Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
A view of Mars, European style
Although the Mars lander Beagle 2 is presumed dead, its mother craft, the European Space Agency's Mars Express, has transmitted its first data from a polar orbit about the Red Planet.
- Astronomy
Bare-Naked Galaxies
A decade's worth of observations is spotlighting how the vast sea of gas surrounding a cluster of galaxies can alter the shape of a galaxy plowing through it.
- Astronomy
Poof goes an atmosphere
Blasted by the heat and radiation from its parent star, a planet 150 light-years from Earth is literally blowing off its atmosphere.
- Astronomy
A Habitable Planet
NASA offers kids a chance to search for and build a fictional planet on which people could live. This multimedia, interactive Web site guides students through a sequence of role-playing steps, starting with observations of the effects that changes to Earth can have and what’s needed for survival. Go to: http://astroventure.arc.nasa.gov/
- Astronomy
Historical Astronomy and More
The NASA Astrophysics Data System offers access to a huge, searchable database of journal articles and abstracts in the fields of physics and astronomy. The collection includes many historical publications in astronomy, including observatory reports, bulletins, and annals. It also has more than 300,000 abstracts from the Physical Review series published by the American Physical […]
- Planetary Science
Red Planet Roundup: Opportunity knocks; Spirit revives
The NASA rover Opportunity bounced onto an equatorial Martian plain early on Jan. 25 and found an intriguing outcropping of rocks on the other side of the planet from where its ailing but recovering twin, Spirit, had recently stalled.
- Astronomy
Scoping out a stellar nursery
Penetrating a veil of dust, a space-based infrared observatory has recorded the most complete portrait ever taken of a star-forming region in a nearby galaxy.
- Astronomy
Stellar finding may outshine all others
Astronomers have found what may be the heaviest, biggest, and brightest star ever observed.
- Planetary Science
Spirit Gets Its Wheels Dirty: Mars rover begins scientific work
Spirit, the rover that landed on Mars on Jan. 3, last week began studying the rocks and soil at its landing site.
- Astronomy
Astronomy: Man Bites Dog; Planet heats its star
Observing a sunlike star 90 light-years from Earth, astronomers have found evidence of a closely orbiting planet heating its star.
- Planetary Science
A Tale of Two Landers: NASA’s Spirit phones home, but Europe’s Beagle 2 remains mum on Mars
NASA's Spirit rover sent its first signals home soon after it touched down on Mars Jan. 3, but European Space Agency scientists haven't yet heard from their Beagle 2 lander, which dropped to the surface of Mars on Dec. 24.
- Astronomy
Taste of a Comet: Spacecraft samples and views Wild 2
Pummeled by debris, a NASA spacecraft last week snatched up dust samples while taking the sharpest images ever of a comet's icy core.
