The Sky Tonight

April 13, 2015

Seasonal, year-long cycles seen on the sun
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 12, 2015
Our sun is constantly changing. It goes through cycles of activity - swinging between times of relative calm and times when frequent explosions on its surface can fling light, particles and energy out into space. This activity cycle peaks approximately every 11 years. New research shows evidence of a shorter time cycle as well, with activity waxing and waning over the course of about 330 days. Understanding when to expect such bursts of solar activity is crucial to successfully forecast the sun's ... read more

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ALMA captures Juno traveling through space A series of images made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) provides an unprecedented view of the surface of Juno, one of the largest members of our solar system's main aste ... more		Aliens Are Probably Huge 650-Pound Creatures New research proposes that if intelligent life outside Earth's atmosphere exists, chances are it's enormous. The findings from University of Barcelona cosmologist Dr. Fergus Simpson are based ... more		Our Sun came late to the Milky Way's star-birth party In one of the most comprehensive multi-observatory galaxy surveys yet, astronomers find that galaxies like our Milky Way underwent a stellar "baby boom," churning out stars at a prodigious rate, abo ... more
				Comms system critical to delaying MESSENGER's Mercury impact MESSENGER's orbit-correction maneuver on April 6 was a nail biter. It was the 15th such maneuver since the spacecraft entered orbit about Mercury in 2011, and the third in a series of increasingly r ... more		A new view of the moon's formation Within the first 150 million years after our solar system formed, a giant body roughly the size of Mars struck and merged with Earth, blasting a huge cloud of rock and debris into space. This cloud ... more

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

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

Small solar eruptions can have profound effects on unprotected planets While no one yet knows what's needed to build a habitable planet, it's clear that the interplay between the sun and Earth is crucial for making our planet livable - a balance between a sun that prov ... more		The Solar System and Beyond is Awash in Water As NASA missions explore our solar system and search for new worlds, they are finding water in surprising places. Water is but one piece of our search for habitable planets and life beyond Earth, ye ... 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		Hubble finds phantom objects near dead quasars NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a set of wispy, goblin-green objects that are the ephemeral ghosts of quasars that flickered to life and then faded. The glowing structures have ... more
				NASA Extends Campaign for Public to Name Features on Pluto The public has until Friday, April 24 to help name new features on Pluto and its orbiting satellites as they are discovered by NASA's New Horizons mission. Announced in March, the agency wants to gi ... more		Dawn in Excellent Shape One Month After Ceres Arrival Since its capture by the gravity of dwarf planet Ceres on March 6, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has performed flawlessly, continuing to thrust with its ion engine as planned. The thrust, combined with Cer ... more

Army Network Modernization 2015 - Washington DC June 23-25

ALMA Sees Einstein Ring in Stunning Image of Lensed Galaxy Astronomers have discovered that a distant galaxy - seen from Earth with the aid of a gravitational lens - appears like a cosmic ring, thanks to the highest resolution images ever taken with the Ata ... more		Moon formed when young Earth and little sister collided It's long been believed that Earth's moon was formed by a significant planetary collision with a Mars-like protoplanet called Theia. Now, a new study suggests the primordial protoplanet that crashed into a young Earth was quite similar in size and composition. ... 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		Black holes don't erase information, scientists say Shred a document, and you can piece it back together. Burn a book, and you could theoretically do the same. But send information into a black hole, and it's lost forever. That's what some physicists ... more
Cornell plays key role surfing for gravitational waves A full century after Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity proclaimed that gravitational waves cause ripples in spacetime, humanity may finally have the tools to detect these waves. The Natio ... more		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		Hunting Hidden Treasures: Antarctic Meteorites Arrive at JSC Meteorite samples collected in Antarctica over the past two seasons arrived at Johnson Space Center on March 24. The samples will be examined, classified and curated in the Antarctic Meteorite Proce ... more		Supernova crime scene shows a single white dwarf to blame Using archival data from the Japan-led Suzaku X-ray satellite, astronomers have determined the pre-explosion mass of a white dwarf star that blew up thousands of years ago. The measurement strongly ... more

	Life Needs An Atmosphere, But How Much Is Too Much 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 a ... more		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

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

Planned Maneuver Further Extends MESSENGER Orbital Operations		Sun experiences seasonal changes, new research finds		Tunneling across a tiny gap		Herschel and Planck find missing clue to galaxy cluster formation		Dawn orbiting high over the night side of Ceres
Europa's Elusive Water Plume Paints Grim Picture For Life		A Gold Mine of Galaxy Nuggets		NASA Releases Tool Enabling Citizen Scientists to Examine Asteroid Vesta		Astronomers solve decades-long mystery of the "lonely old stars"		As stars form, magnetic fields influence regions big and small

Will the moon's first inhabitants live in giant lava tubes?

Particle smasher starts up again, says CERN

Scary times for Europe's comet-chaser Rosetta

Astronomers discover likely precursors of galaxy clusters we see today

New explanation for Mercury's dark surface

Dusty substructure in a galaxy far far away

Soft Landing on the Moon an Extraordinary Challenge

OSIRIS-REx Mission Passes Critical Milestone

ALMA Disentangles Complex Birth of Giant Stars

NSF-Funded Physics Frontiers Center Expands Hunt for Gravitational Waves

Quantum teleportation on a chip

Dark matter even darker than once thought

Saturn Spacecraft Returns to the Realm of Icy Moons

Comet dust: Planet Mercury's 'invisible paint'

Stop blaming the moon

Super sensitive measurement of magnetic fields

Brief moon eclipse coming April 4

Earthlike 'Star Wars' Tatooines may be common

MESSENGER Completes 4,000th Orbit of Mercury

Engineers speed up simulations in computational grand challenge

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