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Recipe for water: Just add starlight
The European Space Agency's Herschel infrared space observatory has discovered that ultraviolet starlight is the key ingredient for making water in space. It is the only explanation for why a dying star is surrounded by a gigantic cloud of hot water vapor.
[Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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New solar prediction system gives time to prepare for the storms ahead
A new method of predicting solar storms that could help to avoid widespread power and communications blackouts costing billions of pounds has been launched by researchers in the UK.
[Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:00:00 EDT]
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Hubble observations of supernova reveal composition of 'star guts' pouring out
Observations made with NASA's newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope of a nearby supernova are allowing astronomers to measure the velocity and composition of "star guts" being ejected into space following the explosion, according to a new study.
[Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT]
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Navigation satellites contend with stormy Sun
Just as we grow used to satellite navigation in everyday life, media reports argue that a coming surge in solar activity could render satnav devices useless, perhaps even frying satellites themselves. Is it true? No.
[Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EDT]
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Ultraviolet source helps NASA spacecraft measure the origins of space weather
With a brilliant, finely tuned spark of ultraviolet light, a physicist has helped NASA scientists successfully position a crucial UV sensor inside a space-borne instrument to observe a "hidden" layer of the Sun where violent space weather can originate.
[Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EDT]
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Astronomers find potassium in giant planet's atmosphere
Astronomers have analyzed light passing through the upper atmosphere of the giant planet HD 80606 b, about 190 light years from Earth, and determined that its atmosphere contains the element potassium.
[Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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IceCube neutrino observatory nears completion
In December 2010, IceCube -- the world's first kilometer-scale neutrino observatory, located beneath the Antarctic ice -- will finally be completed after two decades of planning. A new article provides a comprehensive description of the observatory, its instrumentation, and its scientific mission
[Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:00:00 EDT]
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A decade of studying the Earth's magnetic shield, in 3-D
Space scientists around the world are celebrating ten years of ground-breaking discoveries by "Cluster," a mission that is illuminating the mysteries of the magnetosphere, the northern lights and the solar wind. Cluster is a European Space Agency mission, launched in summer 2000. It consists of a unique constellation of four spacecraft flying in formation around Earth, studying the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere.
[Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:00:00 EDT]
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Superwind Galaxy NGC 4666
The galaxy NGC 4666 takes pride of place at the centre of this new image, made in visible light with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. NGC 4666 is a remarkable galaxy with very vigorous star formation and an unusual "superwind" of out-flowing gas. It had previously been observed in X-rays by the ESA XMM-Newton space telescope, and the image presented here was taken to allow further study of other objects detected in the earlier X-ray observations.
[Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EDT]
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Tracing the big picture of Mars' atmosphere
One of the instruments on a 2016 mission to orbit Mars will provide daily maps of global, pole-to-pole, vertical distributions of the temperature, dust, water vapor and ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere.
[Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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Students help NASA decommission satellite
Undergraduate students, who have been helping to control five NASA satellites, participated in the unusual decommissioning of a functioning satellite with a failed science payload in recent days, bringing the craft into Earth re-entry to burn up.
[Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT]
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NASA and ATK successfully test five-segment solid rocket motor
With a loud roar and mighty column of flame, NASA and ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed a two-minute, full-scale test of the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor designed for flight. The motor is potentially transferable to future heavy-lift launch vehicle designs.
[Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT]
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Mars's mysterious elongated crater
Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression near Mars's equator, in the eastern hemisphere of the planet. Located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons, its formation remains a mystery.
[Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EDT]
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System uses electrical trickery on the brain to induce realistic spaceflight effects
Researchers have developed a system that can safely induce the sensory and mobility disturbances astronauts often experience when returning to Earth, making it an excellent operational training tool. The Galvanic vestibular stimulation system delivers small amounts of current to a person's vestibular nerve, mimicking sensorimotor disturbances that can affect an astronaut's ability to walk and stand and impact their ability to land a spacecraft.
[Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT]
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Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer makes last stop on Earth
A new experiment designed to reveal the origin and structure of the universe has reached its last stop on Earth before it's set to ride into orbit aboard space shuttle Endeavour early next year. The long-awaited Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) arrived Aug. 26 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, secured in the belly of a U.S. Air Force C-5M cargo plane that arrived at the launch center with a late-morning touchdown on the shuttle's runway.
[Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT]
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Distant star's sound waves reveal cycle similar to the sun's
In a bid to unlock longstanding mysteries of the sun, including the impacts on Earth of its 11-year cycle, an international team of scientists has successfully probed a distant star. By monitoring the star's sound waves, the team has observed a magnetic cycle analogous to the sun's solar cycle.
[Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT]
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Shrinking atmospheric layer linked to low levels of solar radiation
Scientists link a recent, temporary shrinking of a high atmospheric layer with a sharp drop in the sun's ultraviolet radiation levels.
[Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EDT]
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NASA's Kepler mission discovers two planets transiting same star
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet crossing in front of, or transiting, the same star.
[Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT]
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NASA's SOFIA will likely help solve mysteries about our galaxy
How were millions of young stars able to form at the center of our Milky Way galaxy in the presence of an enormous black hole with a mass 4 million times that of the sun? This and other important questions may be answered by the NASA mission SOFIA, which is scheduled to make its first scientific measurements in the next few months.
[Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EDT]
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Ten years flying in formation: The legendary Cluster quartet
Next week marks the 10th anniversary of the start of formation flying for the four satellites of ESA's Cluster quartet, one of the most successful scientific missions ever launched. On 1 September 2000, just a few weeks after launch, the four individual satellites of the Cluster mission began coordinated orbits, marking the formal start of formation flying. Since then, the four satellites -- dubbed Samba, Tango, Rumba and Salsa -- have gone on to collect some of the most detailed data ever on the physical properties of space between Earth and the Sun, and on the interactions between the charged particles of the solar wind and Earth's atmosphere. In all, over 2.6 terabytes of data -- enough to fill 3300 CDROMS -- have been delivered from space.
[Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT]
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Some asteroids live in own little worlds
While the common perception of asteroids is that they are giant rocks lumbering about in orbit, a new study shows they actually are constantly changing "little worlds" that can give birth to smaller asteroids that split off to start their own lives as they circle around the sun.
[Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT]
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WISE space telescope captures the Unicorn's Rose
Unicorns and roses are usually the stuff of fairy tales, but a new cosmic image taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WISE) shows the Rosette nebula located within the constellation Monoceros, or the Unicorn. This flower-shaped nebula, also known by the less romantic name NGC 2237, is a huge star-forming cloud of dust and gas in our Milky Way galaxy. Estimates of the nebula's distance vary from 4,500 to 5,000 light-years away.
[Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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When galaxies collide: How the first super-massive black holes were born
Astronomers believe they have discovered the origin of our universe's first super-massive black holes, which formed some 13 billion years ago. The discovery fills in a missing chapter of our universe's early history, and could help write the next chapter -- in which scientists better understand how gravity and dark matter formed the universe as we know it.
[Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EDT]
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Solar System may be 2 million years older than we thought, meteorite analysis suggests
Timescales of early Solar System processes rely on precise, accurate and consistent ages obtained with radiometric dating. However, recent advances in instrumentation now allow scientists to make more precise measurements, some of which are revealing inconsistencies in the ages of samples. Seeking better constraints on the age of the Solar System, researchers analyzed meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 2364 and found that the age of the Solar System predates previous estimates by up to 1.9 million years.
[Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT]
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Strange case of solar flares and radioactive elements
When researchers found an unusual linkage between solar flares and the inner life of radioactive elements on Earth, it touched off a scientific detective investigation that could end up protecting the lives of space-walking astronauts and maybe even rewriting some of the assumptions of physics.
[Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT]
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Solar system similar to ours? Richest planetary system discovered
Astronomers have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180. The researchers also have tantalizing evidence that two other planets may be present, one of which would have the lowest mass ever found. This would make the system similar to our Solar System in terms of the number of planets (seven as compared to the Solar System’s eight planets). Furthermore, the team also found evidence that the distances of the planets from their star follow a regular pattern, as also seen in our Solar System.
[Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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Pulverized planet dust may lie around double stars
Tight double-star systems might not be the best places for life to spring up, according to a new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The infrared observatory spotted a surprisingly large amount of dust around three mature, close-orbiting star pairs. Where did the dust come from? Astronomers say it might be the aftermath of tremendous planetary collisions.
[Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT]
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Fermi detects gamma-rays from exploding nova
Using the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite, astronomers have detected gamma rays from a nova for the first time.
[Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:00:00 EDT]
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Self-cleaning technology from Mars can keep terrestrial solar panels dust free
Find dusting those tables and dressers a chore or a bore? Dread washing the windows? Imagine keeping dust and grime off objects spread out over an area of 25 to 50 football fields. That's the problem facing companies that deploy large-scale solar power installations, and scientists have now developed a possible solution -- self-dusting solar panels -- based on technology developed for space missions to Mars.
[Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT]
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Ancient galaxy cluster still producing stars
In ongoing observations of one of the universe's earliest, most distant cluster of galaxies using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that a significant fraction of those ancient galaxies are still actively forming stars.
[Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EDT]
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Galactic 'super-volcano' in action
A galactic "super-volcano" in the massive galaxy M87 is erupting and blasting gas outwards. The cosmic volcano is being driven by a giant black hole in the galaxy's center and preventing hundreds of millions of new stars from forming.
[Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals 'incredible shrinking moon'
Newly discovered cliffs in the lunar crust indicate the moon shrank globally in the geologically recent past and might still be shrinking today, according to a team analyzing new images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The results provide important clues to the moon's recent geologic and tectonic evolution.
[Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EDT]
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Astronomers use galactic magnifying lens to probe elusive dark energy
An international team of astronomers using gravitational lensing observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken an important step forward in the quest to solve the riddle of dark energy, a phenomenon which mysteriously appears to power the universe's accelerating expansion.
[Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT]
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How much mass makes a black hole? Astronomers challenge current theories
Astronomers have for the first time demonstrated that a magnetar -- an unusual type of neutron star -- was formed from a star with at least 40 times as much mass as the Sun. The result presents great challenges to current theories of how stars evolve, as a star as massive as this was expected to become a black hole, not a magnetar. This now raises a fundamental question: just how massive does a star really have to be to become a black hole?
[Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EDT]
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Search for antimatter and dark matter in space: AMS experiment takes off for Kennedy Space Center
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), an experiment that will search for antimatter and dark matter in space, leaves CERN August 24 on the next leg of its journey to the International Space Station.
[Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EDT]
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Cosmic accelerators discovered in our galaxy
Physicists have discovered evidence of "natural nuclear accelerators" at work in our Milky Way galaxy, based on an analysis of data from the world's largest cosmic ray detector.
[Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:00:00 EDT]
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Eclipsing pulsar promises clues to crushed matter
Astronomers have found the first fast X-ray pulsar to be eclipsed by its companion star. Further studies of this unique stellar system will shed light on some of the most compressed matter in the universe and test a key prediction of Einstein's relativity theory.
[Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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Astronaut muscles waste in space: Safety for future Mars missions questioned
Astronaut muscles waste away on long space flights, reducing their capacity for physical work by more than 40 percent, according to new research. This is the equivalent of a 30- to 50-year-old crew member's muscles deteriorating to that of an 80-year-old. The destructive effects of extended weightlessness to skeletal muscle -- despite in-flight exercise -- pose a significant safety risk for future human missions to Mars and elsewhere in the universe.
[Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EDT]
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Raising mountains on Saturn's moon Titan
Saturn's moon Titan ripples with mountains, and scientists have been trying to figure out how they form. The best explanation, it turns out, is that Titan is shrinking as it cools, wrinkling up the moon's surface like a raisin.
[Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT]
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Tantalizing clues as to why matter prevails in the universe: Surprisingly large matter/antimatter asymmetry discovered
Decays of B mesons in recent experiments at Fermilab result in excess matter over antimatter that exceeds expectations, based on the Standard Model of particle physics.
[Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EDT]
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IBEX spacecraft reveals surprising details of solar system
It wasn't until the advent of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer or IBEX, a NASA spacecraft launched in October 2008, that scientists have been able to see what the human eye cannot: the first-ever images of an electromagnetic crash scene in space. They can now witness how some of the solar wind's charged particles are being neutralized by gas escaping from Earth's atmosphere.
[Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:00:00 EDT]
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Cassini bags Enceladus 'Tigers'
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has successfully completed its flyby over the "tiger stripes" in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus and has sent back images of its passage. The spacecraft also targeted the moon Tethys.
[Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EDT]
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Making sense of space dust: Researchers explore solar system's origins
The chemical breakdown of minerals that may be lurking in space dust soon will be available to scientists around the world.
[Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EDT]
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Evidence of new solar activity from observations of aurora in New Zealand
Scientists have obtained sub-visual evidence of the onset of a new cycle of solar-terrestrial activity. The key results being reported deal with the fact that recent auroral displays at high latitudes (ones visible to the naked eye) were accompanied by far less luminous glows in the atmosphere at lower latitudes.
[Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EDT]
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NGC 4696: A cosmic question mark
Curling around itself like a question mark, the unusual looking galaxy NGC 4696 itself begs many questions. Why is it such a strange shape? What are the odd, capillary-like filaments that stretch out of it? And what is the role of a large black hole in explaining its decidedly odd appearance?
[Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EDT]
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Extended solar minimum linked to changes in sun's conveyor belt
A new analysis of the unusually long solar cycle that ended in 2008 suggests that one reason for the long cycle could be a stretching of the sun's conveyor belt, a current of plasma that circulates between the sun's equator and its poles. The results should help scientists better understand the factors controlling the timing of solar cycles and could lead to better predictions.
[Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EDT]
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Fermi detects 'shocking' surprise from supernova's little cousin
Astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have detected gamma-rays from a nova for the first time, a finding that stunned observers and theorists alike. The discovery overturns the notion that novae explosions lack the power to emit such high-energy radiation.
[Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EDT]
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Asteroid found in gravitational 'dead zone' near Neptune
There are places in space where the gravitational tug between a planet and the Sun balance out, allowing other smaller bodies to remain stable, called Lagrangian points. Trojan asteroids have been found in some of these stable spots near Jupiter and Neptune. Now astronomers have discovered the first Trojan asteroid in a difficult-to-detect stability region at Neptune -- the Lagrangian L5 point.
[Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EDT]
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