Space News: Page 18

Cassini Spots Giant Storm on Saturn (November 30, 2012): NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted a giant storm swirling on Saturn's north pole.

Enormous Black Hole Found in a Small Galaxy (November 29, 2012): Astronomers have discovered an enormous black hole at the center of a small galaxy - the NGC 1277 disk galaxy.

NASA: Water Ice Confirmed on Mercury's Polar Craters (November 29, 2012): NASA says observations by the Messenger spacecraft have confirmed water ice on Mercury's permanently shadowed polar craters.

Astronomers Find Dwarf Planet Makemake Lacks Significant Atmosphere (November 28, 2012): A new study has determined that there is not a significant atmosphere surrounding Makemake, a Dwarf planet located beyond Pluto.

What the Astronauts on the Space Station Will Eat for Thanksgiving Dinner (November 21, 2012): The U.

ESA's Planck Space Telescope Spots Hot Gas Bridge Connecting Galaxy Clusters (November 21, 2012): Astronomers using ESA's Planck space telescope have made the first conclusive detection of a bridge of hot gas connecting a pair of galaxy cluster.

Astronomers Directly Image Super-Jupiter Around Kappa Andromedae (November 19, 2012): Astronomers have directly imaged a "super-Jupiter" around the bright star Kappa Andromedae.

Astronomers Find Galaxy Located 13.3 Billion Light Years From Earth (November 17, 2012): Astronomers have located a new candidate for the farthest away galaxy yet seen in the universe.

Rogue Planet Found Named CFBDSIR2149 (November 14, 2012): Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope announced they have found a planetary-mass object 100 light-years away they believe is likely a free-floating planet, or rogue planet that is not tied to a star.

Astronomers Discover White Dwarfs Orbiting Each Other at Center of Fleming 1 Nebula (November 12, 2012): Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered a pair of white dwarf stars orbiting each other at the center of the unique Fleming 1 Nebula.

SpaceX's Grasshopper Reusable Rocket Completes Two Story Hop Test (November 7, 2012): SpaceX released this video footage of its reusable Grasshoper rocket completing a nearly two story hop.

Zombie Planet Fomalhaut b is Back From the Dead (October 31, 2012): Exoplanet Fomalhaut b may be close to returning to the list of known exoplanets.

Astronomers Discover Mini-Supermassive Black Hole (October 24, 2012): Astronomers have announced the discovery of a mini-supermassive black hole in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal by Nathan Secrest, from George Mason University and collaborators.

Black Hole at Center of Milky Way to Consume Approaching Gas Cloud (October 22, 2012): Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory report that Sgr A*, the black hole at the center of our galaxy, will soon be eating a snack.

New Horizons Spacecraft May Encounter Dangerous Debris as it Gets Closer to Pluto in 2015 (October 21, 2012): NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is nearly seven years into its 9.

Tonight is Peak Viewing Time for the Orionid Meteor Shower (October 20, 2012): Tonight is the night to see the Orionid meteor shower reach its maximum.

Scientists Release Most Richly Detailed, Highest-Resolution Images Ever Taken of Uranus (October 19, 2012): Astronomers have released the most richly detailed, highest-resolution images ever taken of Uranus.

Earth-Sized Planet Discovered in Alpha Centauri Star System, 4.3 Light-Years Away (October 17, 2012): European astronomers have announced the discovery of a planet with a mass about the same as the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system, the nearest star system to Earth.

C is for Crater: NASA Says Mercury Craters Resemble Cookie Monster (October 15, 2012): NASA posted this image of craters on Mercury on Flickr and asked, "Anyone Else Think This Looks Like the Cookie Monster?" The NASA image, from the Messenger mission, was acquired on August 29, 2012 and posted on October 12, 2012.

Planet With Four Stars Discovered (October 15, 2012): A planet with four stars has been discovered.

Mission Highlights Video: Austrian Skydiver Felix Baumgartner Breaks Speed of Sound in Record Jump (October 14, 2012): Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner, 43, is the first skydiver to break the speed of sound.

Nearby Super-Earth is Likely a Diamond Planet Say Yale Scientists (October 11, 2012): Yale University researchers say they have discovered that a super-Earth planet orbiting a nearby star is likely a diamond planet.

Unexpected Spiral Structure Found Around Red Giant Star R Sculptoris (October 10, 2012): Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered an unusual spiral structure around R Sculptoris, a red giant star.

NASA's Swift Satellite Discovers New Black Hole in Our Galaxy (October 6, 2012): NASA's Swift satellite, which detects x-rays, detected an outburst of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy on September 16, 2012.

NASA Captures Image of Dying Star (October 4, 2012): This is an image of the Helix nebula, which is located 650 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius.