The Sky Tonight

April 22, 2014

Upside-down planet reveals new method for studying binary star systems
Seattle WA (SPX) Apr 23, 2014
What looked at first like a sort of upside-down planet has instead revealed a new method for studying binary star systems, discovered by a University of Washington student astronomer. Working with UW astronomer Eric Agol, doctoral student Ethan Kruse has confirmed the first "self-lensing" binary star system - one in which the mass of the closer star can be measured by how powerfully it magnifies light from its more distant companion star. Though our sun stands alone, about 40 percent of similar st ... read more

Previous Issues

Apr 21

Apr 20

Apr 18

Apr 17

Apr 16

Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI The New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument (NESSI) will soon get its first "taste" of exoplanets, helping astronomers decipher their chemical composition. Exoplanets are planets that o ... more		Vitamin B3 Might Have Been Made in Space, Delivered to Earth by Meteorites Ancient Earth might have had an extraterrestrial supply of vitamin B3 delivered by carbon-rich meteorites, according to a new analysis by NASA-funded researchers. The result supports a theory that t ... more		A cross-section of the Universe An image of a galaxy cluster taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope gives a remarkable cross-section of the Universe, showing objects at different distances and stages in cosmic history. ... more
				NASA's MMS Observatories Stacked For Testing Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., accomplished another first. Using a large overhead crane, they mated two Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, observatories - also ca ... more		First Potentially Habitable Earth-Sized Planet Confirmed By Gemini And Keck Observatories The first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star has been confirmed by observations with both the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory. The initial dis ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

A Star's Early Chemistry Shapes Life-Friendly Atmospheres Born in a disc of gas and rubble, planets eventually come together as larger and larger pieces of dust and rock stick together. They may be hundreds of light-years away from us, but astronomers can ... more		John C. Houbolt, Unsung Hero of the Apollo Program, Dies at Age 95 "In the space race of the 1950s and '60s, the leading voices were rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and ... another guy. Household names included Neil Armstrong, Alan Shepard and ... oh, you know, ... 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		Impact glass stores biodata for millions of years Asteroid and comet impacts can cause widespread ecological havoc, killing off plants and animals on regional or even global scales. But new research from Brown University shows that impacts can also ... more
				Planet Kepler 186 is good parallel to Earth, but there is little chance to detect life NASA's astronomers have discovered a planet that resembles Earth like no other planet known until today. This planet is circling a star 500 light-years away from us. The first planet outside our pla ... more		Physicists discover new type of particle using Large Hadron Collider A new and exotic atomic particle - one that doesn't mesh with traditional particle physics models - has been discovered by researchers at Syracuse University. ... more

UAV Payloads 2014, 24 - 25 June - London, UK

International Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures From Space Environment

Nuclear Supply Chain Summit - April 28-29 Greenville SC

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Progress in the fight against quantum dissipation Scientists at Yale have confirmed a 50-year-old, previously untested theoretical prediction in physics and improved the energy storage time of a quantum switch by several orders of magnitude. They r ... more		Majority of Americans doubt the Big Bang theory In a new national poll on America's scientific acumen, more than half of respondents said they were "not too confident" or "not at all confident" that "the universe began 13.8 billion years ago with a big bang." ... more		The first animals on Earth may have been sea sponges, study suggests Wildfire-induced thunderstorms recreated in Earth system models for first time Fengyun satellite strengthens China global weather forecasting capacity		Odd Tilts Could Make More Worlds Habitable Pivoting planets that lean one way and then change orientation within a short geological time period might be surprisingly habitable, according to new modeling by NASA and university scientists affi ... more
				Searching for dark energy with neutrons All the particles we know to exist make up only about five per cent of the mass and energy of the universe. The rest - "Dark Matter" and "Dark Energy" - remains mysterious. A European collaboration ... more		A study in scarlet This area of the southern sky, in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur), is home to many bright nebulae, each associated with hot newborn stars that formed out of the clouds of hydrogen gas. ... more

Dwarf planet 'Biden' identified in an unlikely region of our solar system

Planet X myth debunked

WISE Finds Thousands Of New Stars But No Planet X

Impact glass stores biodata for millions of years

New Study Outlines 'Water World' Theory of Life's Origins

A Star's Early Chemistry Shapes Life-Friendly Atmospheres

Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI

First Potentially Habitable Earth-Sized Planet Confirmed By Gemini And Keck Observatories

Upside-down planet reveals new method for studying binary star systems

Meteorites Yield Clues to Red Planet's Early Atmosphere

Opportunity Rover Driving Up To Crater Rim

NASA Mars Orbiter Spies Rover Near Martian Butte

	New Study Outlines 'Water World' Theory of Life's Origins Life took root more than four billion years ago on our nascent Earth, a wetter and harsher place than now, bathed in sizzling ultraviolet rays. What started out as simple cells ultimately transforme ... more		B3: the vitamin from outer space Vitamin B3, also called nicotinic acid or niacin, is the precursor to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) - vital to metabolism and a key to the development of ancient life. And though its possible B3 developed non-biologically on ancient Earth, scientists say it's likely carbon-rich meteorites peppering the planet millions of years ago offered an extra dose of niacin. ... more		ISEE-3: An Old Friend Comes to Visit Earth It launched in 1978. It was the first satellite to study the constant flow of solar wind streaming toward Earth from a stable orbit point between our planet and the sun known as the Lagrangian 1, or ... more		Astronomers: 'Tilt-a-worlds' could harbor life A fluctuating tilt in a planet's orbit does not preclude the possibility of life, according to new research by astronomers at the University of Washington, Utah's Weber State University and NASA. In ... more

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

NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface		Quest for extraterrestrial life not over: experts		Continents May Be A Key Feature of Super-Earths		First Earth-sized planet found in 'habitable zone': NASA		Scientists achieve first direct observations of excitons in motion
Saturn's rings reveal how to make a moon		Pushy neighbors force stellar twins to diverge		NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of a Saturn Moon		Cosmic Slurp		Saturn's hexagon: An amazing phenomenon

Russia plans to get a foothold in the Moon

Supernova Cleans Up Its Surroundings

Hubble Extends Stellar Tape Measure 10 Times Farther Into Space

Chance meeting creates celestial diamond ring

Study Tests Theory that Life Originated at Deep Sea Vents

Faraway Moon or Faint Star? Possible Exomoon Found

One Kind of Supersymmetry Shown to Emerge Naturally

SU professors test boundaries of 'new physics' with discovery of 4-quark hadron

Join in the Cassini Name Game

Construction to Begin on NASA Spacecraft Set to Visit Asteroid in 2018

Searching High and Low for Dark Matter

NASA's LRO Mission and North America to Experience Total Lunar Eclipse

Russian Federal Space Agency is elaborating Moon exploration program

Dropbox out to be a home in the Internet 'cloud'

Orbital physics is child's play with 'Super Planet Crash'

Watching for a black hole to gobble up a gas cloud

The Importance of Planetary Plumes

BOSS quasars track the expanding universe -- most precise measurement yet

Science, Discovery Channels to broadcast private race to the moon

Overcoming structural uncertainty in computer models

Free Newsletters - Space - Defense - Environment - Energy

Buy Advertising

Media Advertising Kit

Editorial & Other Enquiries

Privacy statement

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news 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 Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.