1–20 of 32 results
White spots on Ceres

Space Missions

Dawn Sees Ceres Bright Spots and More

New results from the Dawn orbiter show bright spots, a pyramid-shape mountain, and mysterious haze on the dwarf planet Ceres.

Kapteyn b illustration

Exoplanets

Kapteyn b: Exoplanet or Illusion?

Recent research casts doubt on whether nearby Kapteyn b, a supposed super-Earth circling in its star’s habitable zone, is a planet at all.

Exoplanets

Volcanoes on a Super-Earth?

Observations of nearby super-Earth 55 Cancri e reveal huge, as-yet unexplained changes in the exoplanet’s infrared emission, and volcanoes are one possible cause.

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/ngc2276/index.html

Black Holes

Potential Mid-size Black Hole Found

Scientists have found what seems to be an intermediate-mass black hole in a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years away. If its size is confirmed, it could provide much-needed insight into black hole evolution.

Esquel, a pallasite meteorite

Solar System

The Long-Lived Magnetic Fields of Meteorites

The magnetic fields in the asteroid parent bodies of two pallasite meteorites lasted hundreds of millions of years after our solar system’s formation.

Space Missions

Rosetta Update: Philae Landed in a Hole

The exact location of Philae’s landing site remains unknown, though the site’s topography might allow the lander to operate longer than planned. Meanwhile, Rosetta is detecting organics and heavy elements even when Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko is far from the Sun.

Celestial News & Events

The 2014 Autumnal Equinox Arrives

Astronomically speaking, the fall season comes to the Northern Hemisphere on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 02:29 UTC (Monday, September 22 at 10:29 p.m. EDT). At that moment, the Sun passes over the Earth’s equator heading south; this event is called the autumnal equinox.

Space Missions

Rosetta Catches Its Comet

On August 6th, the ESA's Rosetta spacecraft finally completed its decade-long voyage to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Galaxies

Pro-Am Collaboration Yields Stunning Images

Amateur astronomers have teamed up with the pros to produce four stunning multiwavelength images of galaxies M101, M81, M51, and Centaurus A.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA18079

Space Missions

Opportunity Rover Gets a Cleaning

The Mars rover Opportunity has been cleaned of heavy dust coating its solar panels, thanks to some strong winds blowing over the rim of Endeavour Crater.

http://sites.agu.org/newsroom/files/2014/04/14-20-combo-graphic-2000-pixels.jpg

Solar System

An Asteroid to Rule Them All

Scientists have new insight into the damage caused by a Rhode Island–size asteroid that hit Earth more than 3 billion years ago, making the rock that wiped out the dinosaurs look like a lightweight.

LADEE over the Moon

Solar System

LADEE Skims the Moon Before Crash

NASA has a fully functioning spacecraft orbiting the Moon, all science goals completed, and a lunar eclipse coming up. It's a perfect opportunity to make some risky but potentially rewarding swoops within 2 miles of the lunar surface.

Mars with strange weather

Celestial News & Events

Brightest Mars in Six Years

Mars is making its nearest and brightest appearance in the night sky since the end of 2007.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2013/12/Rosetta_and_Philae_at_comet

Solar System

Rosetta Spots Its Comet

The European Space Agency’s comet-chasing spacecraft has imaged its destination for the first time since waking up from 957 days of hibernation.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2000/2000/37/image/a/

Cosmology

Dust in the Heart of Circinus

Infrared observations of the Circinus Galaxy may help reveal the shape of the dusty region fueling its active galactic nucleus and shed light on what governs dust structures in other galaxies.

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/gigapan_small_str01.serendipityThumb.png

Solar System

Interactive Mosaic of Moon's North Pole

With the first interactive lunar north pole mosaic released by the NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team you can explore an area of the Moon’s northern hemisphere about the size of Alaska and Texas combined.

http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1404/

Cosmology

Hubble Displays Galactic Jellyfish

These stunning new images of spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 highlight its violent encounter with the intracluster plasma of Abell 3627, which is stripping away its gas and forming stars in the streamers.

pulsar with beam

Cosmology

Rocky Encounter with Stellar Lighthouse

Asteroid debris might be bombarding a radio pulsar in the constellation Puppis.

Exoplanets

Red Sky for Brown Dwarf

Astronomers have discovered a new “failed star” with unusually red, dusty skies. The dust makes the object look much younger than it actually is, complicating studies of this type of brown dwarf.

Solar System

New Splat on Mars

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera captured this stunning image of a fresh impact on the Martian surface.

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