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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.

Jul 9th, 2014

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.

Jul 9th, 2014

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.

Jul 9th, 2014

New technology illuminates colder objects in deep space

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

Jul 9th, 2014

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.

Jul 9th, 2014

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.

Jul 8th, 2014

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.

Jul 8th, 2014

The Cassini orbiter - orbiting the icy world of Saturn for 10 years

This Methuselah among space explorers, designed to explore celestial bodies in the far reaches of the Solar System, has been circling Saturn for 10 years.

Jul 8th, 2014

Cosmic accounting reveals missing light crisis

Something is amiss in the Universe. There appears to be an enormous deficit of ultraviolet light in the cosmic budget. The vast reaches of empty space between galaxies are bridged by tendrils of hydrogen and helium, which can be used as a precise 'light meter.' In a recent study a team of scientists finds that the light from known populations of galaxies and quasars is not nearly enough to explain observations of intergalactic hydrogen. The difference is a stunning 400 percent.

Jul 8th, 2014

A hotspot for powerful cosmic rays

An observatory found a 'hotspot' beneath the Big Dipper emitting a disproportionate number of the highest-energy cosmic rays. The discovery moves physics another step toward identifying the mysterious sources of the most energetic particles in the universe.

Jul 8th, 2014

Small, but plentiful: How the faintest galaxies illuminated the early universe (w/video)

Light from tiny galaxies over 13 billion years ago played a larger role than previously thought in creating the conditions in the universe as we know it today, a new study has found.

Jul 7th, 2014

Dropship offers safe landings for Mars rovers (w/video)

The dramatic conclusion to ESA's latest StarTiger project: a 'dropship' quadcopter steers itself to lower a rover gently onto a safe patch of the rocky martian surface. StarTiger's Dropter project was tasked with developing and demonstrating a European precision-landing capability for Mars and other targets.