Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Ghostly Galaxy: Massive, dark cloud intrigues scientists
Astronomers say they have found the only known galaxy devoid of stars.
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- Planetary Science
Spying Saturn’s Light Show: Anomalous aurora dazzles scientists
The dancing lights that paint Saturn's sky stands out from all other auroras observed in the solar system.
- Astronomy
Images from the Edge
Examining nearby reaches of the universe at ultraviolet wavelengths, a recently launched spacecraft has found regions of star birth in unexpected places.
- Planetary Science
Meteorite on Mars
One of the twin rovers on Mars has discovered the first meteorite ever found on a planet other than Earth.
- Astronomy
Swift detection of a gamma-ray burst
A telescope has for the first time detected X rays directly from an ongoing gamma-ray burst, the most powerful type of explosion in the universe.
- Astronomy
Proton storm erupts from the sun
A storm of high-speed protons, triggered by a Jan. 20 solar eruption, bombarded spacecraft and was the most energetic such squall recorded in 15 years.
- Astronomy
Puny Parent? Planets may form around tiny orbs
Barely more massive than a planet itself, a tiny failed star 500 light-years from Earth is nonetheless cloaked in a disk of gas and dust from which planets may coalesce.
- Astronomy
Hubble views bar in galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a strikingly detailed image of the starlit arms, glowing gas, and dark dust clouds of a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 1300, which lies 69 million light-years from Earth.
- Planetary Science
A Year on Mars
Catch up with the amazing, ongoing adventures of the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, still ticking on the surface of Mars. These multimedia pages provide maps and routes, images, and accounts of discoveries as the two vehicles explored the Red Planet. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/mer-year/
- Astronomy
Black Hole Bonanza: 10,000 objects near our galaxy’s center
Astronomers have found the first evidence of a suspected population of black holes near the Milky Way's center, each hole with 10 times the mass of the sun.
- Planetary Science
A World Unveiled: Crème brûlée on Titan
Penetrating the orange haze of a frigid, alien world, a space probe parachuted onto Saturn's moon Titan and unexpectedly came face-to-face with terrain that looks a lot like Earth.
