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Your online destination for news articles on planets, cosmology, NASA, space missions, and more. You’ll also find information on how to observe upcoming visible sky events such as meteor showers, solar and lunar eclipses, key planetary appearances, comets, and asteroids.
 | A computer simulation shows the Magellanic Stream resulted from a past close encounter between dwarf galaxies rather than effects of the Milky Way.
Provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: September 30, 2010 |
 | Data places the planet at a distance from its host star where liquid water could exist on the world's surface.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 30, 2010 |
 | The Integrated Science Instrumenbt Module is made of a lightweight material that has never been used before to support high-precision optics at extreme cold temperatures.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: September 29, 2010 |
 | Scientists believe there are many more asteroids under a mile across that have not yet been discovered.
Provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: September 28, 2010 |
 | Scientists find that the coreshine effect, which occurs when starlight from nearby stars bounces off cores, reveals information about their age and consistency.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 27, 2010 |
 | The Venus Express is providing an extensive and unique dataset of great scientific importance.
Provided by European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 27, 2010 |
 | Scientists hope dust models will help spot Neptune-sized worlds around other stars.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: September 24, 2010 |
 | The anomalies will help scientists understand solar wind behavior near the lunar surface and how water may form in our satellite's upper layer.
Provided by European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 24, 2010 |
 | Detailed studies of aurora on the ringed world help scientists understand how they are generated on Earth and the nature of the interactions between the magnetosphere and the uppermost regions of Saturn's atmosphere.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 24, 2010 |
 | NGC 1365 in infrared light helps astronomers understand the complex flow of material within the galaxy and how it affects the reservoirs of gas from which new stars can form.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: September 23, 2010 |
 | Findings will help scientists understand the chemistry, dynamics, and evolution of the atmospheres of Venus and Earth.
Provided by European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 23, 2010 |
 | Scientists think wind-driven processes can add strong oxidizers to the atmosphere, which could soak up methane more rapidly.
Provided by European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 22, 2010 |
 | Scientists have used more than 2,000 images to create the first long-term study of Titan's weather.
Published: September 22, 2010 |
 | Scientists believe Phobos may have formed from re-accretion of impact debris.
Provided by European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 21, 2010 |
 | Scientists found that at a certain point in venusian history, the high temperatures caused a partial mobilization of the crust, leading to an efficient cooling of the mantle.
Provided by European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 21, 2010 |
 |
Comet 103P/Hartley promises to be the brightest comet of 2010 when it peaks in October.
By Richard Talcott
Published: September 20, 2010 |
 | These maneuverable spacecraft could ship huge amounts of data back to Earth, overcoming the problem of downloading such quantities from traditional orbiters.
Provided by the European Planetary Science Congress
Published: September 20, 2010 |
 | The data reveal that two distinct populations of asteroids or comets barraged Earth's satellite early on in its history.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: September 17, 2010 |
 | The new models are based on the idea that the collapsing star itself is not spherelike, but distinctly asymmetrical and affected by a host of instabilities in the volatile mix surrounding its core.
Provided by Princeton University, New Jersey
Published: September 16, 2010 |
 | The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is turning its attention to scientific research and will continue to map the Moon for 2 to 4 more years.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 16, 2010 |
 | Research suggests a star once thought to be in its youth is actually an old red giant that recently consumed a nearby sun or giant planet.
Provided by the Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: September 15, 2010 |
 | An unusually close Jupiter will make September's opposition especially memorable. Astronomy magazine's podcast, video, and interactive star chart can help all levels of observers enjoy this great event. By Bill Andrews
Published: September 14, 2010 |
 | Scientists have discovered 14 new trans-Neptunian objects by culling the data archives of the space telescope.
Provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: September 14, 2010 |
 | These extremely compact star cities discovered by citizen scientists appear to have low amounts of complex elements after being diluted by streams of gas and strong supernova winds.
Provided by JENAM 2010, Lisbon, Portugal
Published: September 13, 2010 |
 | The innermost planet reaches greatest western elongation September 19. By Liz Kruesi
Published: September 13, 2010 |
 | An analysis of tidal interactions between planets and their host stars provides a potential explanation why scientists failed to detect exoplanets in star clusters like 47 Tucanae.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: September 10, 2010 |
 | The findings suggest that a supernova sprayed a mass of finely grained particles into the cloud of gas and dust that gave birth to the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
Provided by the University of Chicago
Published: September 10, 2010 |
 | The ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide isotopes found on the Red Planet suggests that liquid water primarily existed at temperatures near freezing and that hydrothermal systems similar to Yellowstone's hot springs have been rare throughout the planet's past.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 10, 2010 |
 | Scientists are using these findings to refine the Jupiter collision rate, which appears to be more frequent than previously thought.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 9, 2010 |
 | The mission will use all three of the spacecraft's instruments to scrutinize Comet Hartley 2 for more than 2 months.
Provided by the University of Maryland, College Park
Published: September 9, 2010 |
 | The galaxy's surprisingly normal structure makes it an ideal specimen for astronomers studying the structure and content of spiral galaxies such as our own Milky Way.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: September 9, 2010 |
 | For the first time, a new survey has detected the telltale structures of spiral galaxies swallowing smaller dwarf companions in star cities more distant than our immediate galactic neighborhood, opening up the possibility of testing our current views of galaxy evolution in a new way.
Provided by the Max Planck Institute, Garching, Germany
Published: September 8, 2010 |
 | An asteroid designated 2010 RF12 is expected to pass within approximately 49,000 miles of Earth at 5:12 p.m. EDT. Another asteroid, 2010 RX30, passed within approximately 154,000 miles overnight. Neither is a threat to Earth.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 8, 2010 |
 | An eruption sends out fumes and various gases, so volcanic activity on a rocky exoplanet might leave a telltale atmospheric signature.
Provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: September 8, 2010 |
 | New experiments suggest that chlorine compounds from NASA's Viking landers then thought to be contaminants from cleaning fluids might indeed have contained carbon-based chemicals, the building blocks of life.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 7, 2010 |
 | Research results currently under peer review imply that the fine-structure constant, which characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic force, might have different values depending on which direction scientists are looking in the sky.
Provided by the JENAM 2010, Lisbon, Portugal
Published: September 7, 2010 |
 | The new observations of the "String of Pearls" surrounding the remnant tell scientists not only what elements are being recycled into the Large Magellanic Cloud, but also how the dwarf galaxy changes its environment on human timescales.
Provided by the University of Colorado, Boulder
Published: September 3, 2010 |
 | Near-Earth objects seem to be more varied in color and composition than previously thought.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: September 3, 2010 |
 | The Solar Probe Plus will plunge directly into the Sun's atmosphere to learn why it's so much hotter than our star's visible surface and what propels the solar wind.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 3, 2010 |
 | Observations with the Herschel infrared space observatory have revealed that ultraviolet light is a key ingredient in the formation of an unexpected cloud of water vapor around an old red giant star.
Provided by ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: September 2, 2010 |
 | Despite the cancellation of the Constellation program, there is still a strong chance that the booster could play a part in future launch vehicles.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: September 1, 2010 |
 | NGC 4666's vigorous star formation is probably the result of gravitational interactions with neighboring galaxies.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: September 1, 2010 |
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