The Sky Tonight

April 12, 2013

A Ghostly Green Bubble
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 12, 2013
This intriguing new picture from ESO's Very Large Telescope shows the glowing green planetary nebula IC 1295 surrounding a dim and dying star located about 3300 light-years away in the constellation of Scutum (The Shield). This is the most detailed picture of this object ever taken. Stars the size of the Sun end their lives as tiny and faint white dwarf stars. But as they make the final transition into retirement their atmospheres are blown away into space. For a few tens of thousands of years the ... read more

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Discovery of a Blue Supergiant Star Born in the Wild A duo of astronomers, Dr. Youichi Ohyama (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica or ASIAA, Taiwan) and Dr. Ananda Hota (UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in the Basic Sciences or CBS, I ... more		Blame it on the Rain (from Saturn's Rings) A new study tracks the "rain" of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and finds there is more of it and it falls across larger areas of the planet than previously thought. The ... more		Chicago museum displays fragments of meteor that exploded over Russia Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History says it has obtained 234 pieces of the meteorite that slammed into Russia's Urals region in February. ... more
				Beer Cans For Deep Space The recent announcement of a NASA plan to drag an asteroid into lunar orbit with a robot spacecraft, then stage a crewed astronaut expedition to explore it, has stunned many boffins. The plan is hig ... more		UA Helps Lead U.S. Exploration of Asteroids Scientists at the University of Arizona welcome President Barack Obama's NASA budget proposal, rolled out this week, and specifically its focus on gaining a better understanding of asteroids that co ... more

Space Exploration Auction - April 18 - Dallas, Texas

NASA's Asteroid Initiative Benefits From Rich History NASA's FY2014 budget proposal includes a plan to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and expl ... more		Suzaku 'Post-mortem' Yields Insight into Kepler's Supernova An exploding star observed in 1604 by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler held a greater fraction of heavy elements than the sun, according to an analysis of X-ray observations from the Japan-led ... more		Revolutionising the Skies: How Helsing's CA-1 Europa Drone Could Transform Autonomous Warfare Lockheed Martin Sikorsky unveils scalable Nomad drone family for autonomous long-range missions Firefly Aerospace to Acquire SciTec in $855M Deal Expanding National Security Portfolio		Retired Star Found With Planets And Debris Disc ESA's Herschel space observatory has provided the first images of a dust belt - produced by colliding comets or asteroids - orbiting a subgiant star known to host a planetary system. After bil ... more
				Characterizing The Lunar Radiation Environment The radiation environment near the Moon could be damaging to humans and electronics on future missions. To characterize this potentially hazardous environment, the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the ... more		The Space Cowboys are Back You can't make this stuff up! The latest idea from NASA sounds like a "space western." In this case one cowboy, played by a robotic spacecraft, is sent to lasso a small asteroid and bring it back to ... more

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Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

The Great Exoplanet Debate At the 2012 Astrobiology Science Conference, Astrobiology Magazine hosted a plenary session titled: "Expanding the Habitable Zone: The Hunt for Exoplanets Now and Into the Future." Originally formul ... more		More Treasures from Asteroids The recent announcement of a potential NASA plan to robotically capture an asteroid, transport it to lunar orbit and use it as a target for a human expedition is amazing. Admittedly, it sounds ... more		Deep-sea mining poses new threat to sharks, rays and ghost sharks Hydropower emerges as Southeast Asia's hidden force in driving down carbon emissions An Aussie tycoon bets billions on cleaning up iron ore giant		Scientists to Io: Your Volcanoes Are in the Wrong Place Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the Solar System, with hundreds of volcanoes, some erupting lava fountains up to 250 miles high. However, concentrations of volcanic activi ... more
				Russia rekindles Moon exploration program, intends setting up first human outposts there Having on hand an impressive record of successful moon missions performed when it was the Soviet Union, Russia has set to revive a robotic moon exploration program. The country's serious intentions ... more		NASA Taps the Power of Zombie Stars in Two-in-One Instrument Neutron stars have been called the zombies of the cosmos. They shine even though they're technically dead, occasionally feeding on neighboring stars if they venture too close. Interestingly, these u ... more

'Vulcan' wins Pluto moon name vote

Public to vote on names for Pluto moons

The PI's Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch

Power behind primordial soup discovered

University of Tennessee professor discovers how microbes survive at bare minimum

Where Life Could Thrive: Interview With John Grotzinger

Retired Star Found With Planets And Debris Disc

The Great Exoplanet Debate

NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation

Opportunity For A Quiet Period for Next Three Weeks

Twin Mars craters suggest subsurface water in planet's past

Astronaut's radiation study will be critical for Mars mission

	Observationally Confirmed Supernova Explosion of a Yellow Supergiant Star Observational results of the Hubble Space Telescope announced in March 2013 confirmed the theoretical prediction by the Bersten team at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Uni ... more		A meteorite mystery from Mercury? Early in 2012, someone in Southern Morocco picked up 35 greenish stones, including the one shown above. Purchased by a dealer in Erfoud, Morocco, it was then resold to Stefan Ralew, a meteorite coll ... more		NASA wants to tow an asteroid to the moon: senator NASA wants to grab a small asteroid and tow it into orbit around the moon, as part of a long-range plan towards establishing permanent manned outposts in space, according to a US senator. ... more		Scientists propose revolutionary laser system to produce the next LHC An international team of physicists has proposed a revolutionary laser system, inspired by the telecommunications technology, to produce the next generation of particle accelerators, such as the Lar ... more

Renewables overtake coal but growth slows: reports

OpenAI's Fidji Simo says AI investment frenzy 'new normal,' not bubble

Tokyo stocks hit new record as markets extend global rally

NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation		On wings of light		Power behind primordial soup discovered		Quantum tricks drive magnetic switching into the fast lane		Mapping the Chemistry Needed for Life at Europa
Gravity-Bending Find Leads to Kepler Meeting Einstein		Stars in NGC 602a		Collision Course? A Comet Heads for Mars		Shining light on elusive dark matter		SDSC's Gordon Supercomputer Assists in Crunching Large Hadron Collider Data

Hubble breaks record for furthest supernova

ALMA Detects Signs of Star Formation Surprisingly Close to Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole

The Great Exoplanet Debate Part Four

What Is Behind Einstein's Turbulences?

NASA Team Investigates Complex Chemistry At Titan

Astronomers Anticipate 100 Billion Earth-Like Planets

Green Pea galaxies could help astronomers understand early universe

Astrophysicists to probe dark matter in sunny California

Shape from sound - new methods to probe the universe

Europe readies for solar storm risks

LHC upgrade could yield dark matter

Swirling Secrets

Supernova remnant 1987A continues to reveal its secrets

New Insights on How Spiral Galaxies Get Their Arms

Pre-existing mineralogy may survive lunar impacts

NOAO: Star Birth in Cepheus

Black hole wakes up and has a light snack

Hungry black hole wakes up for a planet-sized snack

'Metascreen' forms ultra-thin invisibility cloak

Lensing in the Peculiar "Magatama" Galaxy

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