The Sky Tonight

March 05, 2013

Dawn forging through the main asteroid belt
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 04, 2013
The indefatigable Dawn spacecraft is continuing to forge through the main asteroid belt, gently thrusting with its ion propulsion system. As it gradually changes its orbit around the sun, the distance to dwarf planet Ceres slowly shrinks. The pertinacious probe will arrive there in 2015 to explore the largest body between the sun and Neptune that has not yet been glimpsed by a visitor from Earth. Meanwhile, Vesta, the fascinating alien world Dawn revealed in 2011 and 2012, grows ever more distant. ... read more

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Connecting the (quantum) dots Recent research offers a new spin on using nanoscale semiconductor structures to build faster computers and electronics. Literally. University of Pittsburgh and Delft University of Technology resear ... more		Playing quantum tricks with measurements A team of physicists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, performed an experiment that seems to contradict the foundations of quantum theory - at first glance. The team led by Rainer Blatt ... more		Light particles illuminate the vacuum In an article published in the PNAS scientific journal, researchers from Aalto University and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland showed experimentally that vacuum has properties not previo ... more
				China to use modified rocket for moon landing mission A rocket expert said Friday that China has developed a modified model of the Long March-3B carrier rocket for an upcoming moon landing mission to be completed by the Chang'e-3 moon orbiter. Th ... more		Additional Details on the Large Fireball Event over Russia on Feb. 15, 2013 The large fireball (technically, a "superbolide") observed on the morning of February 15, 2013 in the skies near Chelyabinsk, Russia, was caused by a relatively small asteroid approximately 17 to 20 ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Low Stray Light Ellipsoidal Mirror Helps Push the Boundaries of Solar Research Optical Surfaces Ltd. has supplied a 350mm diameter on-axis ellipsoidal mirror to the Kiepenheuer-Institut fur Sonnenphysik (KIS) in Freiberg, Germany. The Kiepenheuer-Institut fur Sonnenphysi ... more		Russian meteor misidentified by most Most of the inhabitants of the Russian city under an exploding meteor failed to identify it for what it was, a poll indicated. ... more		Sidekick autonomy software guides YFQ-42A test mission for CCA program Infleqtion lists shares on NYSE as neutral atom quantum firm Top Chinese gaming companies continue to challenge		Van Allen belt study reveals surprises Researchers say data from NASA space probes has forced a revision of theories about radiation belts around the Earth just a few thousand miles above our heads. ... more
				Scientists spot birth of giant planet Astronomers using a powerful telescope in southern Chile said Thursday they have captured the first direct image of a protoplanet forming around another star, still embedded in thick gas and dust. ... more		Search for 'unparticles' focuses on Earth's crust Evidence of a minuscule force that could exist between two particle spins over long distances could be lurking in magnetized iron under the Earth's surface. That is the conclusion of a new study by ... more

Solar systems for home and business installations

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

White dwarf supernova spotted in Virgo Cluster Light from two massive stars that exploded hundreds of millions of years ago recently reached Earth, and each event was identified as a supernova. A supernova discovered Feb. 6 exploded about 450 mi ... more		Stott Space Aims to Mine Asteroids this Decade Space may be the final frontier, but that isn't stopping Stott Space Inc. from making it a frontier accessible to the masses. With the launch of their Indiegogo campaign, Stott Space hopes to find t ... more		Solar-driven ionosphere charges may nudge stressed faults toward rupture Stable black carbon in mangrove soils boosts coastal climate role Low crystallinity iron minerals show promise for chromium cleanup and carbon storage		NuSTAR helps solve riddle of black hole spin An international team including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists has definitively measured the spin rate of a supermassive black hole for the first time. The findings, made by ... more
				How did early primordial cells evolve Four billion years ago, soon after the planet cooled enough for life to begin, primordial cells may have replicated and divided without protein machinery or cell walls, relying instead on just a fli ... more		Toxic oceans may have delayed spread of complex life A new model suggests that inhospitable hydrodgen-sulphide rich waters could have delayed the spread of complex life forms in ancient oceans. The research, published online this week in the journal N ... more

'Vulcan' wins Pluto moon name vote

Public to vote on names for Pluto moons

The PI's Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch

How did early primordial cells evolve

Toxic oceans may have delayed spread of complex life

Building blocks of life may be in space

Scientists spot birth of giant planet

NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

Kepler helps astronomers find tiny exo planet

Short Bump Gets Robotic Arm Closer to Rock Target

NASA fixing computer glitch on Mars Curiosity rover

Inspiration Mars to Pursue Human Mission to the Red Planet in 2018

	Atoms with Quantum-Memory Order tends towards disorder. This is also true for quantum states. Measurements at the Vienna University of Technology show that in quantum mechanics this transition can be quite different from wha ... more		Big data: Searching in large amounts of data quickly and efficiently The term "big data" is defined as a huge amount of digital information, so big and so complex that normal database technology cannot process it. It is not only scientific institutes like the nuclear ... more		Comet may give Mars a close shave in 2014 A newly discovered comet is heading for Mars and should give the red planet a close fly-by in October 2014, Australian astronomers say. ... more		Building blocks of life may be in space The discovery of prebiotic molecules in interstellar space suggests some basic chemicals key to life may have formed between the stars, U.S. astronomers say. ... more

AALTO plans Zephyr stratospheric hub in northern Australia and seeks local payload partners

Ancient guano drove Chincha coastal power

UAH lands first DARPA award for biological sciences department

Meteorite's Powerful Blast Due to Space Collisions		What Exploded over Russia?		Supermassive black hole spins super-fast		Black hole found spinning near the relativistic limit		New Ellipsoidal Mirror Pushes Boundaries Of Solar Research
Fermi's Motion Produces a Study in Spirograph		Asteroid impact mission targets Didymos		NASA Deciphering the Mysterious Math of the Solar Wind		Origin of Russian meteor identified		Detecting Life on Planets that Orbit White Dwarf Stars

NRL Scientists Produce Densest Artificial Ionospheric Plasma Clouds Using HAARP

Stellar Motions in Outer Halo Shed New Light on Milky Way Evolution

Mercury may have harbored an ancient magma ocean

China overtakes Japan on IT spending: German trade body

SwRI ultraviolet payload selected for mission to Jovian ice moons

Hubble Sees a Glowing Jet From A Young Star

NASA Selects Science Instrument and Hardware for European Mission to Jupiter

India rocket launches asteroid-spotting satellite

Asteroid impact mission targets Didymos

Apophis Risk Assessment Updated

Future Evidence for Extraterrestrial Life Might Come from Dying Stars

Discovering the birth of an asteroid trail

The NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign

One-Kilo Meteorite Fragment Found

Russian Meteorite Clean-Up 'Two-Thirds Complete'

UK-Led Instrument Selected For European Jupiter Mission

Sweeping the Dust from a Cosmic Lobster

Hubble Sees Cosmic "Flying V" of Merging Galaxies

NASA's Fermi Proves Supernova Remnants Produce Cosmic Rays

Cassini Still Going Strong Investigating Saturn's Moons

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