The Sky Tonight

March 20, 2013

Goldstone Radar Snags Images of Asteroid 2013 ET
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 20, 2013
A sequence of radar images of asteroid 2013 ET was obtained on March 10, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., when the asteroid was about 693,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) from Earth, which is 2.9 lunar distances. The radar imagery suggests the irregularly shaped object is at least 130 feet (40 meters) wide. The 18 radar images were taken over a span of 1.3 hours. During that interval, the asteroid completed only a fraction of ... read more

Previous Issues

Mar 19

Mar 18

Mar 15

Mar 14

Mar 13

Leaping Lunar Dust Electrically charged lunar dust near shadowed craters can get lofted above the surface and jump over the shadowed region, bouncing back and forth between sunlit areas on opposite sides, according to ... more		Hubble Gazes on One Ring to Rule Them All Galaxies can take many forms - elliptical blobs, swirling spiral arms, bulges, and disks are all known components of the wide range of galaxies we have observed using telescopes like the NASA/ESA Hu ... more		MESSENGER Completes Its First Extended Mission at Mercury On March 17, 2013, MESSENGER successfully completed its year-long first extended mission in orbit about Mercury, building on the groundbreaking scientific results from its earlier primary mission. ... more
				Astronomers Detect Water in Atmosphere of Distant Planet A team of international scientists using the W. M. Keck Observatory has made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-size planet beyond our Solar System. According to ... more		Witnessing starbursts in young galaxies On March 13, it was announced the most vigorous bursts of star birth in the cosmos took place much earlier than previously thought - results now published in a set of papers in Nature and the Astrop ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Building the Massive Simulation Sets Essential to Planck Results To make the most precise measurement yet of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) - the remnant radiation from the big bang - the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Planck satellite mission has been co ... more		Mission to Ganymede more tricky than expected Russia's proposed landing mission to Ganymede was discussed extensively last week at an international meeting hosted by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The mission t ... 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		'Hot Spots' Ride a Merry-Go-Round on Jupiter In the swirling canopy of Jupiter's atmosphere, cloudless patches are so exceptional that the big ones get the special name "hot spots." Exactly how these clearings form and why they're only found n ... more
				Earth will drown in garbage Man-made garbage cluttering from near space is a very intensive process. Therefore, it may happen that within the coming 20 years safe near-Earth orbits which it would be possible to use will become ... more		Water signature in distant planet shows clues to its formation A team of international scientists including a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory astrophysicist has made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-size like planet beyond ... more

Solar systems for home and business installations

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Earth-Directed Coronal Mass Ejection From the Sun On March 15, 2013, at 2:54 a.m. EDT, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space and can reach ... more		Sunset Comet March 15, 2013: For a comet, visiting the sun is risky business. Fierce solar heat vaporizes gases long frozen in the fragile nucleus, breaking up some comets and completely destroying others. ... 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		Distant planetary system is a super-sized solar system A team of astronomers, including Quinn Konopacky of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, has made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupi ... more
				NASA's Swift, Chandra Explore a Youthful 'Star Wreck' While performing an extensive X-ray survey of our galaxy's central regions, NASA's Swift satellite has uncovered the previously unknown remains of a shattered star. Designated G306.3-0.9 after the c ... more		Antarctic and Arctic Insects Use Different Genetic Mechanisms to Cope With Lack of Water Although they live in similarly extreme ecosystems at opposite ends of the world, Antarctic insects appear to employ entirely different methods at the genetic level to cope with extremely dry condit ... more

'Vulcan' wins Pluto moon name vote

Public to vote on names for Pluto moons

The PI's Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch

Antarctic and Arctic Insects Use Different Genetic Mechanisms to Cope With Lack of Water

'Bizarre Bacteria' in Lake Vostok Study Likely a Contaminant

Home toxic home

Astronomers Detect Water in Atmosphere of Distant Planet

Distant planetary system is a super-sized solar system

Water signature in distant planet shows clues to its formation

NASA's next Mars mission invites public to come aboard

Panorama From NASA Mars Rover Shows Mount Sharp

Opportunity Departing South Soon

	Scientists probe 'hot spots' on Jupiter Scientists say they have new clues about a phenomenon on Jupiter dubbed "hot spots," cloudless patches providing a window deep into the planet's atmosphere. ... more		'Bizarre Bacteria' in Lake Vostok Study Likely a Contaminant Last week, reports began to emerge that Russian scientists had discovered a previously unknown species of bacteria in samples of lake water from one of Antarctica's most famous subglacial lakes. Wor ... more		Analysis brings Higgs confirmation closer The new particle detected by the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland last summer is looking more and more like the long-sought Higgs boson, scientists report. ... more		Russian meteor million of years old The meteor that exploded over Russia last month probably broke off an asteroid and collided with another space body millions of years ago, a scientist says. ... 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

China sets moon mission re-entry test		Fastest camera may film atomic motion		Bursts of Star Formation in the Early Universe		ALMA exposes hidden star factories in the early universe		Extremely rare triple quasar found
Earth-sized planets in habitable zones are more common than previously thought		Astronomers Observe Planets Around Another Star Like Never Before		ALMA rewrites history of Universe's stellar baby boom		'Nuisance' data lead to surprising star-birth discovery		The Great Exoplanet Debate

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project Seeks Public Support To Retrieve Apollo Era Moon Images

Herschel gets to the bottom of black hole jets

ALMA finds 'monster' starburst galaxies in the early universe

Southampton scientist investigates Russian meteor

Soccer Balls in Interstellar Space

Early Universe bred 'starburst' mega-galaxies: study

Long Awaited, Comet PanSTARRS Now Glows in the Twilight

Home toxic home

Lunar impacts created seas of molten rock

The mercury rises for BepiColombo

Dispute over Antarctic 'unidentified' life

Astronomers Conduct First Remote Reconnaissance of Another Solar System

Distance to nearest galaxy measured

Planetary Data System Releases MESSENGER Data from Third Mercury Solar Day

Comet PANSTARRS Rises to the Occasion Mid-March

Rhea Rev 183 Raw Preview

Solar Wind Energy Source Discovered

Russian satellite hit by remnants of destroyed Chinese spacecraft

How quantum physics democratised music

Measuring the universe more accurately than ever before

Free Newsletters - Space - Defense - Environment - Energy

Buy Advertising

Media Advertising Kit

Editorial & Other Enquiries

Privacy statement

The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2013 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy statement