Space

Long Lost Soviet Reflector Found On Lunar Surface

A long lost light reflector left on the lunar surface by the Soviet Union nearly 40 years ago has been found by a team of NASA physicists. The French-built laser reflector was sent aboard the unmanned Luna 17 mission, which landed on the moon November 17, ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 27 2010 - 4:35pm

Astronomers Find Water On 24 Themis Asteroid's Surface

Astronomers have found evidence of water ice and organic material on the asteroid 24 Themis. The findings, detailed in Nature, support the idea that asteroids could be responsible for bringing water and organic material to Earth, researchers say. Using NAS ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 28 2010 - 6:27pm

New Evidence For "Survivor" Black Holes In M82

Astronomers have found signatures in X-ray data suggesting that two mid-sized black holes exist close to the center of the nearby starburst galaxy M82, located 12 million light years from Earth. These "survivor" black holes avoided falling into t ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 29 2010 - 12:54pm

Astrophysicists Unveil Atlas Of Nuclear Rings

An international team of astrophysicists has just unveiled the most complete atlas of nuclear rings, enormous star-forming ring-shaped regions that circle certain galactic nuclei. The catalog, just published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 29 2010 - 2:11pm

NASA's Moon Missions Launch Pad Leader, Guenter Wendt, Dies At 85

There was a time when kids dreamt of being astronauts- a time when going up to the Moon was sexy and being a spaceman was the coolest job on the planet. As astronauts became global heroes they themselves were only too aware that there were many more heroes ...

Article - Richard Mankiewicz - May 3 2010 - 2:20pm

Gas Cloud BYF73 May Help Explain Star Formation

An international team of researchers has captured an enormous cloud of cosmic gas and dust- BYF73- in the process of collapsing in on itself, a discovery which could help explain how massive stars form. The team’s findings have been published in the Monthl ...

Article - News Staff - May 3 2010 - 11:57am

Growing Strawberries In Space?

Astronauts could one day tend their own crops on long space missions, and researchers from Purdue say a variety of strawberry called Seascape seems to meet the requirements for becoming a space crop. Seascape strawberries are day-neutral, meaning they aren ...

Article - News Staff - May 3 2010 - 1:55pm

Galaxy 15 Wasn't My Satellite, Officer!

A satellite recently made the news for careening out of order and threatening other satellites with its unplanned path and bad driving. I just want to point out, that is not my satellite. Not my fault. I wasn't there.  I have an alibi! Short recap: Th ...

Article - Project Calliope - May 4 2010 - 7:53am

Galaxy Cluster Abell 315- "Tip Of The Iceberg"

A new wide-field image released today by ESO has captured a large group  of galaxies belonging to the massive cluster known as Abell 315. As crowded as it may appear, this assembly of galaxies is only the proverbial "tip of the iceberg", as Abell ...

Article - News Staff - May 5 2010 - 10:37am

Cloud RCW 120 Findings Challenge Old Theories Of Star Formation

The ESA's Herschel infrared space observatory is capturing new images from thousands of distant galaxies as they furiously build stars and beautiful star-forming clouds. The photographic evidence reveals previously hidden details and challenges old id ...

Article - News Staff - May 6 2010 - 3:51pm