Space

BOLIDES - Visualizing meteorites

How Far is it to Mars?

Binary star system found right under our noses In a day when we have examined astronomical objects shining forth from a time shortly after the Big Bang , one would think astronomers have a pretty good handle on what is in the immediate vicinity of the Solar System. That's why the recent report of a binary star lying only 6.5 light-years away came as rather a surprise to the astronomical community. The pair, called WISE J1049-5319 A and B, are brown dwarf stars and only two star systems – the triple star Alpha Centauri, and Barnard's Star – lie closer to our Sun. In December of 2009, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) was launched into a polar orbit at an altitude of 525 km (326 miles) back in 2009.

Nasa says life could have existed on Mars

A new asteroid-mining company launched Tuesday with the goal of helping humanity expand across the solar system by tapping the vast riches of space rocks. The new firm, called Deep Space Industries, Inc., announced today (Jan. 22) that it plans to launch a fleet of prospecting spacecraft in 2015, then begin harvesting metals and water from near-Earth asteroids within a decade or so. Such work could make it possible to build and refuel spacecraft far above our planet's surface, thus helping our species get a foothold in the final frontier. "Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development ," Deep Space CEO David Gump said in a statement. Deep Space Industries will hold a press conference today in Santa Monica, Calif., at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. New Asteroid-Mining Company Aims to Spur Space Settlement

Black holes growing faster than expected › News in Science (ABC Science) News in Science Thursday, 17 January 2013 Stuart Gary ABC Black hole find Existing theories on the relationship between the size of a galaxy and its central black hole are wrong according to a new Australian study. The discovery by Dr Nicholas Scott and Professor Alister Graham, from Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology , found smaller galaxies have far smaller black holes than previously estimated. Central black holes, millions to billions of times more massive than the Sun, reside in the core of most galaxies, and are thought to be integral to galactic formation and evolution.

100,000 Stars

ISS Tracker

Carl Sagan's Message to Mars Explorers, with a Gentle Warning by Maria Popova “Whatever the reason you’re on Mars is, I’m glad you’re there. And I wish I was with you.” Several months before his death in 1996, Carl Sagan — who twenty years prior had co-composed the Arecibo message as part of the Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence (CETI) project and sent the Golden Record into space — sat down in his home at 900 Stewart Avenue in Ithaca, New York, and recorded a moving message to the future explorers, conquerors, and settlers of Mars. As NASA’s Curiosity Rover makes history this week, Sagan’s words echo with even more poignancy and timeliness.

View from the ISS at Night on Vimeo

May 10, 2012 — Researchers say life-bearing planets may exist in vast numbers in the space between stars in the Milky Way. A few hundred thousand billion free-floating life-bearing Earth-sized planets may exist in the space between stars in the Milky Way. So argues an international team of scientists led by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham, UK. Their findings are published online in the Springer journal Astrophysics and Space Science. Free-floating planets in the milky way outnumber stars by factors of thousands: Life-bearing planets may exist in vast numbers

2007 May 20 - A Spherule from the Earth's Moon

Incredible Space Pics from ISS by NASA astronaut Wheelock Go Discovery! It was October 23, 2007 at 11:40am EST when I had my first ride to space on Discovery. She’s beautiful… just sad that this will be her last voyage. Looking forward to climbing aboard the flight deck when Discovery arrives at the Space Station in November. (9-23-2010).

A Laser to Give the Universe a Hernia? Think back to 2008, when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was about to be switched on for the first time . Remember all those “ micro-black hole ,” “spacetime-ripping,” “stranglet-creating” doomsday headlines? TOP 5: Misconceptions About the LHC Although much of the hype was complete nonsense, those pesky physicists are at it again ; they want to build a laser so powerful that it will literally rip spacetime apart . ( Keanu Reeves, over to you. ) The headlines write themselves.

Space.com

Super-Earths 'in the billions' 28 March 2012 Last updated at 06:17 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Manchester Liquid water is considered essential if a planet is to support life There could be many billions of planets not much bigger than Earth circling faint stars in our galaxy, says an international team of astronomers. The estimate for the number of "super-Earths" is based on detections already made and then extrapolated to include the Milky Way's population of so-called red dwarf stars. The team works with the high-precision Harps instrument .

Pursuit of Light: The Earth & Beyond Seen with NASA’s Amazing Data Visualizations

Dr. Tara Shears - Uncovering the Universe, Latest News from the LHC

Mars 'has life's building blocks' 24 May 2012 Last updated at 21:13 ET By Mark Mardell North America editor The researchers suggest Mars has "been undertaking organic chemistry for most of its history" New evidence from meteorites suggests that the basic building blocks of life are present on Mars.

Dark matter space superstructures observed for first time