NASA Checks Out Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
First, the good news. There are fewer asteroids near Earth than previously estimated. Now the bad news. A new NASA survey also finds there may be more than twice as many aligned with Earth’s orbit than thought, which could increase the odds of an asteroid coming close enough to us to cause concern. The findings […]
SpaceX Marks New Commercial Era in Space Exploration
Yesterday’s successful launch of SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon reusable spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida, marked what NASA administrator Charles Bolden called “the beginning of a new era in exploration.” Now that the Dragon is in space, technicians are testing its capability of rendezvousing and docking with the International Space Station, where it […]
Science Scanner: NASA Detects Light from Earth-like Planet
It what it calls an historic step in the search for signs of life on other planets, NASA says its astronomers have detected light coming from a “super-Earth” planet 41 light years away. It marks the first time direct light from a rocky super-Earth planet has been seen, researchers said. The planet, called 55 Cancri […]
Search for ET Centers Around Newly-discovered Earth-like Planets
The recent discovery of Earth-like planets has changed the way scientists look for life on other planets, according to the scientist who inspired Jodie Foster’s character in “Contact,” a 1997 film about the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. Astronomer Dr. Jill Tarter, director of the SETI Institute’s Center for SETI Research in California, has devoted her […]
Are We Alone in the Universe?
Many of us believe finding some form of life beyond our own planet is inevitable, and the recent discovery of Earth-like planets – in a region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface – has renewed excitement about eventually finding extra-terrestrial life. However, two Princeton University researchers suggest those expectations may be more […]
Coils of Lava Found on Mars
An Arizona State University graduate student has discovered unique spiral patterns in solidified lava flows on the surface of Mars. In a paper published in Science, Andrew Ryan describes the snail-like patterns as ranging in size from about one meter to 30 meters across. While lava flows such as these have been found on the […]
Titanic Director Backs Venture to Mine Platinum from Asteroids
What do filmmaker and deep sea explorer, James Cameron, and Google co-founder, Larry Page, have in common? They’re both backing a new venture to extract natural resources, such as precious metals and water, from more than 1,500 near-Earth asteroids (NEA). The firm that plans to turn what sounds like science fiction into science fact is […]
Mystery Objects Spotted Piercing Saturn’s Ring
A NASA space probe studying Saturn recently treated scientists to a bit of a surprise – rather odd little objects piercing in and out the planet’s F Ring, leaving a glittering trail of mini-jets behind. The objects appear to travel in packs, producing multiple mini-jets which look like the barb of a harpoon. Scientists already […]
Like Sports Teams, Solar Systems May Swap Planets
Like sports teams swapping players, billions of stars within our own galaxy may have traded planets which once wandered freely throughout the galaxy in interstellar space with each other. Those findings, from a new study, could explain why some planets within a solar system have an orbit far from their host stars. The study’s authors […]
Look Out for Hurtling ‘Space Junk’
When a hunk of space junk came hurtling close to the International Space Station last week, the crew took shelter in their Soyuz return vehicle as a precaution. Although the object – piece of an old Russian Cosmos communications satellite – bypassed them, the danger posed by the growing collection of orbital debris is quite […]