The Sky Tonight

March 11, 2016

NASA's K2 mission: Kepler second chance to shine
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 11, 2016
The engineers huddled around a telemetry screen, and the mood was tense. They were watching streams of data from a crippled spacecraft more than 50 million miles away - so far that even at the speed of light, it took nearly nine minutes for a signal to travel to the spacecraft and back. It was late August 2013, and the group of about five employees at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, was waiting for NASA's Kepler space telescope to reveal whether it would live or die. A severe malfunction had ... read more

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LISA Pathfinder begins its science mission After completing a long series of tests on the spacecraft and payload, the ESA mission LISA Pathfinder has started its science mission. Over the next six months it will conduct hundreds of experimen ... more		KIT simulation analyzes cosmic rays When cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere, their high-energy primary particles generate an 'air shower' of secondary particles. These cascades of particles provide information on the physical prop ... more		Sharpest view ever of dusty disc around aging star As they approach the ends of their lives many stars develop stable discs of gas and dust around them. This material was ejected by stellar winds, whilst the star was passing through the red giant st ... more
				The expansion of the universe simulated The Universe is constantly expanding. It changes, creating new structures that merge. But how does our Universe evolve? Physicists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have developed a ... more		NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in thermal vacuum testing The first U.S. mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for study is undergoing a major milestone in its environmental testing. NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation ... more

A perfectly still laboratory in space Following a long series of tests, ESA's LISA Pathfinder has started its science mission to prove key technologies and techniques needed to observe gravitational waves from space. Predicted by Albert ... more		Dust grains could be remnants of stellar explosions billions of years ago Microscopic dust particles have been found in meteoritic material on Earth, particles that were likely formed in stellar explosions that occurred long before the creation of our star, the sun. ... more		Russia offers to extend nuclear arms limits with US Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		Mercury's mysterious 'darkness' revealed Scientists have long been puzzled about what makes Mercury's surface so dark. The innermost planet reflects much less sunlight than the Moon, a body on which surface darkness is controlled by the ab ... more
				Comet's age revealed by the type of ice it carries New research suggests 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is roughly the same age as the solar system, which is approximately 4.568 billion years old. ... more		Meteoritic dust came from stellar explosions older than the sun Researchers at Michigan State University say dust found at meteor sites on Earth came from ancient stellar explosions and likely predate the birth of the sun. ... more

Military Network Modernization 2016 - Washington DC - April 25-27

Space Tech Expo - Design - Build - Test - Pasadena CA - May 24-26, 2016

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Dawn's First Year at Ceres: A Mountain Emerges One year ago, on March 6, 2015, NASA's Dawn spacecraft slid gently into orbit around Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Since then, the spacecraft has delivered a ... more		Scientists explain why Mercury's surface is so dark Astronomers have long struggled to explain Mercury's darkness, but new research suggests carbon is responsible for the planet's limited reflectivity. ... more		Ex-US climate envoy: Trump threatening 'consensus science' worldwide How did an Indian zoo get the world's most endangered great ape? Australian scientists grapple with 'despicable' butterfly heist		TX68: Trash or Treasure? As asteroid TX68 nears its close approach on March 8, Dr. John Lewis, chief scientist at Deep Space Industries, discusses whether or not it's a good mining prospect. A small asteroid called 20 ... more
Close Encounter with Jupiter "413 million miles" sounds like a looong way. Something you can see in March might change your mind. On March 8th, 2016 Earth and Jupiter will have a close encounter-at only 413 million miles apart. ... more		Life's Building Blocks Form In Replicated Deep Sea Vents Chimney-like mineral structures on the seafloor could have helped create the RNA molecules that gave rise to life on Earth and hold promise to the emergence of life on distant planets. Scientists th ... more		The world's newest atom-smasher achieves its 'first turns' One of the world's top particle accelerators has reached a milestone, achieving its "first turns" - circulating beams of particles for the first time - and opening a new window into the universe, a ... more		Hubble team breaks cosmic distance record By pushing NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to its limits, an international team of astronomers has shattered the cosmic distance record by measuring the farthest galaxy ever seen in the universe. This ... more

	New photos show 'magic island' on Saturn's moon New images captured by the Cassini probe showcase the shifting shape of a geological feature on Saturn's moon known informally as "magic island." ... more		Evidence found for unstable heavy element at solar system formation University of Chicago scientists have discovered evidence in a meteorite that a rare element, curium, was present during the formation of the solar system. This finding ends a 35-year-old debate on ... more

What to look for in China and Europe's climate plans

Chinese firms pay price of jihadist strikes against Mali junta

EU states agree broad UN emissions target avoiding 'embarrassment'

The realm of buried giants		Star Trek's vision becomes reality in teleportation first		FSU student researcher cracks origin story of meteorite		Mysterious cosmic radio bursts found to repeat		German scientists successfully teleport classical information
Shattering the Cosmic Distance Record, Once Again		NASA's science during the March 2016 total solar eclipse		China to use data relay satellite to explore dark side of moon		ALMA Spots Baby Star's Growing Blanket		Three 'twisted' photons in 3 dimensions

Explosive start not needed for fast radio bursts

Coronal mass ejection simulations to boost space weather forecasting

Smoking Gun Uncovering Secret of Cosmic Bullets

Don't Panic: asteroid won't hit Earth but will get close

What if extraterrestrial observers called, but nobody heard

Searching for Extraterrestrials Who Might Have Found Us First

Celestial bodies born like cracking paint

Why celestial bodies come in different sizes

New fast radio burst discovery finds 'missing matter' in the universe

Tethys, Janus pose with Saturn's rings in new NASA photo

Is it life, or merely the illusion of life

Hitching a Ride on SLS to Study Solar Particles

NASA's IBEX observations pin down interstellar magnetic field

NASA Tests Life-Detection Drill in Earth's Driest Place

Hubble's Blue Bubble

Sun's Magnetic Fields Best at Forecasting Solar Cycle Peaks

Black holes banish matter into cosmic voids

NASA May Return to Moon, But Only After Cutting Off ISS

Small Asteroid to Pass Close to Earth March 8

Controlling ultrafast electrons in motion

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