Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Gamma-Ray Burst: A black hole is born
New evidence supports the notion that gamma-ray bursts, the most violent explosions in the universe, are the primal calling cards of newborn black holes.
- Astronomy
Galaxy Hunter
At the interactive “Galaxy Hunter” Web site, students use data from the Hubble Space Telescope to investigate a bewildering assortment of deep-space galaxies in various stages of evolution–and learn statistical concepts such as sample variability and size along the way. Go to: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/ghunter/
- Astronomy
Long Ago and Far Away: Astronomers find distant galaxy, early cluster
Peering ever deeper into space and further back in time, two teams of astronomers have uncovered new details about the earliest galaxies and galaxy clusters in the universe.
- Astronomy
Repainting the cosmic palette
After all the hue and cry about the color of the universe, astronomers have now revised their findings: It’s not pale green, but boring old beige.
- Planetary Science
Mars Odyssey instrument revived
Flight controllers have revived an instrument on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft that measures the amount of radiation bombarding the Martian surface.
- Astronomy
Telescope Tuned Up: Back to work for orbiting observatory
A rejuvenated Hubble Space Telescope floated away from the space shuttle Columbia on March 9 after astronauts spent a week renovating the observatory.
- Planetary Science
Probing Jupiter’s big magnetic bubble
Simultaneous measurements by two spacecraft have probed in greater detail than ever before Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the invisible bubble of charged particles that surrounds the giant planet.
- Astronomy
Rethinking an Astronomical Icon
Examining the Eagle nebula's pillars of creation with infrared detectors, scientists are viewing an astronomical icon in a whole new light.
- Planetary Science
Odyssey’s First Look: Craft spies signs of ice at the Martian south pole
Astronomers have for the first time found evidence of large amounts of frozen water in the subsurface of Mars.
- Astronomy
Martian equator: A watery outpost?
A catastrophic outpouring of water—four times the volume contained in Lake Tahoe—may have gushed from fissures near the equator on Mars as recently as 10 million years ago.
- Astronomy
Ambitious Mission: Hubble slated to get one heckuva tune-up
If all goes according to plan, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia will embark on the fourth and most technically challenging mission to replace damaged parts and install new detectors on the Hubble Space Telescope.
- Planetary Science
Galileo at Jupiter: The goodbye tour
After more than 6 years spent touring Jupiter and its four largest moons, the Galileo spacecraft’s mission is beginning to wind down.
