Space In The News: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

NEOWISE Spies Its First Comet | MAVEN Spacecraft Completes Payload Checkout

ScienceDaily: Stars News

NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds
How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars
'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough

NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:33 PM PST

NASA's Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new planets. These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system. Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. This discovery marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.

How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST

New images provide the most detailed view yet of stellar nurseries within the Snake nebula. These images offer new insights into how cosmic seeds can grow into massive stars. Stretching across almost 100 light-years of space, the Snake nebula is located about 11,700 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus.

'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST

In the last 20 years the search for Earth-like planets around other stars has accelerated, with the launch of missions like the Kepler space telescope. Using these and observatories on the ground, astronomers have found numerous worlds that at first sight have similarities with the Earth. A few of these are even in the 'habitable zone' where the temperature is just right for water to be in liquid form and so are prime targets in the search for life elsewhere in the universe. New results suggest that for some of the recently discovered super-Earths, such as Kepler-62e and -62f, being in the habitable zone is not enough to make them habitats.

ScienceDaily: Galaxies News

Hubble monitors supernova in nearby galaxy M82

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 11:45 AM PST

Astronomers have taken a Hubble Space Telescope composite image of a supernova explosion designated SN 2014J in the galaxy M82. At a distance of approximately 11.5 million light-years from Earth it is the closest supernova of its type discovered in the past few decades. The explosion is categorized as a Type Ia supernova, which is theorized to be triggered in binary systems consisting of a white dwarf and another star -- which could be a second white dwarf, a star like our sun, or a giant star.

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

Closest, brightest supernova in decades is also a little weird

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:24 AM PST

The closest and brightest supernova in decades, SN 2014J, brightens faster than expected for Type Ia supernovae, the exploding stars used to measure cosmic distances, according to astronomers. Another recent supernova also brightened faster than expected, suggesting that there is unsuspected new physics going on inside these exploding stars. The finding may also help physicists improve their use of these supernovae to measure cosmic distance.

NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:33 PM PST

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

Space weather may be to blame for some satellite failures

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 09:21 AM PDT

A new study finds that high-energy electrons in space may be to blame for some satellite failures.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

NASA Scientists Find Evidence of Water in Meteorite and NASA-JAXA Launch Mission to Measure Global Rain, Snow

ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars
'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough
Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter

How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST

'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST

Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:48 AM PST

Astrophysicists may have identified a trace of dark matter that could signify a new particle: the sterile neutrino. Another research group reported a very similar signal just a few days before.

ScienceDaily: Galaxies News

Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:48 AM PST

Astrophysicists may have identified a trace of dark matter that could signify a new particle: the sterile neutrino. Another research group reported a very similar signal just a few days before.

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:43 AM PST

Astronomers have discovered massive elliptical galaxies in the nearby Universe containing plenty of cold gas, even though the galaxies fail to produce new stars. Comparison with other data suggests that, while hot gas cools down in these galaxies, stars do not form because jets from the central supermassive black hole heat or stir up the gas and prevent it from turning into stars. Giant elliptical galaxies are the most puzzling type of galaxy in the Universe.

ScienceDaily: Dark Matter News

Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:48 AM PST

Astrophysicists may have identified a trace of dark matter that could signify a new particle: the sterile neutrino. Another research group reported a very similar signal just a few days before.

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News

NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds
'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough
Water detected in a planet outside our solar system

NASA's Kepler mission announces a planet bonanza, 715 new worlds

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:33 PM PST

'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST

Water detected in a planet outside our solar system

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:17 AM PST

Water has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system with a new technique that could help researchers to learn how many planets with water, like Earth, exist throughout the universe. The team of scientists that made the discovery detected the water in the atmosphere of a planet as massive as Jupiter that is orbiting the nearby star tau Boötis.

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:43 AM PST

ScienceDaily: Cosmic Rays News

Hubble monitors supernova in nearby galaxy M82
How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars
Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter
How did the universe begin? Hot Big Bang or slow thaw?

Hubble monitors supernova in nearby galaxy M82

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 11:45 AM PST

How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST

Glimmer of light in the search for dark matter

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:48 AM PST

Astrophysicists may have identified a trace of dark matter that could signify a new particle: the sterile neutrino. Another research group reported a very similar signal just a few days before.

How did the universe begin? Hot Big Bang or slow thaw?

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:19 AM PST

Did the universe begin with a hot Big Bang or did it slowly thaw from an extremely cold and almost static state? A physicist has developed a theoretical model that complements the nearly 100-year-old conventional model of cosmic expansion. According to the new theory, the Big Bang did not occur 13.8 billion years ago -- instead, the birth of the universe stretched into the infinite past. This view holds that the masses of all particles constantly increase. The scientist explains that instead of expanding, the universe is shrinking over extended periods of time.

ScienceDaily: Nebulae News

How small cosmic seeds grow into big stars

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST

Rare form of nitrogen detected in comet ISON

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:11 AM PST

Astronomers observed the Comet ISON during its bright outburst in the middle of November 2013. Subaru Telescope's High Dispersion Spectrograph has detected two rare forms of nitrogen in the comet ISON. Their results support the hypothesis that there were two distinct reservoirs of nitrogen the massive, dense cloud ("solar nebula") from which our Solar System may have formed and evolved.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Spitzer Stares into the Heart of New Supernova in M82


LATEST NEWS

Spitzer Stares into the Heart of New Supernova in M82
One of the closest supernovas to go off in the last few decades is putting on a good show for telescopes on the ground and in space. › Read full story

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ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead
Water detected in a planet outside our solar system
Rare form of nitrogen detected in comet ISON
Astronomers spot record-breaking lunar impact
Smart SPHERES are about to get a whole lot smarter

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:43 AM PST

Water detected in a planet outside our solar system

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:17 AM PST

Rare form of nitrogen detected in comet ISON

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:11 AM PST

Astronomers spot record-breaking lunar impact

Posted: 24 Feb 2014 05:10 AM PST

A meteorite with the mass of a small car crashed into the Moon last September, according to Spanish astronomers. The impact, the biggest seen to date, produced a bright flash and would have been easy to spot from Earth.

Smart SPHERES are about to get a whole lot smarter

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:35 PM PST

Smart devices -- such as tablets and phones -- increasingly are an essential part of everyday life on Earth. The same can be said for life off-planet aboard the International Space Station. Our reliance on these mobile and social technologies means equipment and software upgrades are an everyday occurrence -- like buying a new pair of shoes to replace a pair of well-worn ones. That's why the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. is working to upgrade the smartphones currently equipped on a trio of volleyball-sized free-flying satellites on the space station called Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES).

ScienceDaily: Black Holes News

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:43 AM PST

ScienceDaily: Stars News

Water detected in a planet outside our solar system

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:17 AM PST

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

NASA Responds to California's Evolving Drought


LATEST NEWS

NASA Responds to California's Evolving Drought
NASA is partnering with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to develop and apply new technology and products to better manage and monitor the state's water resources and respond to its ongoing drought. › Read full story

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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory | 4800 Oak Grove Dr | Pasadena, CA 91109

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ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

Stream of stars in Andromeda satellite galaxy shows cosmic collision

Posted: 23 Feb 2014 10:17 AM PST

The Andromeda Galaxy is surrounded by a swarm of small satellite galaxies. Researchers have detected a stream of stars in one of the Andromeda Galaxy's outer satellite galaxies, a dwarf galaxy called Andromeda II. This galaxy is very small -- less than one percent of the Milky Way. The movement of the stars tells us that what we are observing is the remnant of a merger between two dwarf galaxies. Mergers between galaxies of such low mass has not been observed before.

The Hubble showdown: Starbursts versus monsters

Posted: 23 Feb 2014 08:25 AM PST

The dominating figure in the middle of this new Hubble image is a galaxy known as MCG-03-04-014. It belongs to a class of galaxies called luminous infrared galaxies -- galaxies that are incredibly bright in the infrared part of the spectrum.