The Sky Tonight

March 21, 2014

Space Sunflower May Help Snap Pictures of Planets
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 21, 2014
A spacecraft that looks like a giant sunflower might one day be used to acquire images of Earth-like rocky planets around nearby stars. The prototype deployable structure, called a starshade, is being developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The hunt is on for planets that resemble Earth in size, composition and temperature. Rocky planets with just the right temperature for liquid water - not too hot, not too cold - could be possible abodes for life outside our solar sys ... read more

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NRL Researchers Detect Water Around a Hot Jupiter Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are part of a research team that has detected water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system. The team, including scientist ... more		New hypothesis explains Earth's continued habitability Researchers from USC and Nanjing University in China have documented evidence suggesting that part of the reason that the Earth has become neither sweltering like Venus nor frigid like Mars lies wit ... more		Dramatic new portrait helps define Milky Way's shape and contents Using more than 2 million images collected by NASA's orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, a team of Wisconsin scientists has stitched together a dramatic 360 degree portrait of the Milky Way, providing ... more
				Fierce 2012 magnetic storm barely missed Earth Earth dodged a huge magnetic bullet from the sun on July 23, 2012. According to University of California, Berkeley, and Chinese researchers, a rapid succession of coronal mass ejections - the most i ... more		Surface of Titan Sea is mirror smooth, Stanford scientists find New radar measurements of an enormous sea on Titan offer insights into the weather patterns and landscape composition of the Saturnian moon. The measurements, made in 2013 by NASA's Cassini spacecra ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Could Alien Life Cope with a Hotter, Brighter Star? The stars in the night sky shine in myriad hues and brightnesses-piercing blues, clean whites, smoldering crimsons. Every star has a different mass, the basic characteristic that determines its size ... more		Your 15 Minutes of 'Frame' - from NASA's Cassini Arguably the most photogenic planet in the solar system, Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest planet after Jupiter. With its luminous striped surface and stunning ring syst ... more		Northrop Grumman Hypersonic Navigation System Exceeds Rocket Test Milestones We can build fighter jet without Germany: France's Dassault Moldova backs EU in elections marred by Russian interference		New view of supernova death throes A powerful, new three-dimensional model provides fresh insight into the turbulent death throes of supernovas, whose final explosions outshine entire galaxies and populate the universe with elements ... more
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Developing the Next-Generation Military Radar while Maintaining Current Systems; IDGA�s Military Radar Summit - April 2014

International Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures From Space Environment

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Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

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Planet X myth debunked

WISE Finds Thousands Of New Stars But No Planet X

New Horizons Reaches the Final 4 AU

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New hypothesis explains Earth's continued habitability

How Did Life Arise? Fuel Cells May Have Answers

Space Sunflower May Help Snap Pictures of Planets

NRL Researchers Detect Water Around a Hot Jupiter

UK joins the planet hunt with Europe's PLATO mission

NASA Orbiter Finds New Gully Channel on Mars

The Exploration of Murray Ridge Continues

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Resumes Full Duty

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NASA ISRO radar satellite beams first Earth images from space

India plans mega-dam to counter China water fears

Breakthrough in UAV swarm intelligence as SRI redefines topology mapping

China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover rouses from latest slumber		VLT spots largest yellow hypergiant star		An experiment recreates the crust of the moon Europa		Mercury's contraction much greater than thought		Major discovery bolsters Big Bang theory of universe
MUSE Envisions Mining "Big Code" to Improve Software Reliability and Construction		Study on lunar crater counting shows crowdsourcing effective, accurate tool		Reducing debris threat from satellite batteries		Astronomers reveal 'largest yellow star ever'		These aren't the voids you're looking for

Some galaxies in the early universe grew up quickly

Astronomer maps out Earth's place in the universe among 'Council of Giants'

Be an Asteroid Hunter in NASA's First Asteroid Grand Challenge Contest Series

Galaxies in the early Universe mature beyond their years

Extraordinary momentum and spin discovered in evanescent light waves

Crystals ripple in response to light

UK joins the planet hunt with Europe's PLATO mission

Sun's energy influences 1,000 years of natural climate variability in North Atlantic

X-ray laser FLASH spies deep into giant gas planets

ESO VLT Shows Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko Brighter Than Expected

Spacesuits And Moon Notes Among The Stars At Bonhams NYC Auction

Death Stars in Orion Blast Planets before They Even Form

Hubble Telescope Witnesses Asteroid's Mysterious Disintegration

New NASA Van Allen Probes Observations Helping To Improve Space Weather Models

Critical mass not needed for supernova explosions

Crashing Comets Explain Surprise Gas Clump Around Young Star

Standard-Candle Supernovae are Still Standard, but Why?

THEMIS Discovers New Process that Protects Earth from Space Weather

Eleventh MESSENGER Planetary Data System Release Is the Largest Yet

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