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Astronomy Without A Telescope – The Hitchhikers Guide To The Solar System

Short on fuel, but good at astrophysics? It is possible to tour the solar system on less than 30 Altairian dollars a day by using the Interplanetary Transport Network (ITN).(...)Read the rest of Astronomy Without A Telescope – The Hitchhikers Guide To The Solar System (571 words)© Steve Nerlich for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 4 [...]

Gorilla On Mars?

Classify this one under the same nonsense as the "Bigfoot on Mars" the wooden plank on Mars, or perhaps even the "Face on Mars." Just an optical illusions, folks from a very, very zoomed in image from the Mars rovers. The Sun newspaper seemingly started this foolishness on what must have been a [...]

Bolden: There is No "Plan B" In Development

Several news sources reported Thursday that NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden had asked senior managers to come up with an alternate plan for the newly proposed NASA budget after members of Congress indicated they wanted to reject a White House proposal to cancel the Constellation program and hire private companies to bring astronauts to the ISS. [...]

Could Phobos Be Hollow?

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, there was some speculation that Mars moon Phobos could possibly be hollow due to the its unusual orbital characteristics. While scientists now agree that the moon is very likely not hollow, vast caverns may exist within the moon, and it might be a porous body instead of solid. [...]

Answer for This Week's WITU Challenge Now Posted

The answer is now available for this week's Where In The Universe Challenge. Find it back on the original post. Thanks to Jason Major for submitting the image for this week! And check back next week for another test of your visual knowledge of the cosmos.© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | No comment [...]

Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: March 5-7, 2010

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for the weekend? Then let's spend it "stellar" as we take a look at a great series of open galactic star clusters. Gathering a few photons will enrich both the spirit and the mind! If you're ready for some history, science and challenges, then follow [...]

Podcast: Behind the Scenes at NASA TV

Listen to the audio of this podcast at this link. You can also read the interviews below. Hi, this is Nancy Atkinson from Universe Today. Right now I'm at Kennedy Space Center, and I've had the opportunity to see a couple of launches and cover other events that normally, I'd be back home watching on NASA [...]

GOES-P Goes to Space

A Delta IV rocket rumbled and roared off launch pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Thursday evening, sending the GOES-P satellite soaring into a crisp and clear night sky. With liftoff at 6:57 p.m. EST, the rocket could be seen for several minutes after launch, and booster separation was clearly [...]

Scientists Come to a Conclusion: Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs

Over the years, scientists have debated the cause of the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Now, a panel of 41 international experts says it's official: a massive asteroid around 15 kilometers wide slamming into Earth at Chicxulub, Mexico is the culprit. After surveying a wide variety [...]

Best "Blue Marble" Images Yet

The Goddard Space Flight Center has a Flickr account showcasing a series of images of our own home planet. Called "Blue Marble," these spectacular images are the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations in 2001 of [...]

Spirit Hunkered Down for Winter; Stuck Forever ? Maybe Not !

The plucky Mars rover ‘Spirit’ may yet rove again ! She’ll just have to outwit and outlast the unavoidably harsh cold and desperately low power levels of the looming winter in Mars southern hemisphere. Rather long odds to be sure – but she’s done it before. Remember – at this moment [...]

Where In The Universe #94

Here's another Where In The Universe Challenge, to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. This week's image was submitted by UT reader Jason Major, who is hoping this one will pose a challenge for everyone. But you know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where [...]

Second-Generation Star Supports Cannibal Theory of Milky Way

A newly discovered red giant star is a relic from the early universe — a star that may have been among the second generation of stars to form after the Big Bang. Located in the dwarf galaxy Sculptor some 290,000 light-years away, the star has a remarkably similar chemical make-up to the Milky Way’s oldest [...]

Answer to Universe Puzzle No. 3 Posted

I've posted the answer to this week's Universe Puzzle in the original post. Check back next week for another Universe Today Puzzle!© Jean Tate for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.usPost tags:Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Gallery: Midnight Shuttle Rollout

It was a dark and windy night. But then the Xenon spotlights hit space shuttle Discovery as it inched out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, lighting up the darkness. The lights didn't help the wind any, but the gleaming shuttle stack on top of the crawler/transporter was a [...]

Buzz Aldrin Says We Can Get to Mars by 2019

Buzz Aldrin is one of the few former astronauts who have spoken out in support of the new proposed budget/direction for NASA. But, now, Buzz wants to add a little "oomph" to the underlying goal of getting to Mars by providing one thing that many think is missing from President Obama's proposed budget: heavy [...]

MRO Radar Maps Extensive Subsurface Martian Ice

Sure, it's big news the Moon has water ice on the north pole, but Mars is loaded! A new extensive radar mapping of the middle-latitude region of northern Mars shows that thick masses of buried ice are quite common beneath the surface. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Shallow Radar instrument has detected [...]

Follow Closest Flyby of Phobos in Real Time

Mars Express will skim over the surface of Mars’ largest moon on Wednesday, making the closest flyby of Phobos by any spacecraft. Passing at just 67 km above the surface, precise radio tracking will allow researchers to virtually peer inside the mysterious moon. You can follow the flyby in "real time," — allowing [...]

Using Gravitational Lensing to Measure Age and Size of Universe

Handy little tool, this gravitational lensing! Astronomers have used it to measure the shape of stars, look for exoplanets, and measure dark matter in distant galaxies. Now its being used to measure the age and size of the Universe. Researchers say this new use of gravitation lensing provides a very precise way [...]

Phoenix Still Silent as Martian Ice Recedes

As expected, NASA’s February 2010 listening campaign for the Phoenix Mars Lander has failed to detect any signals emanating from the long silent vehicle. NASA’s attempts to reestablish contact with Phoenix were restarted in January 2010 and timed to coincide with the onset of springtime and disappearance of ice at her location in the [...]

Satellite Images of Chile Earthquake

Haze lingered over the metropolitan area of Santiago, Chile, following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake on February 27, 2010. In an image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite at 14:25 UTC, black smoke hung over the northern part of the city, while light-colored haze (perhaps pollution and/or dust) covered the southern [...]

Chilean Earthquake May Have Shortened the Length of a Day on Earth

Yikes! Just how big was the magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile? One scientist says the shaking may have affected the entire planet by shifting Earth on its axis. This possibly may have shortened the length of each day on Earth by about 1.26 microseconds. Using a complex model JPL research scientist Richard Gross [...]

Get Ready for the Next Shuttle Mission, STS-131

The astronauts are getting ready; space shuttle Discovery is getting ready. Are you ready for this fourth-to-the-last flight? Preparations have begun in earnest for the next shuttle mission, STS-131. The astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center Monday evening and will be here for several days of the standard prelaunch training called the [...]

Carnival of Space #143

This week's Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang over at Next Big Future. Click here to read the Carnival of Space #143. And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an [...]

Water Ice Found on Moon's North Pole

It's no longer a question of if there is water on the Moon; now it is how much. Scientists using the Mini-SAR instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft have detected water ice deposits near the moon's north pole. Mini-SAR, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The [...]

SPACE.com

New Rocket Engine Could Reach Mars in 40 Days

A private company's VASMIR plasma rocket could fit NASA's bill for getting humans to Mars in a much shorter time.

Early Earth's Magnetic Field Was a Weakling

Early Earth's magnetic field weaker than today, likely led to water loss from atmosphere, bigger auroras.

Rock Solid Link: Asteroid Doomed the Dinosaurs

Scientists have debated for two decades whether a giant space rock wiped out the dinosaurs or not. Now they have a rock solid link to an asteroid impact.

Exotic Antimatter Created on Earth

Scientists have created a never-before seen type of exotic matter that is thought to have been present at the earliest stages of the universe, right after the Big Bang.

China Launches Military Reconnaissance Satellite

China successfully launched another Earth observation satellite from the Jiuquan space base Friday.

Alien Plants Get New Twist in World of 'Avatar'

The film "Avatar" takes viewers to a fictional moon, where the alien plants glow, shoot poison leaf tips and communicate.

Huge Moon Crater Offers Window to Past

A crater on the edge of the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin may a view of the original surface.

NASA Uses Fish to Fight Space Sickness

NASA scientists study the inner ear mechanics of toadfish to better understand problems that astronauts face in readjusting to Earth's gravity

FORUM: Sweden Launches Experiment Rockets

Interesting articles in our Community forum.

NASA Launches New High-Tech Weather Satellite

NASA launched GOES-P, the newest in a series of weather satellites, Thursday to help forecasters predict sunshine and showers alike.

Hidden Glaciers Are Common on Mars

Vast glaciers of ice are common on Mars, but you have to dig below the surface to find them, new radar views from a NASA spacecraft show.

NASA Prepares 'Plan B' for New Space Plan

NASA chief Charles Bolden is expected to discuss changes to U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to scrap the agency's Constellation program with at least one top lawmaker this week.

Senator Proposes Bill to Extend Space Shuttle Program

A Texas senator introduced a bill Wednesday that would keep NASA flying the space shuttle program two years longer than planned.

Delicate Nebula Looks Like a Cosmic Bat

A new photo of a small nebula hidden near the constellation Orion reveals gas in the shape of a bat spreading its wings.

Spacecraft Makes Closest Ever Pass by Mars' Moon Phobos

A European probe made its closest-ever swing by Mars' moon Phobos Wednesday on a quest to learn more about the mysterious moon.

Milky Way a Cannibal, Ancient Star Confirms

Discovery of old star in small galaxy backs up theory that Milky Way formed by cannibalizing dwarf galaxies.

Chile Earthquake Damage Seen From Space

Astronauts in space have taken photographs of Chile in the aftermath of the country's devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake.

Space News From SpaceDaily.Com

China's space station plan delayed for 'technical reasons'

Beijing (AFP) March 3, 2010 - China has postponed the next step in its ambitious space station programme until 2011 for technical reasons, state media said Wednesday.

Russia faces cosmonaut shortage: official

Moscow (AFP) March 3, 2010 - Russia faces a shortage of candidates to be cosmonauts as fewer Russians than before are showing an interest in going to space, the head of its space training centre said on Wednesday.

Chatty robots, flying alarm clocks at top high-tech fair

Hanover, Germany (AFP) March 3, 2010 - Robots that teach Chinese, computers controlled by moving the eyes and flying alarm clocks were among the weird and wonderful gadgets wowing crowds Wednesday at the world's top high-tech fair.

Aerovel 'Strolls-Out' Flexrotor Long-Endurance Robotic Aircraft With VTOL

Husum WA (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - When a new airliner is ready for its public debut, it emerges from a giant hangar in a glitzy roll-out extravaganza. But when you have a very small aircraft and an equally small company, you have to think on a different scale. Tad McGeer, Aerovel's president, recalls that "We started a company called Insitu in 1992 to develop the miniature Aerosonde for long-range weather reconnaissance."

Predicting The Fate Of Stem Cells

Troy, NY (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a new method for predicting - with up to 99 percent accuracy - the fate of stem cells.

Poland approves revised US missile shield agreement

Warsaw (AFP) March 2, 2010 - Poland on Tuesday agreed to a new version of a deal on stationing an American missile shield, a government statement said, adding it would be aimed essentially at potential threats from Iran.

Rockwell Collins Conducts Waveform Testing For JTRS GMR

Fort Lauderdale FL (SPX) Mar 03, 2010 - Rockwell Collins has successfully conducted UHF SATCOM and HF waveform Functional Qualification Testing (FQT) on the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) vehicular Ground Mobile Radios (GMR). This testing is conducted to ensure that the Software Communications Architecture compliant waveforms met all allocated JTRS requirements.

China's BYD, Daimler team up on electric vehicle

Geneva (AFP) March 2, 2010 - Chinese auto maker BYD (Build Your Dreams) and German giant Daimler have signed a preliminary agreement to mass produce an electric car together, executives said at the Geneva motor show on Tuesday.

From NACA To NASA: 95 Years Of Innovation In Flight

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - Ninety-five years ago a committee of 12 volunteers with a budget of $5,000 embarked on a mission to change the face of U.S. aviation, and in doing so established a legacy of innovative aeronautical research that continues at NASA today.

Orbital Sciences Selects GS Yuasa to Power Cargo Transport Missions To ISS

Roswell GA (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - GS Yuasa Lithium Power (GYLP) has announced it has been awarded a contract to supply batteries for Orbital Sciences Corporation's (Orbital) Cygnus maneuvering space vehicle. Cygnus will be used to provide cargo delivery services to the International Space Station.

Radar Map Of Buried Martian Ice Adds To Climate Record

Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 04, 2010 - Extensive radar mapping of the middle-latitude region of northern Mars shows that thick masses of buried ice are quite common beneath protective coverings of rubble.

An Island Of Stars In The Making On The Outskirts Of Orion

Paris, France (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - The delicate nebula NGC 1788, located in a dark and often neglected corner of the Orion constellation, is revealed in a new and finely nuanced image released by ESO. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion's bright stars, the latter's powerful winds and light have had a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it home to a multitude of infant suns.

USAF Eyes Mini-Thrusters For Use In Satellite Propulsion

Wright Patterson AFB OH (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 - Mini- thrusters or miniature, electric propulsion systems are being developed, which could make it easier for the Air Force's small satellites, including the latest CubeSats, to perform space maneuvers and undertake formidable tasks like searching for planets beyond our solar system.