The Sky Tonight

January 15, 2015

A twist on planetary origins
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015
Meteors that have crashed to Earth have long been regarded as relics of the early solar system. These craggy chunks of metal and rock are studded with chondrules - tiny, glassy, spherical grains that were once molten droplets. Scientists have thought that chondrules represent early kernels of terrestrial planets: As the solar system started to coalesce, these molten droplets collided with bits of gas and dust to form larger planetary precursors. However, researchers at MIT and Purdue University h ... read more

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AI helps physicists predict dangerous solar flares Though scientists do not completely understand what triggers solar flares, Stanford solar physicists Monica Bobra and Sebastien Couvidat have automated the analysis of those gigantic explosions. The ... more		A year on-station for Gaia Time flies when you're mapping a billion stars! One year ago, Gaia performed its last major orbit insertion burn and was stable at 'L2' ... more		Meteorite material born in molten spray as embryo planets collided Asteroids may be a byproduct of planet formation rather than planetary building blocks, according to a recent paper in Nature. Research done at Purdue University suggests collisions of planetary emb ... more
				NASA and ESA Celebrate 10 Years Since Titan Landing Ten years ago, an explorer from Earth parachuted into the haze of an alien moon toward an uncertain fate. After a gentle descent lasting more than two hours, it landed with a thud on a frigid floodp ... more		Decoding the gravitational evolution of dark matter halos Researchers at Kavli IPMU and their collaborators have revealed that considering environmental effects such as a gravitational tidal force spread over a scale much larger than a galaxy cluster is in ... more

Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe May 2015

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Asteroid to Fly By Earth Safely on January 26 An asteroid, designated 2004 BL86, will safely pass about three times the distance of Earth to the moon on January 26. From its reflected brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about ... more		Ground-breaking research to discover new planets Scientists from Queen's University Belfast have partnered with leading astrophysicists across Europe for a ground-breaking space research project that will form a crucial step in the quest to study ... more		EU states to hold talks on 'drone wall' to protect bloc Denmark military intel fails to identify source of drone flights Lithuania eases rules on shooting down drones		Scientists say a meteorite could be responsible for Antarctic crater Researchers in Antarctica have discovered what they believe is the remnants of a meteorite impact site. ... more
				NASA releases retro-styled travel posters for newly discovered planets As a unique way to draw attention to the increasing number of exoplanets discovered by the repaired and reinvigorated Kepler, NASA published three throwback travel posters showcasing alien worlds Kepler-16b, Kepler-186f and HD 40307g. ... more		NameExoWorlds contest opens The first ever contest allowing members of the public to name ExoWorlds begins its first round today, offering the registered clubs and non-profit organisations the chance to nominate their favourit ... more

Last Chance: Mercury Crater-Naming Contest Ends January 15 The MESSENGER Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Team is reminding interested parties that the competition to name five impact craters on Mercury closes on January 15, 2015. The contest, open to ev ... more		Unusual Light Signal Yields Clues About Elusive Black Hole Merger The central regions of many glittering galaxies, our own Milky Way included, harbor cores of impenetrable darkness-black holes with masses equivalent to millions, or even billions, of suns. What is ... more		NASA ISRO radar satellite beams first Earth images from space Morocco High Atlas whistle language strives for survival China warns Papua New Guinea over Australian defence deal		New catalyst process uses light, not metal, for rapid polymerization A team of chemistry and materials science experts from University of California, Santa Barbara and The Dow Chemical Company has created a novel way to overcome one of the major hurdles preventing th ... more
Service module of China's lunar orbiter enters 127-minute orbit The service module of China's unmanned test lunar orbiter entered a 127-minute orbit on Tuesday after three orbital transfers since Sunday. To decelerate the craft enough for it enter its targ ... more		Space Debris Expert Warns About Dangers of Orbital Junk The emerging problem of floating space junk becomes more and more evident and bothersome. Spacecraft and satellites are currently subject to high-speed impacts by more than 19,000 trackable objects, ... more		Rapid journey through a crystal lattice The time frames, in which electrons travel within atoms, are unfathomably short. For example, electrons excited by light change their quantum-mechanical location within mere attoseconds - an attosec ... more		Race of the electrons It is easy to measure electric current. But it is extremely hard to watch the individual electrons which make up this current. Electrons race through the metal with a speed of several million meters ... more

	Service Module of Chinese Probe Enters Lunar Orbit The service module of China's unmanned test lunar spacecraft successfully entered orbit in Sunday after slowing down, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center reported. According to instruction, t ... more		Map of Mysterious Molecules Sheds New Light on Century-old Puzzle By analyzing the light of hundreds of thousands of celestial objects, astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have created a unique map of enigmatic molecules in our galaxy that are res ... more

JUNO begins decade-long mission to probe neutrino mysteries

SFL Missions to Deliver Spacecraft Buses for HawkEye 360 RF Signal Detection Expansion

Voyager debuts first space based multi cloud region to advance orbital data processing

Disappearance of a Cosmic Spinning Top		Novel vision of the death of massive stars		Photonic booms may help illuminate astronomical secrets		Hubble Gazes at R Sculptoris and its Hidden Companion		Map of mysterious molecules sheds light on old puzzle
Amateur astronomers capture comet Lovejoy on camera		See comet Lovejoy with the naked eye this weekend		Machines Teach Astronomers About Stars		Dawn of a strange new world		New light shed on electron spin flips

Scientists Pinpoint Saturn With Exquisite Accuracy

Will the Real Monster Black Hole Please Stand Up?

Rosetta in 2015

CfA: Eight New Planets Found in "Goldilocks" Zone

Comet Lovejoy Glows Brightest During Mid-January

Planet-hunting satellite observes supermassive black hole

Unusual Light Signal Hints at Distant Black Hole Merger

Flashes from faster-than-light spots unveil astronomical secrets

Juno on its way to unveil Jupiter's mysteries

More accurate Saturn positioning helps improve astro navigation

Where Did All The Stars Go

"Assassin" Targets Supernovae in Our Neighborhood

A New, Public View of the Sky

Andromeda Hints at More Violent History than Milky Way

SDSS: Sloan Survey Opens New Public View of the Sky

New technology enables ultra-fast steering and shaping of light beams

Andromeda On Screen In HD

Kepler Marks 1,000th Exoplanet Discovery

'Iron Sun' is not a rock band, but a key to how stars transmit energy

Gemini Planet Imager produces stunning observations in its first year

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