The Sky Tonight

March 22, 2015

Hover Campaign Promises Bird's-Eye View of Mercury's Surface
Laurel MD (SPX) Mar 22, 2015
MESSENGER will not go gentle into that good night. The mission will end sometime this spring, when the spacecraft runs out of propellant and the force of solar gravity causes it to impact the surface of Mercury. But the team initiated a "hover" observation campaign designed to gather scientific data from the planet at ultra-low altitudes until the last possible moment. Engineers have devised a series of orbit-correction maneuvers (OCMs) over the next five weeks - the first of which was carried out ... read more

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Milky Way's center unveils supernova 'dust factory' Sifting through the center of the Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have made the first direct observations - using an infrared telescope aboard a modified Boeing 747 - of cosmic building-block dust res ... more		Extent of Moon's giant volcanic eruption is revealed Scientists have produced a new map of the Moon's most unusual volcano showing that its explosive eruption spread debris over an area much greater than previously thought. A team of astronomers ... more		Protecting Earth from space weather This week's spectacular glowing auroras in the night sky further south than usual highlighted the effect that 'space weather' can have on Earth. A strong solar flare was detected on the Sun last Sun ... more
				Chilly Philae still slumbering, says comet mission European space managers Friday ended an eight-day vigil for a wakeup call from the robot lander Philae, but remained hopeful the scout will revive as it rides on a comet nearing the Sun. ... more		Planets in the habitable zone around most stars, calculate researchers Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets in our galaxy, the Milky Way, using the Kepler satellite and many of them have multiple planets orbiting the host star. By analysing these planeta ... more

Human 2 Mars Conference Mat 5-7 2015 - Washington DC

Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe May 2015

"Mini Supernova" Explosion Could Have Big Impact In Hollywood blockbusters, explosions are often among the stars of the show. In space, explosions of actual stars are a focus for scientists who hope to better understand their births, lives, and de ... more		Hubble Source Catalog: One-Stop Shopping For Astronomers Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Johns Hopkins University, both in Baltimore, Maryland, have created a new master catalog of astronomical objects called the Hubble Source ... 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		NASA's LRO Spacecraft Finds March 17, 2013 Impact Crater and More NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) acquired images of the lunar surface before and after the largest recorded explosion occurred on the surface. On March 17, 2013, an object the size of ... more
				Extent of moon's giant volcanic eruption is revealed Scientists have produced a new map of the Moon's most unusual volcano showing that its explosive eruption spread debris over an area much greater than previously thought. A team of astronomers ... more		Yutu Changes Everything We Thought We Knew About Our Moon The "Jade Rabbit" discovered at least 9 subterranean layers beneath the lunar surface, 5 more than was previously thought. Scientists believe the layers are a result of ancient lava flow between str ... more

Private companies asked to join moon program China will open its lunar exploration program to private enterprises in an attempt to boost technological innovation and break State-owned companies' monopoly in the space field, according to the co ... more		Other Asteroids Contributed Elusive Olivine to Vesta Olivine should be one of the most abundant minerals on asteroid Vesta, but it remains elusive. Scientists working on NASA's Dawn mission to Vesta were initially thrilled to find few scattered remain ... 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		A new way to control information by mixing light and sound For once, slower is better in a new piece of technology. A Yale lab has developed a new, radio frequency processing device that allows information to be controlled more effectively, opening the door ... more
Colorful life-form catalog will help discern if we're alone While looking for life on planets beyond our own solar system, a group of international scientists has created a colorful catalog containing reflection signatures of Earth life forms that might be f ... more		Nano piano's lullaby could mean storage breakthrough Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated the first-ever recording of optically encoded audio onto a non-magnetic plasmonic nanostructure, opening the door to ... more		Second natural quasicrystal found in ancient meteorite A team from Princeton University and the University of Florence in Italy has discovered a quasicrystal - so named because of its unorthodox arrangement of atoms - in a 4.5-billion-year-old meteori ... more		Milky Way may host billions of planets in 'habitable' zones: study The Milky Way galaxy may be home to billions of planets orbiting their host stars in a "habitable zone" where life could theoretically exist, researchers said Wednesday. ... more

	Rosetta: OSIRIS detects hints of ice in the comet's neck The Hapi region on the neck of Rosetta's comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reflects red light less effectively than most other regions on the comet. It thus appears slightly blueish. The Hapi region i ... more		Severe solar storm may disrupt power, satellites A pair of solar eruptions over the weekend have unleashed a severe geomagnetic storm that could disrupt power and communications on Earth, US officials said Tuesday. ... 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

How to watch total solar eclipse on Friday		Moon crater named for aviator Amelia Earhart		Desktop App has potential to increase asteroid detection		Astronomers to shed light on space discoveries to mark solar eclipse		Frozen highly charged ions for highest precision spectroscopy
Iron-oxidizing bacteria found along Mid-Atlantic Ridge		A second minor planet may possess Saturn-like rings		Spacetime Foam Not Slowing Down Photons From Gamma Ray Burst		New Mercury surface composition maps illuminate the planet's history		ESA minisatellites to follow Europe's solar eclipse

New clues from the dawn of the solar system

Some habitable exoplanets could experience wildly unpredictable climates

UK physicists getting closer to reading the inside of stars

Researchers study methane-rich plumes from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus

Russia Plans to Start Moon Exploration Jointly With Partners

Russia Plans to Adapt New Angara-5 Rocket for Flights to the Moon

Physicists propose new classification of charge density waves

UK skies set to dim in decade's deepest solar eclipse

Particle jets reveal the secrets of the most exotic state of matter

A grand extravaganza of new stars

Mysterious Phenomena in a Gigantic Galaxy-Cluster Collision

Exploring the Depths of Titan's Seas

Saturn moon's ocean may have hydrothermal activity

Hubble observations suggest underground ocean on Jupiter's largest moon

Solving the riddle of neutron stars

A Grand Extravaganza of New Stars

Rare split images of supernova put Johns Hopkins astronomer in the spotlight

Hot water activity on icy moon's seafloor

On Pi Day, How Scientists Use This Number

Queen's astronomers discover fastest ever unbound star in our galaxy

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