Military Hush-Up: Incoming Space Rocks Now Classified

For 15 years, scientists have benefited from data gleaned by U.S. classified satellites of natural fireball events in Earth’s atmosphere – but no longer.

Long Shot: Planet Could Hit Earth in Distant Future

Our solar system has a potentially violent future. New computer simulations reveal a slight chance that a disruption of planetary orbits could lead to a collision of Earth with Mercury, Mars or Venus in the next few billion years.

Glimpse of Earth as seen from afar

Astronomers have seen what the Earth’s atmosphere might look like from outer space by using the Moon as a giant mirror. Sunlight that bounced back from the Moon carried a fingerprint of the Earth’s atmosphere that could help astronomers determine if the extrasolar planets they’re finding harbour life.

NASA TV Show NASA 360 Garners Emmy and Other Awards

NASA TV show “NASA 360″ has won an Emmy, one of the best-known awards in regional television. This is the fifth honor in recent months for the half-hour television program that explores NASA’s contributions to everyday life.

Lunar Probes Set To Launch June 17

NASA this morning confirmed plans to launch two lunar satellites from Cape Canaveral next Wednesday.

Preps For Fuel Cell Servicing In Work

NASA is preparing to load supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into shuttle Endeavour’s fuel cell system as countdown clocks tick toward the planned launch Saturday of an International Space Station assembly mission.

Feinstein Slams New Spy Sats

The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence expressed “extraordinarily serious concern” that the intelligence community and Pentagon may repeat the disaster of the Future Imagery Architecture system and made clear to Gates that there is bipartisan support on her committee for questioning the electro-optical system President Barack Obama recently approved.

Megamasers to unravel dark energy mystery

Extremely accurate measurements of ‘megamasers’ – powerful natural amplifiers of radio waves that operate similar to the way lasers amplify light – will extend the cosmic distance scale and help astronomers understand the nature of dark energy.

Another Mars Rover Is Stuck … in California

In an unassuming building at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory here, the struggle to free the Spirit rover from a patch of soft Martian sand has been brought to Earth.

Brief ISS Spacewalk Complete

An American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut this morning completed the second-ever “internal” spacewalk inside the International Space Station in just 12 minutes.

A Sleeping Giant: The Submillimeter Array Finds a Massive Core in a Cold Dark Cloud

Astronomers using the Submillimeter Array atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii have found a massive, quiescent object in a dark cloud that is likely to be the direct progenitor of a massive star or stars. Dr. Jonathan Swift of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is presenting these results today at a press conference at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Pasadena, California. This may be the first time that scientists have been able to see such a region before massive stars form

Return of the Mars Hoax

For the sixth year in a row, a message about the Red Planet is popping up in email boxes around the world. It instructs readers to go outside after dark on August 27th and behold the sky. “Mars will look as large as the full moon,” it says. “No one alive today will ever see this again.”

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Releases New High Resolution Image of the Ocean of Storms

The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) has released a newly-retrieved, high resolution image taken of the lunar surface 42 years ago.

Ultracool stars take ‘wild rides’ around, outside the Milky Way

Astronomers announced today that stars of a recently discovered type, dubbed ultracool subdwarfs, take some pretty wild rides as they orbit around the Milky Way, following paths that are very different from those of typical stars. One of them may actually be a visitor that originated in another galaxy.

Supernova Remnant is an Unusual Suspect

A new image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows a supernova remnant with a different look. This object, known as SNR 0104-72.3 (SNR 0104 for short), is in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way. Astronomers think that SNR 0104 is the remains of a so-called Type Ia supernova caused by the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf.

Glitch Forces Mars Orbiter to Reboot Main Computer

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has unexpectedly rebooted its main computer and entered a protective safe mode after being hit by stray cosmic ray or solar particle as while circling the red planet.

Cosmic Cloud Poised to Birth Massive Star

A massive, tranquil object found lurking in a dark cloud in our galaxy could be about to transform into a massive star or stars, giving astronomers their first glimpse at such a region on the cusp of stellar birth.

The Forecast on Titan: Pretty Darn Good

There are hundreds of millions of miles of the void of space between climate scientists and Saturn’s frigid moon Titan. But in spite of the distance, the scientists nearly got it right when they made a model of the moon’s climate. The only thing off was the timing.

tretched neutrinos could span the universe

TALK about misnomers. It seems the particles that Enrico Fermi dubbed neutrinos, meaning “little neutral ones”, might stretch across billions of light years.

Cosmic ‘cannonballs’ found in early universe

Astronomers have found a new clutch of tiny, dense galaxies that thrived in the early universe. But they still can’t explain why the compact objects are nowhere to be found today.

Citizen Astronomers Unite

The International Year of Astronomy isn’t just for astronomers anymore: There’s a whole constellation of projects aimed at getting regular folks like you and me involved in celestial adventures.

Weather 80 Percent Go For Launch

NASA is gearing up for the countdown to the planned launch Saturday of shuttle Endeavour and engineers are not working any technical showstoppers.

The conqueror of space disgraced by Stalin

Putting a man into orbit was an impossible dream only made a reality by the brilliant Soviet space pioneer Sergey Korolev. Uncredited in life by the Stalin regime, in death his genius is remembered by all mankind.

‘Curiosity,’ Meet Clara

Twelve-year-old Clara Ma flew from Kansas to JPL to meet and sign the next rover that will zoom millions of miles to Mars. The trip is Clara’s prize for winning an essay contest in which she named the rover “Curiosity.”

Houston, can you read me?

SPACE science is poised for lift-off. Scientists say manned missions to the moon and Mars, as well as the robotic exploration of outer space, are likely to be high on the agenda after President Barack Obama recently nominated a former space shuttle astronaut to head America’s space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

What Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Almost Forgot to Leave on the Moon: Apollo 11 and the Messages of Mankind

Forty years ago, the Apollo 11 astronauts were completing their checklist to leave the Moon when they discovered that they had forgotten something. Buzz Aldrin had already climbed back into the lunar module, Eagle, when Armstrong reminded him about a small package that contained encrypted messages on a tiny disc. Aldrin quickly remembered that he had it in his sleeve pocket, removed it, and threw it onto the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility.

GALACTIC BLACK HOLES MAY BE MORE MASSIVE THAN THOUGHT

Predictions and observations could resolve seeming mismatch between close and distant giants

One-fifth of us have lost sight of Milky Way

Light pollution has caused one-fifth of the world’s population – mostly in mainland Europe, Britain and the U.S. – to lose their ability to see the Milky Way in the night sky.

US, Europe look to partnership on Mars exploration

For almost half a century, the United States has dominated the exploration of Mars from the first grainy black-and-white pictures of the craggy surface to the more recent discovery of ice.

Tranquility attracts a crowd at KSC

In a ceremony marking the beginning of an end, NASA on Monday unveiled Tranquility — a barrel-shaped module that will be the final major U.S. addition to the International Space Station.

New technique improves estimates of pulsar ages

Astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a new technique to determine the ages of millisecond pulsars, the fastest-spinning stars in the universe.

Congress reps want space funding restored

Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas and Congressman Bill Posey are urging their colleagues to restore funding for NASA’s human spaceflight program. They sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee Monday in hopes of minimizing funding gap.

NASA Seeks Civilian Input on Space Direction

The space agency posts a Website seeking public comments, questions and suggestions about the future of U.S. manned space flights to complement President Obama’s U.S. Human Space Flight review ordered in May.

NASA Langley Helps Uncover More History at Historic Jamestowne

Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists have discovered a piece of slate in an abandoned well that was filled by 1611. The tablet is covered with sketches of New World birds, flowers, a tree and caricatures of men along with letters and numbers. The experts speculate the artwork and writing probably began in England then continued after the piece traveled from England to Jamestown.

Dawn Re-Lights the Ionic Fire

Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have received a transmission from the Dawn spacecraft confirming it has re-ignited its ion propulsion system. For those of you scoring at home, Thruster # 1 received the honors. Over the course of its eight-year mission, first to asteroid Vesta and then off to dwarf planet Ceres, Dawn’s three ion engines will accumulate 2,000 days of operation.

Air Force terminates satellite contract

The Air Force said Monday that it has formally terminated contracts with companies that include Lockheed Martin Corp. for a communications satellite system, a move that comes after Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he wanted to cancel the program.

Of Telescopes and Ticks: How Mount Wilson Observatory Became an Infectious Disease Study Site

Larry Webster has been working at Mount Wilson Observatory outside Los Angeles for more than 30 years, doing everything from keeping toilets flushing and adjusting mirrors to mapping sunspots. In September 2006, the 51-year-old solar observer came into work looking more like he was 90. He was dehydrated, jaundiced and had lost a lot of weight. Although he spent a month in and out of emergency rooms for symptoms of nausea and vomiting, doctors were uncertain what had caused his illness.

NASA Unveils New Tranquility Module At KSC

In a ceremony that marked the beginning of an end, NASA on Monday unveiled the U.S. Tranquility module — a barrel-shaped spacecraft that will be the final major American addition to the International Space Station.

NASA wants you to just dance

Want to “get down” with NASA? NASA.gov has an interactive Web feature that allows people to upload pictures of themselves and integrate the photo with a dancing astronaut.

Galactic “Skid Marks” Trace Cosmic Collisions

Galaxies on collision courses with one another fling out long tendrils of debris as they come together, new images have revealed.

Mystery of “Dark” Star Explosions Solved?

Cosmic “dust bunnies” hiding in corners of distant galaxies are taking the dazzle out of some of the universe’s brightest explosions, new research suggests.

Most Massive Black Holes Heavier Than Thought

The black hole heavyweight of the nearby universe could be an even heftier behemoth than previously believed.
A new computer model suggests the supermassive black hole at the heart of the giant galaxy M87 weighs the same as 6.4 billion suns—two to three times heavier than previous estimates.

SPACE PHOTOS THIS WEEK: Mars Crater, “Spiders,” and More

Part of a relatively recent impact crater cuts a bright crescent across the Martian plains in a newly released image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Famous Star Is Shrinking, Puzzling Astronomers

One of the largest known stars in the universe is shrinking rapidly, and astronomers don’t know why.
Betelgeuse (pronounced almost like “beetle juice”) is a red supergiant star 600 light-years away in the constellation Orion. From Earth the star is clearly visible with the naked eye as the reddish dot that marks Orion’s left shoulder.

“Human”-Faced Missing Link Found in Spain?

An 11.9-million-year-old fossil ape species with an unusually flat, “surprisingly human” face has been found in Spain. The discovery suggests humans’ ape ancestors split from primitive apes in Europe, not Africa—the so-called cradle of humanity—a new study says.

Hurricane Forecast Revised as El Nino Potential Grows

The Atlantic hurricane season just began Monday, and already forecasters are tweaking their predictions.
With an El Niño looking increasingly likely later this summer, Colorado State University meteorologists lowered their hurricane forecast this week.

Mystery Ingredient Cleaning Earth’s Atmosphere

Mother Nature has a previously unknown cleaning agent that scrubs away toxic air pollution, scientists have discovered.
What’s more, the existence of the still mysterious substance has shaken up decades-long assumptions about our atmosphere’s self-cleaning process.

China to begin third excavation of terracotta army site

Chinese archaeologists will begin the third excavation of the famous terracotta army site on Saturday, hoping to find more clay figures and unravel some of the mysteries left behind by the “First Emperor”.

Long-lost World War II sub found off Swedish coast

Lighthouse keeper J.A. Eckerman was the last person to see World War II Soviet submarine S-2 before it sank in January 1940 between Sweden and Finland. As the submarine dove near the island of Market, northwest of Aland, Eckerman heard a loud explosion and saw smoke rise from the water.

1,600 antiquities for Italy

The secret collection John Sisto kept in his Berwyn bungalow had letters written by kings, Vatican documents penned by Catholic popes and even a handwritten book preface by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Mysterious Inscribed Slate Discovered at Jamestown

Archaeologists in Jamestown, Virginia, have discovered a rare inscribed slate tablet dating back some 400 years, to the early days of America’s first permanent English settlement.

Ancient Underwater Camps, Caribou Traps in Great Lake?

Under North America’s second largest lake, robot-assisted archaeologists may have discovered prehistoric American camps and long “drive lanes” built to guide caribou to their deaths, a new study says (caribou pictures and facts).

Plough uncovers suspected chambered tomb

What appears to be a Neolithic chambered tomb has been unearthed on the outskirts of Kirkwall.
The underground structure was discovered by John Hourie, Heathfield, St Ola, while ploughing. He reported it to his neighbour, archaeologist Caroline Wickham Jones, who contacted the county archaeologist Julie Gibson.

ong-lost Armenian ship, the stuff of legend, to become a “living museum” in the Caribbean

This has been a mystery three centuries in the making.
Burned and scuttled off the coast of this former Spanish colony, an Armenian merchant ship captured by British privateer Captain William Kidd has since become the stuff of legend and an elusive prize for treasure hunters.

Could Human Altruism Have Evolved Because of War?

It may sound like a paradox, but a new theory suggests that one of humanity’s most noble instincts, altruism, evolved on bloody battlefields in prehistoric times.

Italian archeologists find commoner’s neighborhoods in Persepolis

A joint Iranian-Italian archeological mission in Iran has made an exceptional discovery: the archeologists have found the first traces of the urban settlement in Persepolis, one of the five capitals of the Achaemenid Empire in ancient Persia, the construction of which began in 520 BC under the Emperor Darius the Great and lasted almost seventy years.

Can Alexandria’s ancient lighthouse, considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, be rebuilt to shine as it did before?

Peru finds human sacrifices from Inca civilization

Researchers at an archeological site in northern Peru have made an unusually large discovery of nearly three dozen people sacrificed some 600 years ago by the Incan civilization.

University of Florida: Epic carving on fossil bone found in Vero Beach

In what a top Florida anthropologist is calling “the oldest, most spectacular and rare work of art in the Americas,” an amateur Vero Beach fossil hunter has found an ancient bone etched with a clear image of a walking mammoth or mastodon.

This message generated in part with programming by LinuxTech.