When Japan’s Hayabusa space probe returned home from a sever-year odyssey this month, we got to see the amazing video as it broke up in a brilliant flash in the atmosphere and deposited its sample container (hopefully containing asteroid material) in Australia. Three high school students from Massachusetts, however, got a much better view. They [...]
Astronomers have confirmed that an object in an image from 2008 — thought at the time to possibly be a direct image of a planet orbiting another star — is in fact a planet. I’ll explain in a sec, but I want people to understand that this discovery is being touted as the first direct [...]
From a Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope press release: An international team unveiled the origin of the giant gas ring in the Leo group of galaxies. With the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the scientists were able to detect an optical signature of the ring corresponding to star forming regions. This observation rules out the primordial nature of the gas, which [...]
It’s time once again for another Where In The Universe Challenge. Test your visual knowledge of the cosmos by naming where in the Universe this image was taken and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft/telescope responsible for this picture. Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back on later [...]
From an ESO press release: This magnificent view of the region around the star R Coronae Australis was created from images taken with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. R Coronae Australis lies at the heart of a nearby star-forming region and is surrounded by a delicate bluish reflection [...]
From the Royal Astronomical Society Many of the Milky Way’s ancient stars are remnants of other smaller galaxies torn apart by violent galactic collisions around five billion years ago, according to researchers at Durham University, who publish their results in a new paper in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. (...)Read the [...]
From the University of Arizona The first experimental evidence showing how atmospheric nitrogen can be incorporated into organic macromolecules is being reported by a University of Arizona team. The finding indicates what organic molecules might be found on Titan, the moon of Saturn that scientists think is a model for the chemistry of pre-life Earth. [...]
Emotional contagion in soccer penalty shootouts: Celebration of individual success is associated with ultimate team success.
“We examined the association between celebratory responses after successful soccer penalty kicks and the outcome of a penalty shootout. Individually displayed post-shot behaviours in penalty shootouts held in World Cups and European Championships (N = 151) were rated on the [...]
From a JPL press release: Mars rover team members have begun informally naming features around the rim of Endeavour Crater, as they develop plans to investigate that destination when NASA's Opportunity rover arrives there after many more months of driving. A new, super-resolution view of a portion of Endeavour's rim reveals details that were not [...]
, Subscribe Give a Gift Archives Customer Service SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Blogs The Intersection Do Scientists Understand the Public Do Scientists Understand the Public , . Cont More Hungry Children , Fewer Free Meals by Sheril Kirshenbaum Last week , I began writing about the relationship between energy and food a topic that I intend to explore in detail over the coming months . That post dealt with limited micronutrients in other parts of the world , but just because they are more readily available here in the US does not mean that our children are getting what they . need Today the Food Research and Action Center an anti-hunger group that tracks summer meal programs–released a report
Although, as we look further and deeper into the sky, we are always looking into the past – there are other ways of gaining information about the universe’s ancient history. Low mass, low metal stars may be remnants of the early universe and carry valuable information about the environment of that early universe.(...)Read the rest [...]
The re-purposed Deep Impact spacecraft will make one final flyby of Earth on Sunday June 27, 2010, getting a gravity assist to help propel the spacecraft towards a meetup with comet Hartley 2 this fall. The spacecraft bus that brought the Deep Impact "impactor" to comet Tempel 1 in July of 2005 has been put [...]
I just took a look at Heaven's Above to check on when I could see the International Space Station this weekend, and got the surprise of my life! On Saturday (June 26) I have 5 — count 'em — 5 opportunities to see it! That is completely unusual, so what's up? For the next few [...]
Sunrises are beautiful almost any place in the world, but for some reason first light every morning over Central Florida is almost always breathtaking. Then, if you add into the mix a sunrise over Kennedy Space Center — America's Spaceport — any space geek will likely melt with delight. Thanks to Jen Scheer, a shuttle [...]
Ever read Isaac Asimov's 1950's novel "Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus"? Maybe Asimov wasn't so wrong about Venus after all. Analyzing data from ESA’s Venus Express, planetary scientists are looking at the possibility that the planet may have once harbored oceans, and potentially could have been habitable when during its early history. (...)Read [...]
No sooner do we post one article about water on Mars when it's time for another. Planetary scientists have uncovered telltale signs of water on Mars — frozen and liquid — in the earliest period of the Red Planet’s history. They found evidence of running water that sprang from glaciers throughout the Martian middle latitudes [...]
Wake up, SkyWatchers! A partial lunar eclipse is coming your way on June 26, 2010. While the real visible action will be best in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, observers to the east will be able to catch the beginning of the lunar eclipse and observers to the west will catch the end of [...]
By looking at the mineralogy deep inside craters on Mars' northern plains and comparing it to the makeup of regions in the southern hemisphere, scientists have found that widespread liquid water likely altered the majority of Red Planet's crust about 4 billion years ago. However, the new findings do not support other recent studies that [...]
Likely, future interstellar flights will not include the exoplanet HD209458b as a featured get-away destination. Not only is this extrasolar planet a scorchingly hot world where the poisonous carbon monoxide atmosphere is being evaporated, but new observations show this gas giant also has superstorms with winds of 5,000 to 10,000 km per hour. "It's definitely [...]
David Bradley Science Writer
Just when you’d given up hope of another starburst, a third type comes along unannounced! This third class of previously unidentified supernova could help explain some anomalous observations in the night sky and even how our bodies come to contain so much calcium.
Until recently, astronomers had assumed there were just two types [...]