Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

ALMA sheds light on planet-forming gas streams

Tantalizing signs of flows feeding gas-guzzling giant planets.

January 2, 2013 Read more

Galactic geysers fuelled by star stuff

Enormous outflows of charged particles from the centre of our Galaxy, stretching more than halfway across the sky and moving at supersonic speeds, have been detected and mapped with CSIRO's 64-m Parkes radio telescope.

January 2, 2013 Read more

Robotic platform that could take space exploration to new heights

An autonomous system for exploring the solar system's smaller members, such as moons and asteroids, could bring us closer to a human mission to Mars.

January 2, 2013 Read more

A eulogy to Herschel

With its 2160 litres of liquid helium about to run out, the Herschel Space Observatory will, by the end of March, become just another piece of space junk.

January 2, 2013 Read more

Study shows space travel is harmful to the brain

As if space travel was not already filled with enough dangers, a new study shows that cosmic radiation - which would bombard astronauts on deep space missions to places like Mars - could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

January 2, 2013 Read more

Magnetic fields created before the first stars: Physicist calculates field strengths in the early universe

Researchers describe a new mechanism for the magnetisation of the universe even before the emergence of the first stars.

January 2, 2013 Read more

An image gallery gift from NASA's Swift satellite

Of the three telescopes carried by NASA's Swift satellite, only one captures cosmic light at energies similar to those seen by the human eye. Although small by the standards of ground-based observatories, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) plays a critical role in rapidly pinpointing the locations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the brightest explosions in the cosmos.

December 29, 2012 Read more

NASA encourages public to explore its curiosity with new rover-themed badge on Foursquare

NASA and the mobile application Foursquare have teamed up to help the public unlock its scientific curiosity with a new rover-themed Curiosity Explorer badge.

December 28, 2012 Read more

China launches rival GPS satellite system

China has launched commercial and public services across the Asia-Pacific region on its domestic satellite navigation network built to rival the US global positioning system.

December 28, 2012 Read more

New free e-books available about two famous NASA space telescopes

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been providing astounding images of the universe since April 1990 and has led to remarkable discoveries. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the next-generation telescope that will peer even deeper into space and unveil even more mysteries. Both of these extraordinary telescopes are now the topics of two free e-books available from the Apple iBookstore.

December 22, 2012 Read more

From super to ultra: Just how big can black holes get?

Some of the biggest black holes in the Universe may actually be even bigger than previously thought, according to a study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

December 21, 2012 Read more

Clays on Mars: More plentiful than expected

A new study indicates that clay minerals, rocks that usually form when water is present for long periods of time, cover a larger portion of Mars than previously thought.

December 21, 2012 Read more

Chinese space probe flies by asteroid Toutatis

China's space probe Chang'e-2 has successfully conducted a maneuver in which it flew by the asteroid Toutatis, about seven million km away from the Earth.

December 21, 2012 Read more

New meteorite suggests that asteroid surfaces more complex than previously thought

Meteorites that had fallen from an asteroid impact that lit up the skies over California and Nevada in April are showing scientists just how complex an asteroid surface can be.

December 20, 2012 Read more

Stars reveal the secrets of looking young

In certain circumstances, stars can be given a new burst of life, receiving extra fuel that bulks them up and substantially brightens them. This can happen if one star pulls matter off a neighbour, or if they collide.

December 19, 2012 Read more

Closest Sun-like star may have planets

An international team of scientists, including Carnegie's Paul Butler, has discovered that Tau Ceti, one of the closest and most Sun-like stars, may have five planets.

December 19, 2012 Read more

Researchers find a 'glitch' in pulsar 'glitch' theory

Researchers from the University of Southampton have called in to question a 40 year-old theory explaining the periodic speeding up or 'glitching' of pulsars.

December 18, 2012 Read more

A swoosh in space: Merry Christmas from Hubble

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the holiday season with a striking image of the planetary nebula NGC 5189. The intricate structure of the stellar eruption looks like a giant and brightly coloured ribbon in space.

December 18, 2012 Read more