The Sky Tonight

April 08, 2015

Life Needs An Atmosphere, But How Much Is Too Much
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Apr 08, 2015
How much atmosphere is too much for life? As scientists discover more super-Earths and mini-Neptunes, the question becomes more relevant. Often, the rocky cores of these planets are believed to be about the same size, while the distinguishing difference is the size of the atmosphere. Mini-Neptunes look more like gas giants, with a thicker atmosphere that would create too much pressure at the surface, and super-Earths have a much thinner layer. A recent research study considered what would happen i ... read more

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New research may improve solar storm predictions A new study promises an improved understanding of the sun's seasonal changes - changes that dictate the sun's electromagnetic behavior. ... more		Planned Maneuver Further Extends MESSENGER Orbital Operations MESSENGER mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., conducted a maneuver yesterday to raise the spacecraft's minimum altitude sufficiently ... more		Herschel and Planck find missing clue to galaxy cluster formation By combining observations of the distant Universe made with ESA's Herschel and Planck space observatories, cosmologists have discovered what could be the precursors of the vast clusters of galaxies ... more
				Dawn orbiting high over the night side of Ceres Now orbiting high over the night side of a dwarf planet far from Earth, Dawn arrived at its new permanent residence on March 6. Ceres welcomed the newcomer from Earth with a gentle but firm gravitat ... more		Europa's Elusive Water Plume Paints Grim Picture For Life A meteorite may have been responsible for a water plume briefly spotted above Europa two years ago, implying it takes a very rare event to breach the ice on the Jovian moon. Astrobiologists wo ... more

Space Tech Expo - Design - Build - Test - Long Beach CA - May 19-21, 2015

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Army Network Modernization 2015 - Washington DC June 23-25

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Dusty substructure in a galaxy far far away Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) have combined high-resolution images from the ALMA telescopes with a new scheme for undoing the distorting effects of a powerful gravita ... more		Soft Landing on the Moon an Extraordinary Challenge Chinese Chang'e 3 spacecraft on Dec. 14, 2013 became the first probe to soft land on the Moon since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. Other missions could follow its footsteps soon as the commerci ... more		OSIRIS-REx Mission Passes Critical Milestone NASA's groundbreaking science mission to retrieve a sample from an ancient space rock has moved closer to fruition. The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Expl ... more		ALMA Disentangles Complex Birth of Giant Stars A research group led by Aya Higuchi, a researcher at Ibaraki University, conducted observations of the massive-star forming region IRAS 16547-4247 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Arr ... more

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