Space

A 32-foot asteroid flew between the Earth and the Moon this morning. It was spotted in advance. It did not hit the Earth, but passed about 28,000 miles up. If it had hit the Earth, it would not have done damage. One of this size tends to hit the Earth& ...

Article - Project Calliope - Oct 12 2010 - 10:07pm

Told ya- "Goldilocks" planet Gliese 581g with "100%" chance of life may not even exist

Two weeks ago we posted a story on Gliese 581g- a planet that was discovered and said to be in the habitable zone of a star. Our comment was that reduced chi-squared statistics may mean that, if there was an error, it would not even exist. ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Oct 19 2010 - 10:27pm

SPT-CL J0546-5345 Is The Most Massive Galaxy Cluster Yet Discovered

What's 7 billion light years away, equivalent in weight to 800,000,000,000,000 of our Suns and holds hundreds of galaxies? It's the most galaxy cluster ever discovered, that's what. Astronomers using the South Pole Telescope discovered th ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 13 2010 - 1:56pm

The San José Mine In Chile- And Space

Human presence in space enable us to do more than just observe Earth from a far. We develop space technology that come in handy here on Earth in numerous applications. Or, as is so touchingly demonstrated in the Chilean miners rescue 'miracle ', ...

Article - Bente Lilja Bye - Oct 15 2010 - 5:45am

How Might Astronomers Weigh Stars?

How do astronomers weigh stars? In most cases stars that are trillions of miles away can't be measured, though astronomers can get a best estimate using numerical models. But in some instances a star could be measured using inference. If the st ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 15 2010 - 3:52pm

P/2010 A2: X-Shaped Intruder In The Asteroid Belt

What happens when you think you have seen a recent collision between two asteroids but find a bizarre X-shaped object at the head of a comet-like trail of material? You keep looking until you can figure it out. In January, astronomers thought the new co ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 16 2010 - 10:26am

Observe The Close Encounter Of Comet 103P/Hartley 2

Skimming by Earth as close as 11 million miles on October 20, the apparently young Hartley 2 comet will be nearly visible to the unaided eye. With binoculars, it will appear even better as a fuzzy, green blob, and a backyard telescope will offer excellent ...

Article - Matthew T. Dearing - Oct 19 2010 - 1:49am

DIY NASA Crafts For $$$

Is stating 'DIY' and 'Craft' redundant? Perhaps, but the main story is about the cooler, hipper NASA teaming up with Etsy. The premise: make a NASA-y shuttle-related artwork or handicraft and you can both sell it and win prizes. They ...

Article - Project Calliope - Oct 19 2010 - 11:21am

UDFy-38135539 Is Most Distant Galaxy Ever Measured

Astronomers report they have measured the distance to the most remote galaxy and have found that they are seeing it when the Universe was only about 600 million years old (a redshift of 8.6), making those the first confirmed observations of a galaxy whose ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 20 2010 - 12:39pm

Sex On Mars

I enjoy a good romp in the hay as much as the next space scientist, and I'd love to go to Mars, so it's nice to see that researchers are tackling both issues simultaneously. Further, there are few things as satisfying as a good review article. A ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Oct 22 2010 - 3:00am