The Sky Tonight

December 09, 2013

Silent Orbit for China's Moon Lander
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 09, 2013
China's first Moon lander is in a stable orbit around that world, awaiting the command to lower its orbit and eventually descend to the surface. Judging by what little we know, the Chang'e-3 spacecraft seems to be in a good state of health. It has successfully navigated its way from low Earth orbit though cislunar space and fired its main engine to brake into lunar orbit. These are major hurdles for the mission, and Chang'e-3 has passed them well. Given the apparent success of the mission, i ... read more

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SST Australia: Signed, Sealed and Ready for Delivery As satellites become more common, they face growing risk of colliding with space debris and even each other. The U.S. Department of Defense has thus made space situational awareness a top priority t ... more		Hot Jupiters Highlight Challenges in the Search for Life Beyond Earth This week, the Goddard Center for Astrobiology celebrated the confirmation of atmospheric water on five exoplanets. This discovery heralds a new era in planet hunting at the same time as it acknowle ... more		Subaru Telescope's Image Captures the Intricacy of Comet Lovejoy's Tail A team of astronomers from Stony Brook University (the State University of New York at Stony Brook), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and others used Suprime-Cam, Subaru Telesc ... more
				The Sun's Magnetic Field is about to Flip Something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun's vast magnetic field is about to flip. "It looks like we're no more than thre ... more		Explosive growth of young star A star is formed when a large cloud of gas and dust condenses and eventually becomes so dense that it collapses into a ball of gas, where the pressure heats the matter, creating a glowing gas ball - ... more

Supernova Blast Provides Clues to Age of Binary Star System Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed faint remnants of a supernova explosion and helped researchers determine Circinus X-1 - an X-ray binary - is the youngest of this class of a ... more		Fledgling supernova remnant reveals neutron star's secrets With the help of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Australia Telescope Compact Array, an international team of astronomers has identified the glowing wreck of a star that exploded a mere 2,50 ... more		Aalyria spacetime platform tapped for AFRL space data network trials Atomic 6 debris shields selected for Portal Space Systems mission China starts large scale production of T1000 carbon fiber		New comet gets astronomers' attention with intricate tail structure A telescope in Hawaii has captured images of the intricate tail of a comet named Lovejoy as it moves toward its closest approach to the sun, astronomers say. ... more
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CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

International Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures From Space Environment

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

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				Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained the highest-resolution movie yet of a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the hexagon, around Saturn's north pole. This is the first hexagon movie of i ... more		Quantum effects help cells capture light, but the details are obscure Sophisticated recent experiments with ultrashort laser pulses support the idea that intuition-defying quantum interactions between molecules help plants, algae, and some bacteria efficiently gather ... more

The Sounds of New Horizons

On the Path to Pluto, 5 AU and Closing

SwRI study finds that Pluto satellites' orbital ballet may hint of long-ago collisions

Odds of alien life 'very high,' House panel hears

December Expedition to Explore Life in Hydrothermal Vent

Glassy Coating Keeps Viruses Happy In Harsh Environments

Astronomers find strange planet orbiting where there shouldn't be one

Hot Jupiters Highlight Challenges in the Search for Life Beyond Earth

Hubble Traces Subtle Signals of Water on Hazy Worlds

Martian Laser Surpasses 100,000 Zaps

Mangalyaan Reaches First Distance Milestone On Route To Mars

NASA poised to launch Mars atmosphere probe

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Hydrogen nuclei experiment sharpens view of quarks inside matter

Oak Ridge team plans powerful test facility for next generation fusion components

Low frequency lasers modeled to greatly boost nuclear fusion rates

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Hubble Traces Subtle Signals of Water on Hazy Worlds		A Blast from Its Past Dates the Youngest Neutron-Star Binary		Model Suggests Ocean Currents Shape Europa's Icy Shell in Ways Critical for Potential Habitats		Comet ISON is confirmed dead after brush with Sun		The Bright Vortex Off Saturn Way

Telescope to track space junk using youth radio station

No qualms about quantum theory

A fiery drama of star birth and death

The mystery of neutron stars heats up

Zero Gravity Corporation Completes Microgravity Research Mission

Fast, Furious, Refined: Smaller Black Holes Can Eat Plenty

Uncovering hidden structures in massive data collections

China launches first moon rover mission

NASA Investigating the Life of Comet ISON

Physicists find a way to study coldest objects in the universe

Figures of Eight and Peanut Shells at the Galactic Center

The State of Super Earths

Flashes of brilliance

Google steps up its battle for Internet 'cloud'

Comet ISON probably did not survive Sun skirmish

Helping China To The Moon

Rock Comet Sprouts a Tail

Japanese firm describes proposed 'power belt' for the moon

Comet ISON vanishes as it circles the sun

Countdown to the galactic census

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