the first binary system ever known to consist of a black hole and a 'spinning' star - or more accurately, a Be-type star. Although predicted by theory, none had previously been found.

January 16, 2014 Read more

Hubble and Galaxy Zoo find Bars and baby galaxies don't mix

Harnessing the power of both the Hubble Space Telescope and the citizen science project Galaxy Zoo, scientists from the University of Portsmouth have found that bar-shaped features in spiral galaxies accelerate the galaxy aging process.

January 16, 2014 Read more

FOM awards grant for fundamental research on black holes

Physicists at Radboud University Nijmegen receive 400.000 euros from FOM, the Dutch foundation for fundamental research on matter, to address fundamental questions about black holes.

January 14, 2014 Read more

Unravelling the web of a cosmic creeply-crawly

This new Hubble image is the best-ever view of a cosmic creepy-crawly known as the Tarantula Nebula, a region full of star clusters, glowing gas, and dark dust. Astronomers are exploring and mapping this nebula as part of the Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project, in a bid to try to understand its starry anatomy.

January 9, 2014 Read more

Hubble views stellar genesis in the Southern Pinwheel

A photogenic and favorite target for amateur astronomers, the full beauty of nearby barred spiral galaxy M83 is unveiled in all of its glory in this Hubble Space Telescope mosaic image. The vibrant magentas and blues reveal the galaxy is ablaze with star formation. The galaxy, also known as the Southern Pinwheel, lies 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra.

January 9, 2014 Read more

Quasars illuminate swiftly swirling clouds around galaxies

A new study of light from quasars has provided astronomers with illuminating insights into the swirling clouds of gas that form stars and galaxies, proving that the clouds can shift and change much more quickly than previously thought.

January 8, 2014 Read more

BOSS measures the universe to one-percent accuracy

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey makes the most precise calibration yet of the universe's 'standard ruler'.

January 8, 2014 Read more

Swift catches x-ray action at Milky Way's center (w/video)

Recent observations by NASA's Swift spacecraft have provided scientists a unique glimpse into the activity at the center of our galaxy and led to the discovery of a rare celestial entity that may help them test predictions of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

January 8, 2014 Read more

Newly discovered celestial object defies categories

An object discovered by astrophysicists at the University of Toronto nearly 500 light years away from the Sun may challenge traditional understandings about how planets and stars form. The object is located near and likely orbiting a very young star about 440 light years away from the Sun, and is leading astrophysicists to believe that there is not an easy-to-define line between what is and is not a planet.

January 8, 2014 Read more

Stormy stars? NASA's Spitzer probes weather on brown dwarfs

Swirling, stormy clouds may be ever-present on cool celestial orbs called brown dwarfs. New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that most brown dwarfs are roiling with one or more planet-size storms akin to Jupiter's 'Great Red Spot'.

January 7, 2014 Read more