The Sky Tonight

August 04, 2016

US company gets historic nod to send lander to moon
Miami (AFP) Aug 3, 2016
US startup company Moon Express said Wednesday it had received approval from the government to send an unmanned lander to the moon next year, in a first for private industry. Until now, only the governments of the United States, the Soviet Union and China have sent spacecraft to the moon. Commercial spacecraft have flown within the bounds of Earth's orbit. "We are now free to set sail as explorers to Earth's eighth continent, the moon, seeking new knowledge and resources to expand Earth's ec ... read more

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SwRI space scientists observe Io's atmospheric collapse during eclipse A Southwest Research Institute-led team has documented atmospheric changes on Io, Jupiter's volcanically active satellite, as the giant planet casts its shadow over the moon's surface during daily e ... more		As dry as the moon Data sent back to the Earth by Chinese lunar probe Chang'e 3 has proved for the first time that there is no water on the moon, said a Chinese astronomer. The Chang'e 3 has gathered data on the ... more		A Giant Stellar Void in the Milky Way A major revision is required in our understanding of our Milky Way Galaxy according to an international team led by Prof Noriyuki Matsunaga of the University of Tokyo. The Japanese, South African an ... more
				Mapping the exotic matter inside neutron stars The recent detection of gravitational waves emitted by two merging black holes by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has opened up a new observational window into the cosmos. Future observation ... more		China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover dies in blaze of online glory China's troubled but beloved Jade Rabbit lunar rover has whirred its last, state media said Wednesday, after it bid humanity farewell on social media. ... more

Transition from Operations to Decommissioning by Preparing a Safe, Cost-Effective Shut Down and Waste Management Strategy

Five Years Post-Launch, Juno Is at a Turning Point Five years after departing Earth, and a month after slipping into orbit around Jupiter, NASA's Juno spacecraft is nearing a turning point. On July 31 at 12:41 p.m. PDT (3:41 p.m. EDT), Juno will rea ... more		Chorus of Black Holes Sings in X-Rays Supermassive black holes in the universe are like a raucous choir singing in the language of X-rays. When black holes pull in surrounding matter, they let out powerful X-ray bursts. This song of X-r ... more		'The war of tomorrow will begin in space': Macron UN watchdog calls on Iran to urgently allow 'long overdue' uranium stockpile verification How drones are altering contemporary warfare		Humanity in Dire Need of Global System to Prevent In-Space Collisions The president of the Satellite Industry Association, Tom Stroup, tells Radio Sputnik that it's time to consider the creation of a set of international guidelines to regulate orbital space traffic. ... more
				Faint Hisses from Space Reveal Famous Star's Past Astronomers have managed to peer into the past of a nearby star millions of years before its famous explosion, using a telescope in remote outback Australia at a site free from FM radio interference ... more		Jupiter's great red spot heats planet's upper atmosphere Researchers from Boston University's (BU) Center for Space Physics report in Nature that Jupiter's Great Red Spot may provide the mysterious source of energy required to heat the planet's upper atmo ... more

2nd Integrated Air and Missile Defense - Securing the Complex Air Domain: Requirements for Sustainable, Global, and Reliable Solutions to Next Generation Air & Missile Threats - 28-30 September, 2016 | Washington D.C.

The World's Largest Commercial Drone Conference and Expo - Sept 7-9 - Las Vegas

Loneliest Young Star Seen by Spitzer and WISE Alone on the cosmic road, far from any known celestial object, a young, independent star is going through a tremendous growth spurt. The unusual object, called CX330, was first detected as a source ... more		Chorus of Black Holes Sings in X-Rays Supermassive black holes in the universe are like a raucous choir singing in the language of X-rays. When black holes pull in surrounding matter, they let out powerful X-ray bursts. This song of X-r ... more		Largest modern crater identified in Chinas Holocene geology Inner core of Earth found to exist in dynamic superionic phase Carbon-rich waters are becoming even more acidic as atmospheric CO2 levels rise		How comets are born Detailed analysis of data collected by Rosetta show that comets are the ancient leftovers of early Solar System formation, and not younger fragments resulting from subsequent collisions between othe ... more
Astronomers Gain New Insight into Magnetic Field of Sun and its Kin Astronomers have used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to make a discovery that may have profound implications for understanding how the magnetic field in the Sun and stars like it are gen ... more		NASA's Next Planet Hunter Will Look Closer to Home As the search for life on distant planets heats up, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is bringing this hunt closer to home. Launching in 2017-2018, TESS will identify planets orbit ... more		SwRI-led study shows puzzling paucity of large craters on dwarf planet Ceres A team of scientists led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) made a puzzling observation while studying the size and distribution of craters on the dwarf planet Ceres. Ceres is the largest ... more		The discovery of new emission lines from highly charged heavy ions Professors Chihiro Suzuki and Izumi Murakami's research group at the National Institute for Fusion Science, together with Professor Fumihiro Koike of Sophia University, injected various elements wit ... more

	PPPL applies quantum theory and Einstein's special relativity to plasma physics Among the intriguing issues in plasma physics are those surrounding X-ray pulsars - collapsed stars that orbit around a cosmic companion and beam light at regular intervals, like lighthouses in the ... more		Knots in chaotic waves New research, using computer models of wave chaos, has shown that three-dimensional tangled vortex filaments can in fact be knotted in many highly complex ways. The computer experiments, by ac ... more

Rise of the robots: the promise of physical AI

Amazon robotics lead casts doubt on eye-catching humanoids

'Western tech dominance fading' at Lisbon's Web Summit

International team of scientists unveils fundamental properties of spin Seebeck effect		Space... the final frontier		Farewell Philae: Earth severs link with silent comet probe		Heart hazard for Apollo astronauts: study		Ancient eye in the sky
White dwarf lashes red dwarf with mystery ray		The Case of the Missing Ceres Craters		Did the LIGO gravitational waves originate from primordial black holes		NUS scientists develop plastic flexible magnetic memory device		Physicist offers leading theory about mysterious Large Hadron Collider excess

Vortex laser carries computer data in cyclone-like motion

Alien Solar System Boasts Tightly Spaced Planets, Unusual Orbits

Why are there so few large craters on dwarf planet Ceres?

Supermassive and Supersonic - Black Hole Studied with Sardinia Radio Telescope

New detector at South Pole shows early success at neutrino hunting

Astronomers discover dizzying spin of the Milky Way galaxy's 'halo'

Mapping electromagnetic waveforms

Australian physicists revisit spin-bowling puzzle

Chandra Finds Evidence for Violent Stellar Merger

Stellar outburst brings water snowline into view

'Frankenstein' Galaxy Surprises Astronomers

Blue Is an Indicator of First Stars' Supernova Explosions

A new key to understanding molecular evolution in space

A 'matryoshka' in the interstellar medium

Small Elliptical Galaxy Actually a Giant Disk

Earth's Magnetosphere Has a Large Intake of Solar Wind Energy

World's most sensitive dark matter detector completes search

Scribbles found to be Leonardo da Vinci's earliest notes on laws of friction

Dark Matter Particle Remains Elusive

Black Hole Makes Material Wobble Around It

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