Tags: Astronomy

SpaceX Dragon Departs International Space Station

SpaceX confirmed yesterday that their Dragon capsule successfully departed the International Space Station and successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean both on time and on target.

Hubble Observes Unique Star Dubbed "Nasty"

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found surprising new clues about a large, fast aging star that has never been seen before in the Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the star is so different that astronomers have nicknamed it "Nasty 1," a play on its catalog name of NaSt1. This strange star may represent a brief transitory stage in the evolution of extremely massive stars.

Reasons Why Some Scientists Believe There is Life on Mars

While Mars is no Earth, many scientists believe that there could still could be life on the surface of the Red Planet just waiting for us to discover, despite the differences between the two planets. So why do scientists believe there could still be life on Mars?

NASA's New Cheap Spacecraft To Explore New Worlds

Today, the cost of studying the atmosphere of a distant planet or moon is a multi-million dollar affair. However, NASA is working on a way to make the exploration of space much more affordable by using cheap, lightweight crafts known as CubeSats.

Why the ISS Needs a Big Laser Cannon

Researchers say that the International Space Station could one day get armed with a laser to shoot down orbiting space debris.

Hang Gliders Could Allow Us to Land Probes on Mars

A truly innovative new idea could one day allow us to attach small robotic probes to hand gliders and land them in potentially intricate and difficult to reach locations on the surface of Mars.

The Earth Now Has a Flag to Plant on Mars

Does the Earth need a flag? Right now, maybe not, at least not until we have actually land on another planet such as Mars or meet an alien civilization for the first time. But that doesn’t mean that designing one is pointless, and a new project has proven exactly that.

Travel to Mars Focus of Toronto Conference

Traveling to Mars and beyond will be one of the top subjects that are discussed at a five-day international space development conference held in Toronto this week.

How the ISS Plans on Getting Rid of Space Debris—Plans to Vaporize Comets in Space

Fans of shoot-em-up sci fi everywhere will be thrilled with the latest proposal for freeing the International Space Station (ISS) from the need to repeatedly alter its trajectory to avoid crashing into space junk. Researchers from the Riken Computational Astrophysics Laboratory of Japan want to use a laser system to zap dangerous space debris on a collision course with the ISS.

A New Vehicle in the Works to Investigate the Hellish Atmosphere of Venus

While much attention has been paid to Martian exploration in recent years, there remains a dedicated cadre of scientists focused on Earth's twin, Venus. And in a recent press release from Northrup Grumman, plans for a new vehicle were unveiled that just might provide a bird's eye view of this hot and hostile planet.

Russia Restarts Progress Spacecraft on ISS After Failed First Attempt

The problems for Russia's space agency seem to continue. The Russian Space Agency said that after a failed first attempt to start the engines of the Progress spacecraft on the International Space Station, they managed to get them started on the second attempt to correct the orbit of the ISS.

SpaceX Aggressive Schedule Leading to Manned Space Flights

SpaceX continues to push the envelope on its march to sending manned missions into space. In the coming months, SpaceX will continue its high visibility tests of the Dragon spaceship in an effort to one day send human into space.

SpaceX Earns Certification to Launch NASA Science Missions

It's official. NASA has formally certified SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to launch all but the agency's most costly robotic science missions. The first mission for SpaceX will be the launch of a United States and France oceanography satellite that is scheduled for liftoff from California in July.

NASA Searches for Small Satellite Launchers

Students and scientists continue to pack increasingly innovative missions into tiny satellites known as CubeSats, but getting them to space proves both difficult and expensive. A NASA program based at Kennedy Space Center hopes to help introduce a new class of rockets designed specifically for very small satellites, or even bunches of them.

Rare Quasar Quartet is the First of Its Kind

Imagine winning the Powerball jackpot-more than once. You may have a sense of how a team of astronomers feels after their discovery of a set of four quasars at the visible universe's edge. These brilliant beacons of light are typically spread far apart, but this quartet exists shoved together in only 650,000 light-years of space-equivalent to around a quarter of the distance between our closest big neighbor galaxy Andromeda and the Milky Way.

NASA Probe Searches Pluto for New Moons and Rings

NASA’s New Horizons space probe is set to make the history books when it flies past Pluto on July 14. Currently, the probe looking closely at the little dwarf planet as it looks for anything that could cause problems for the craft during the final months of its historic mission.

How Do Galaxies Die?

In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh have found that when galaxies do die they die of strangulation.
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