May 11 Dunes on Mars resemble Starfleet logos By Annie Sneed, Scientific American The resemblance is uncanny, but no, these aren't Starfleet logos emblazoned on planet Vulcan. Perhaps fittingly, though, this nasa Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image shows a section of an active dune field on Mars. Strong winds blowing in a single direction… Continue reading
Apr 17 Watch Kepler telescope spots a planet that seems a lot like home By PBS News Hour NASA scientists say the Kepler space telescope may have discovered the most “Earth-like” planet yet. Circling a star about 500 light-years away, planet Kepler 186-F may be the right temperature to allow liquid water to flow on its surface. Hari… Continue watching
Apr 17 Kepler finds new Earth-like planet 500 light-years away By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy NASA explanatory scientists announced Thursday that the Kepler Space Telescope has found an Earth-like planet in our galaxy. Elisa Quintana, exoplanet research scientist for the SETI Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center, says the planet is in the “Goldilocks zone,”… Continue reading
Apr 07 NASA explores the fashionable frontier By Margaret Myers Online voters can select one of three designs that will be used as a cover to protect the spacesuit from abrasions while astronauts train in multiple vacuum chamber tests and at a rocky Martian surface analog site at the… Continue reading
Apr 06 NASA sets solar flare images to music By News Desk NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has released dramatic video of a "mid-level" solar flare from April 2. [youtube:http://youtu.be/_8yPQEE2Dnk] Flares are short, powerful bursts of radiation emitted from the sun's surface. NASA says the radiation cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, but on rare… Continue reading
Apr 03 NASA halts engagement with Russia in response to ‘violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty’ By Ellen Rolfes NASA announced Wednesday that it is halting almost all of its activities and contact with Russia. Continue reading
Mar 27 Comet ‘Siding Spring’ will make close approach to Mars By Justin Scuiletti Comet C/2013 A1 will be making a trip through Mars’ neighborhood in October. The comet, also called Siding Spring, will be knocking on the Red Planet’s door, in the astronomical sense, as it passes by Mars at a distance of… Continue reading
Feb 27 NASA and JAXA launch mission to measure global precipitation By News Desk A rocket containing the Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory satellite launched from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 3:37 a.m. Japan Standard Time Friday. The GPM satellite, a joint-effort between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will be used to… Continue reading
Feb 20 How massive sloshing stars make fiery supernovas By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy Scientists believe they have finally captured what happens in the heart of a star before it explodes in a supernova. With the help of NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), scientists mapped how shockwaves rip apart dying stars. Their… Continue reading