Space News: Page 22

Ghostly Gamma-Ray Beams Suggest Milky Way's Center Used to be Much More Active (May 29, 2012): The Milky Way is fairly quiet compared to active galaxies have cores that glow brightly and are powered by supermassive black holes.

NASA Releases Stunning Incandescent Sun Video (May 25, 2012): NASA has released this new video, which was created using SDO images with additional processing applied to enhance the structures visible.

SpaceX Dragon Capsule Grappled and Berthed to International Space Station (May 25, 2012): The SpaceX Dragon capsule's mission to dock with the International Space Station is a success.

Images of Sunday's Annular Solar Eclipse From Hinode Spacecraft (May 22, 2012): The Hinode spacecraft is in a low-Earth sun-synchronous polar orbit that permits nearly continuous observations of the sun.

Hubble Zooms In on NGC 891's Northern Half (May 21, 2012): The Hubble Space Telescope turned its powerful wide field Advanced Camera for Surveys towards the NGC 891 spiral galaxy and took a close-up of its northern half.

Newly Discovered Exoplanet May Turn to Dust (May 21, 2012): Researchers have detected a possible Mercury-sized planet, some 1,500 light years away, that appears to be being evaporated by its parent star, KIC 12557548.

JUICE to Explore Jupiter's Icy Moons in 2030 (May 20, 2012): The European Space Agency's (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) was selected to explore Jupiter's Galilean moons- volcanic Io, icy Europa and rock-ice Ganymede and Callisto.

Millions Plan to View Today's Ring of Fire Annular Solar Eclipse (May 20, 2012): CNN reports that people are planning viewing parties for the upcoming Ring of Fire annular solar eclipse.

MPG/ESO Telescope Provides Deep Look at the Strange Galaxy Centaurus A (May 16, 2012): The Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.

SpaceX's Dragon Spacecraft Mission to Dock With International Space Station to Launch May 19th (May 16, 2012): SpaceX aims to become the first privately-owned company to build spacecraft that will dock with the International Space Station when it launches the Dragon Capsule on May 19th.

Astronomer Says His Calculations Suggest Another Planet Exists in Our Solar System (May 14, 2012): National Geographic reports that Rodney Gomes, an astronomer at the National Observatory of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, believes his calculations indicate there is a previously undiscovered planet in our solar system.

NASA's Dawn Mission Reveals Secrets of Protoplanet Vesta (May 13, 2012): NASA's Dawn spacecraft has provided researchers with the first orbital analysis of the giant asteroid Vesta.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Catches Mars Sand Dunes in Motion (May 13, 2012): NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed that movement in sand dune fields on Mars occurs on a scale similar to dune fields on Earth.

Unseen Planet Orbiting Star KOI-872 Revealed by its Gravity (May 11, 2012): Over 150 years ago, before Neptune was ever sighted in the night sky, French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier predicted the planet's existence based on small deviations in the motion of Uranus.

Hubble Observes Dwarf Galaxy NGC 2366 (May 11, 2012): The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made detailed observations of the dwarf galaxy NGC 2366, which is home to a bright, star-forming nebula and is close enough for astronomers to discern its individual stars.

Scientists Say A Few Hundred Thousand Billion Free-Floating Life-Bearing Earth-Sized Planets Exist in Milky Way (May 11, 2012): Scientists continue to increase the estimates of the number of planets out there in the Universe.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Takes First Drive of 2012 (May 10, 2012): NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is on the move again.

VISTA Telescope Views a Vast Ball of Stars (May 10, 2012): The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) VISTA infrared survey telescope has revealed a new image of Messier 55 that shows tens of thousands of stars crowded together like a swarm of bees.

NASA's Curiosity Rover to Touchdown on Mars on August 5th (May 6, 2012): NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, carrying the one-ton Curiosity rover, will touchdown on Mars late on the evening of August 5, 2012 PDT.

Bomb Sag Study Provides More Evidence of Early Water on Mars (May 5, 2012): The atmosphere on Mars is less than 1% the density of Earth's.

Hubble Takes Image of Impact Crater Tycho on Moon (May 4, 2012): NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recently took this image of the impact crater Tycho.

Powerful Superwinds Generate Space Sandstorms That Erode Stars (May 4, 2012): Researchers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile say they have found the answer to the mystery of a powerful space superwind that destroys stars.

Supermassive Black Hole Caught Shredding Star (May 2, 2012): Astronomers have gathered the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close.

IceCube Neutrino Telescope Helps Rule Out Gamma Ray Bursts as Source of Cosmic Rays (April 29, 2012): The IceCube is a neutrino telescope built into a kilometer of clear Antarctic ice under the South Pole.

Half-Mile Wide Snowballs Seen Punching Through Parts of Saturn's F Ring (April 29, 2012): Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have revealed half-mile-sized objects punching through parts of Saturn's outermost ring (F ring).