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It was unprecedented developing a mission that could fly four identically equipped spacecraft in a tight formation and take measurements 100 times faster than any previous space mission - an achievement enabled in part by four NASA-developed technologies that in some cases took nearly 10 years to mature.
Apr 29th, 2015
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How soon after the Big Bang could water have existed? Not right away, because water molecules contain oxygen and oxygen had to be formed in the first stars. Then that oxygen had to disperse and unite with hydrogen in significant amounts. New theoretical work finds that despite these complications, water vapor could have been just as abundant in pockets of space a billion years after the Big Bang as it is today.
Apr 28th, 2015
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Cosmic blast is intermediate example between 'ordinary' supernovae and ones that produce gamma-ray bursts.
Apr 27th, 2015
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Astrophysicists have created a 3D map of the universe that spans nearly two billion light years and is the most complete picture of our cosmic neighbourhood to date.
Apr 27th, 2015
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Describing the universe requires fewer dimensions than we might think; new calculations show that this may not just be a mathematical trick, but a fundamental feature of space itself.
Apr 27th, 2015
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The E-sail is a novel propellantless technology that was invented in Finland in 2006. The E-sail utilises long, charged tethers to convert natural solar wind momentum flux into spacecraft thrust.
Apr 27th, 2015
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A long-standing puzzle regarding the nature of disk galaxies has finally been solved by a team of astronomers using state-of-the-art theoretical models.
Apr 24th, 2015
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We know of about two dozen runaway stars, and have even found one runaway star cluster escaping its galaxy forever. Now, astronomers have spotted 11 runaway galaxies that have been flung out of their homes to wander the void of intergalactic space.
Apr 23rd, 2015
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Tests carried out in zero-gravity on board the FOKUS research rocket. Successful demonstration of technology for the QUANTUS mission.
Apr 23rd, 2015
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The list of potential life-supporting planets just got a little shorter.
Apr 22nd, 2015
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Celestial bodies made up of frozen water orbit not only at the outer limits of our solar system but also further inside.
Apr 22nd, 2015
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New technique paints promising picture for future.
Apr 22nd, 2015
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The celestial body seems to be Ceres' big brother and will soon receive a visit from a space probe.
Apr 22nd, 2015
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Comets eject gas and dust into space. Primarily, this takes place on the areas of the comet's surface exposed to direct sunlight. In mid-March, from a distance of 75 kilometres, the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) on board the Rosetta orbiter acquired images of an extraordinary phenomenon occurring on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A new dust jet - its origins currently unknown - was suddenly released from the shadowed side.
Apr 21st, 2015
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Astronomers are tracking velocity structures and gaseous metallicities in galaxies in two protoclusters located in the direction of the constellation Serpens. The clusters appear as they would have looked 11 billion years ago, and the team concluded that they are in the process of cluster formation that has led to present-day galaxy clusters.
Apr 21st, 2015
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Astrophysicists have not only proven that a supermassive black hole exists in a place where it isn't supposed to be, but in doing so have opened a new door to what things were like in the early universe.
Apr 20th, 2015
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