Mars Makes Closest Approach to Earth in More Than a Decade
Do you want to get a good look at Mars? Well now is the time to catch the Red Planet as it makes its closest approach to Earth in the past eleven years. Every 26 months in an event called an opposition by astronomers – Mars and the Sun happen to be on opposite sides […]
Black Hole Mass Measured; Ice Sheets on Mars; Saliva Diagnoses Disease
Astronomers Precisely Measure Black Hole Mass A group of astronomers have been able to determine the precise mass of a distant black hole in the center of an enormous elliptical galaxy 73 million light years away. The galaxy is called NGC 1332 and is located in the direction of the southern constellation Eridanus. To measure […]
April 2016 Science Images
20 Years to Alpha Centauri; NASA’s Expandable Habitat; Elements of an Apology
Proposed Spacecraft Will Take 20 Years to Reach Alpha Centauri Renowned physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking and Russian internet investor and physicist Yuri Milner recently announced an ambitious new project they hope will someday send thousands of tiny spacecraft to the stars to explore space and search for life in the universe. Called ‘Breakthrough Starshot,’ […]
March, 2016 Science Images
Bright Spots of Ceres; Rotten Tomatoes Produces Energy; Black Hole Flashes Red
Earth Based Telescope Provides New Insight on the Bright Spots of Ceres The dwarf planet Ceres is the largest body in the asteroid belt, which is a large collection of small to very large space rocks between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Among the features of the dwarf planet that’s fascinated a lot of […]
Zika Kills Cells Crucial to Brain Development; Did Volcanoes Cause Mars to Tilt?
Study: Zika Virus Infects and Kills Fetal Cerebral Cortex Cells This birth defect can cause babies to be born with an unusually small head and inhibited brain development. The scientists, who made their findings based on experiments performed with lab-grown human stem cells, discovered that the Zika virus is attracted to and infects the cells […]
Antarctic Dinosaur Hunt; 60 Days in Bed For Science; Noise May Disturb Sea Floor Ecosystem
Did Some of Today’s Species Get Their Start in Antarctica? We know Antarctica is the land of snow and ice and is the coldest place on Earth. But believe it or not, this polar continent, was once quite warm, due to the different, earlier atmosphere. Antarctica was covered with lush vegetation and teeming with a […]
First Flight of NASA’s New Space Launch System Will Carry 13 CubeSats
NASA says the planned 2018 inaugural flight of its new and powerful rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), will test the performance of the SLS and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system before it can be used to send humans into space. This initial flight, called Exploration Mission-1 or EM-1, will also carry 13 CubeSats […]
Hormone Cuts Sugar Craving; inSight Launch Delayed; Space Telescope Mirrors
Hormone Cuts Sugar Craving in Mice For those of us with an active “sweet tooth”, it can be really difficult to resist sweet treats like candy, cake and cookies. But with diseases and conditions associated with eating sugary foods like diabetes, heart disease and obesity at or near epidemic levels it’s important not to overindulge […]