Rosetta Spacecraft Picks Up a Mysterious “Song” From Comet 67P
As ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft prepares to dispatch its Philae lander to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a set of instruments on Rosetta has picked up…
Space News
Astronomers Find Evidence for Galactic Merger in Distant Protocluster
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, astronomers show a clear picture of hierarchical merging and the all-important first steps along this process when the Universe…
Cassini Spots a Bright Feature in Titan’s Largest Sea, Kraken Mare
During a recent flyby, the Cassini spacecraft observed new, bright features in the seas that might be related to the mysterious feature that researchers dubbed…
Young Star Systems May Reveal How Our Own Solar System Came To Be
Astronomers from the University of Arizona have discovered two dust belts surrounded by a large dust halo around young star HD 95086, providing researchers with…
Astronomers Dissect the Remains of Supernova 1987A
Using radio telescopes in Australia and Chile, astronomers were able to see inside the remains of a supernova 1987A and distinguish radiation being emitted by…
New Research Reveals the Role of Magnetic Fields in Star Formation
Using the Submillimeter Array to study the magnetic field in a massive star cluster, astronomers were able to determine the properties of the magnetic field…
Spacecraft Reveal Siding Spring’s Effects on Martian Atmosphere
Data from several spacecraft have revealed that debris from Comet Siding Spring added a temporary and very strong layer of ions to the ionosphere of…
Hubble Views Galaxy Cluster Abell 1413
This newly released Hubble Space Telescope image shows the super-rich galaxy cluster Abell 1413. Located between the constellations of Leo (The Lion) and Coma Berenices,…
MAGIC Telescopes Observe Black Hole Gamma-Ray Lightning
Using the MAGIC telescopes at La Palma, astronomers have recorded an extreme event coming from the regions immediately surrounding a supermassive black hole located in…
Hubble Completes Largest Survey of Dusty Debris Disks around Other Stars
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have uncovered a similar diversity in the debris systems that coincide with the formation of exoplanets, suggesting that there…
CIBER Rocket Findings Redefine What Scientists Think of as Galaxies
Observations from the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) have revealed a surprising surplus of infrared light in the dark space between galaxies, redefining what astronomers…
Gravitational-Wave Observations Shine New Light on Universe Expansion
A newly published study details how scientists developed a new way to use gravitational waves to measure the expansion rate of the universe. In a…
ALMA Reveals Birth of Planets in Astonishing Detail
While testing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array’s new high-resolution capabilities, astronomers captured the best image ever of planet formation around an infant star. This revolutionary…
SDO Detects Third Mid-Level Flare from New Sunspot
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory observed a third mid-level flare from the Sun. The flare was classified as an M5.4-class flare. On November 5, 2014, the…
How Asteroid Vesta May Have Gotten Its Deep Grooves
Using NASA’s ultra-high-speed cannon and computer models to simulate asteroid collisions, researchers from Brown University show how Vesta may have gotten the deep grooves that…
Curiosity Rover Provides First Confirmation of a Mineral Mapped from Orbit
A sample of powdered rock extracted by the Curiosity rover’s drill from the “Confidence Hills” target has provided NASA scientists with the first confirmation of…
Astronomers Identify Bizarre Object at the Center of the Milky Way
In a new study, astronomers reveal that the bizarre object known as G2 is most likely a pair of binary stars that had been orbiting…
How to Land on a Comet Moving 40 Times Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
A new four minute ScienceCast video previews the first-ever landing on a comet. Showing how difficult it will be for the Philae lander since comet…