The Sky Tonight

December 11, 2012

Mining ancient ores for clues to early life
Montreal, Canada (SPX) Dec 11, 2012
An analysis of sulfide ore deposits from one of the world's richest base-metal mines confirms that oxygen levels were extremely low on Earth 2.7 billion years ago, but also shows that microbes were actively feeding on sulfate in the ocean and influencing seawater chemistry during that geological time period. The research, reported by a team of Canadian and U.S. scientists in Nature Geoscience, provides new insight into how ancient metal-ore deposits can be used to better understand the chemistry o ... read more

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Hubble's Glitter galaxy: The ESO 318-13 galaxy The brilliant cascade of stars through the middle of this image is the galaxy ESO 318-13 as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Despite being located millions of light-years from Earth, the ... more		Fermi Improves its Vision for Thunderstorm Gamma-Ray Flashes Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 11, 2012 Thanks to improved data analysis techniques and a new operating mode, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is now 10 times ... more		Unvieling diffuse x-ray emission from nearby galaxies NASA will launch an astrophysics mission to study the Diffuse X-ray emission from the Local galaxy (DXL) December 9 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The goal of this flight is ... more
				Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. While that seems far-fetched, perhaps even incomp ... more		NASA Astrobiology Institute Shows How Wide Binary Stars Form Using computer simulations, scientists from the NASA Astrobiology Institute team at the University of Hawaii are shedding light on a question that has challenged astronomers for years: What causes w ... more

Apollo's Lunar Dust Data Being Restored Forty years after the last Apollo spacecraft launched, the science from those missions continues to shape our view of the moon. In one of the latest developments, readings from the Apollo 14 and 15 ... more		Rock Comet Meteor Shower Every year in mid-December, astronomers look up in the sky and witness a mystery. It announces itself with a flurry of shooting stars. For several nights in a row, dozens to hundreds of meteors per ... more		Air Force stands up new Space Operations Directorate China showcases weapon systems to possible foreign buyers Could the X-37B Space Plane be Preparing for a Mission in September University of Florida, US Army develop model for lighter armor Air Force, mission partners prepare satellite for August launch 1st ASTS provides critical support for Minotaur launch at Cape DARPA assured autonomy seeks to guarantee safety of learning-enabled autonomous systems		Search for life extends to the stars Nighttime flights on an airborne observatory to search newly born stars could turn up evidence of the presence of precursors to life, U.S. astrobiologists say. ... more
				British astronomer Patrick Moore dead aged 89 Astronomer Patrick Moore, renowned for his work mapping the Moon's surface and for having popularised his subject with the British public, died Sunday at the age of 89, friends and colleagues announced. ... more		To the moon and back for less than 2 billion dollars Two former top NASA officials unveiled plans Thursday to sell manned flights to the moon by the end of the decade, in an announcement 40 years after the last human set foot there. ... more

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What is Creating Gullies on Vesta? In a preliminary analysis of images from NASA's Dawn mission, scientists have spotted intriguing gullies that sculpt the walls of geologically young craters on the giant asteroid Vesta. Led by ... more		Secrets of universe revealed thanks to AF research complex Looking skyward, scientists worldwide now know the universe's size, composition, approximate age and rate of expansion, thanks in part to "essential" data derived from a time-sensitive test conducte ... more		Study gives first proof that the Earth has a natural thermostat How future volcanic eruptions will impact Earth's ozone layer Study validates East Antarctic ice sheet to remain stable even if western ice sheet melts Study solves mystery of how first animals appeared on Earth To teach kids morals, read books with humans not animals Vegan raptor may be missing link between two major dino groups Sediment research is a granular exercise at NRL		X-ray vision can reveal the moment of birth of violent supernovae A team of astronomers led by the University of Leicester has uncovered new evidence that suggests that X-ray detectors in space could be the first to witness new supernovae that signal the death of ... more
				Speeding Space Junk Poses Risks for Spacecraft The amount of space junk floating around the Earth grows every year, and increasingly can pose risks to spacecraft orbiting the planet. In the United States, NASA's Orbital Debris Program (ODP ... more		Galaxy-wide echoes from the past Many galaxies have a giant black hole at their centre that causes the gas around it to glow. However, in the case of green bean galaxies, the entire galaxy is glowing, not just the centre. These new ... more

Halfway Between Uranus and Neptune, New Horizons Cruises On

Dwarf planet Makemake lacks atmosphere

Keck Observations Bring Weather Of Uranus Into Sharp Focus

Mining ancient ores for clues to early life

Search for life extends to the stars

Can life emerge on planets around cooling stars?

Astronomers discover and 'weigh' infant solar system

Search for Life Suggests Solar Systems More Habitable than Ours

Do missing Jupiters mean massive comet belts?

Charitum Montes: a cratered winter wonderland

Opportunity Continues Rock Studies

Orbiter Spies Where Rover's Cruise Stage Hit Mars

	Geminid Meteor Shower Coming on December 13-14 If it's clear late Thursday night, December 13th, 2012, keep a lookout high overhead for the shooting stars of the Geminid meteor shower. "The Geminids are usually one of the two best meteor showers ... more		The Bubble Nebula, observed with the new One Degree Imager Camera Just in time for the holidays, a spectacular image of the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) demonstrates the potential of the new camera known as the One Degree Imager, or ODI, that is being commissioned at ... more		Wide Binary Stars: Long-Distance Stellar Relationships Using computer simulations, scientists from Hawaii and Finland have figured out how wide binary stars-two stars that orbit each other at a distance up to a light-year-form. Our Sun is a single sta ... more		Crowdsourcing the cosmos: Astronomers welcome all to identify star clusters in Andromeda galaxy Astronomers are inviting the public to search Hubble Space Telescope images of the Andromeda galaxy to help identify star clusters and increase understanding of how galaxies evolve. The new Andromed ... more

Could supervolcanoes be a part of future energy supplies

Fizzy soda water could be key to clean manufacture of flat wonder material: Graphene

Superconductivity research reveals potential new state of matter

A quick and easy way to shut down instabilities in fusion devices

Potato waste processing may be the road to enhanced food waste conversion

Wind energy blows up storm of controversy in Mexico

Apple under pressure to dazzle as market slows

Heliophysics Nugget: Sungrazing Comets as Solar Probes		Point of Light		NASA's GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map		Can life emerge on planets around cooling stars?		Quantum thermodynamics
The dance of quantum tornadoes		A bridge to the quantum world: Dirac electrons found in unique material		'Dark Core' May Not Be So Dark After All		When the first stars blinked on		Astronomers discover and 'weigh' infant solar system

New galaxy census highlights importance of starbursts

Titan, Saturn's Largest Moon, Icier than Scientists Thought

Chinese astronauts may grow veg on Moon

NASA's Cassini Sees Abrupt Turn in Titan's Atmosphere

Search for Life Suggests Solar Systems More Habitable than Ours

Altimeter Built at Goddard Helped Identify Ice on Mercury

New radio telescope could save world billions

A Multi-Wavelength View of Radio Galaxy Hercules A

Bismuth provides perfect dance partners for quantum computing qubits

Steps towards filming atoms dancing

Do missing Jupiters mean massive comet belts?

NASA Voyager 1 Encounters New Region in Deep Space

The Beginning of Everything: A New Paradigm Shift for the Infant Universe

Australia unveils telescope to warn of solar flares

WSU researchers use 3-D printer to make parts from moon rock

Texas Astronomers Measure Most Massive, Most Unusual Black Hole

Brown Dwarfs May Grow Rocky Planets

European research agencies create sustainable entity for astroparticle physics

Schriever squadrons assure safe passage in space domain

Voyager discovers 'magnetic highway' at edge of solar system

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