The Sky Tonight

March 24, 2015

Our Solar System May Have Once Harbored Super-Earths
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2015
Long before Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars formed, it seems that the inner solar system may have harbored a number of super-Earths - planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. If so, those planets are long gone - broken up and fallen into the Sun billions of years ago largely due to a great inward-and-then-outward journey that Jupiter made early in the solar system's history. This possible scenario has been suggested by Konstantin Batygin, a Caltech planetary scientist, and Gregory Laugh ... read more

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Search for extraterrestrial intelligence extends to new realms Astronomers have expanded the search for extraterrestrial intelligence into a new realm with detectors tuned to infrared light. Their new instrument has just begun to scour the sky for messages from ... more		HAWC Observatory to Study Universe's Most Energetic Phenomena Supernovae, neutron star collisions and active galactic nuclei are among the most energetic phenomena in the known universe. These violent explosions produce high-energy gamma rays and cosmic rays, ... more		Black holes and the dark sector explained by quantum gravity Ask any theoretical physicist on what are the most profound mysteries in physics and you will be surprised if she mentions anything other than Quantum Gravity and the Dark Sector. Questions such as ... more
				Rosetta makes first detection of molecular nitrogen at a comet ESA's Rosetta spacecraft has made the first measurement of molecular nitrogen at a comet, providing clues about the temperature environment in which Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko formed. Ros ... more		Unusual Asteroid Suspected of Spinning to Explosion A team led by astronomers from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, recently used the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to observe and measure a rare class of "active asteroids" that sponta ... more

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

Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe May 2015

NASA data reveals mysteries of meteor that struck Chelyabinsk New data from NASA has revealed some information about the meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013. ... more		The Mystery of Nanoflares When you attach the prefix "nano" to something, it usually means "very small." Solar flares appear to be the exception. Researchers are studying a type of explosion on the sun called a 'nanoflare.' ... 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		Astronaut plus Proba minisats snap solar eclipse As last week's partial solar eclipse crossed Europe, it was also visible from space. ESA's Proba-2 captured a near-total eclipse from orbit, at the same time as its sister minisatellite Proba-V peer ... 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		Titan's Atmosphere Created As Gases Escaped Core A decade ago, a tiny but mighty probe descended into the soupy atmosphere of Titan. This moon of Saturn is of great interest to astrobiologists because its chemistry and liquid cycle remind us of wh ... more

SOFIA Finds Missing Link Between Supernovae and Planet Formation Using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an international scientific team discovered that supernovae are capable of producing a substantial amount of the material from ... more		ESA's CHEOPS Satellite: The Pharaoh of Exoplanet Hunting Just like the Pharaoh Cheops, who ruled the ancient Old Kingdom of Egypt, ESA's CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) could be someday ruling in the field of exoplanet hunting. It will be the ... 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		Million stars are forming in a mysterious dusty gas cloud More than a million young stars are forming in a hot, dusty cloud of molecular gases in a tiny galaxy near our own, an international team of astronomers has discovered. The star cluster is bur ... more
Time-lapse snapshots of a nova's fading light Scientists in a collaboration led by Dai Takei of the RIKEN SPring-8 Center in Japan have, for the first time, examined a detailed 'time lapse' X-ray image of the expansion of a classical nova explo ... more		Hover Campaign Promises Bird's-Eye View of Mercury's Surface 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 surfac ... more		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

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

"Mini Supernova" Explosion Could Have Big Impact		Hubble Source Catalog: One-Stop Shopping For Astronomers		Second natural quasicrystal found in ancient meteorite		NASA's LRO Spacecraft Finds March 17, 2013 Impact Crater and More		Milky Way may host billions of planets in 'habitable' zones: study
Extent of moon's giant volcanic eruption is revealed		Yutu Changes Everything We Thought We Knew About Our Moon		Private companies asked to join moon program		Other Asteroids Contributed Elusive Olivine to Vesta		A new way to control information by mixing light and sound

Colorful life-form catalog will help discern if we're alone

Rosetta: OSIRIS detects hints of ice in the comet's neck

Severe solar storm may disrupt power, satellites

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

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