Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
More Mars—Better than Ever
On Aug. 27, Mars and Earth were closer to each other than at any other time in the last 50,000 years. Even as Earth and Mars slowly draw apart, the Red Planet remains a dazzling sight in the night sky. There’s still time to take in the view. Go to: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/08sep_goaway.htm?list110076
- Astronomy
Craft finds where sun’s corona gets its hots
New findings may help explain an enduring solar riddle: Although the sun's outer atmosphere lies thousands of kilometers above the visible surface of the sun, it's about 1,000 times hotter.
- Astronomy
A Low Note in Cosmos: Sounding out a new role for black holes
Astronomers have for the first time detected sound waves generated by a black hole.
- Astronomy
Solar system replica?
Carefully monitoring the motion of a star 90 light-years from Earth, astronomers have found what may be the closest analog known to our solar system.
- Astronomy
Lights out
Astronomers who have conducted a detailed analysis of the colors of some 37,000 nearby galaxies conclude that the universe is gradually growing darker.
- Planetary Science
A phoenix on Mars
If all goes according to plan, a spacecraft will land on the north polar region of Mars in 2008 and scoop up samples of the icy terrain.
- Astronomy
Getting the GOODS on Galaxies
A coordinated effort among the most powerful space and ground-based observatories to stare in detail at the same two patches of sky is revealing how galaxies assembled, how rapidly star formation proceeded in the early universe, and whether dark energy has recently revved up the expansion of the universe.
- Astronomy
Hubble Highlights a Riddle: What’s the source of quick-return comets?
New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope demonstrate that scientists don't know where a major class of comets comes from.
- Planetary Science
Cozying up to Mars
The Hubble Space Telescope photographed Mars on Aug. 27 when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000 years, enabling the telescope to take the sharpest global image of Mars ever taken from Earth's vicinity.
- Astronomy
Stellar Tantrums: Tracking the flaring cycles of other stars
Astronomers are closely tracking the ebb and flow of magnetic activity and powerful flares on stars other than the sun.
- Astronomy
Black Hole Life Preserver: Don’t get sucked in without one
By temporarily counteracting a black hole's tremendous tidal forces, a proposed black hole life preserver would slightly lengthen the life and shorten the agony of anyone exploring one of these gravitational beasts.
- Astronomy
Ulysses makes a return trip
Just as the sun has reached the stormy peak of its 11-year activity cycle, the European Space Agency's Ulysses spacecraft has begun its second and final pass over the sun's poles.
