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Surprise! Pluto Has Blue Skies (Photo)

Pluto’s haze layer displays a blue color in this image obtained by the New Horizons spacecraft’s Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). Image released Oct. 8, 2015.Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI The more scientists learn about Pluto, the more interesting the dwarf planet gets. During its historic flyby of Pluto this past July, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft discovered towering […]

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Ancient Mars Had Long-Lasting Lakes, Boosting Chances for Life

Illustration depicting a lake of fresh water partially filling Mars’ Gale Crater. Gale hosted a series of such lakes that each persisted for hundreds to tens of thousands of years at a time, a new study suggests.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS Ancient Mars harbored long-lasting lakes, boosting the odds that life could have existed on the Red […]

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Private Dream Chaser Space Plane Poised for New Flight Tests in 2016

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico – A space plane that would continue the legacy of NASA’s shuttle program is getting ready for a second stage of flight testing, according to representatives from the Sierra Nevada Corp. At a gathering of the top leaders and innovators in the commercial spaceflight industry here yesterday (Oct. 7), Mark Sirangelo, […]

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Our Universe: It's the 'Simplest' Thing We Know

This snapshot from a computer simulation of the formation of large-scale structures in the universe shows the coherent motions of galaxies flowing toward the highest mass concentration in the center. (A patch of 100 million light-years is shown.)Credit: ESO Our universe is actually really simple, it’s just our cosmological theories that are getting needlessly complex, […]

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Private Spaceflight Symposium Gets Update on Colorado Spaceport Plans

Patricia Hynes, chair of the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, speaks during the 2015 conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico.Credit: Calla Cofield/Space.com LAS CRUCES, New Mexico – Members of the international spaceflight industry gathered in New Mexico for an annual meeting to discuss new developments, ideas and technologies. The International Symposium for Personal and […]

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Pluto's Blue Sky

Pluto’s haze layer shows its blue color in this picture taken by the New Horizons Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The high-altitude haze is thought to be similar in nature to that seen at Saturn’s moon Titan. This image was generated by software that combines information from blue, red and near-infrared images. To source

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Pluto's Blue Sky

Pluto’s haze layer shows its blue color in this picture taken by the New Horizons Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The high-altitude haze is thought to be similar in nature to that seen at Saturn’s moon Titan. This image was generated by software that combines information from blue, red and near-infrared images. To source

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Launch Photos: NROL-55 Spy Satellite and Cubesats Blast Off

On Oct. 8, 2015, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket soared into space from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:49 a.m. PDT (8:49 a.m. EDT)…Read More » to deliver the classified NROL-55 satellite into orbit. The mission, ULA’s 101st rocket launch, also delivered 13 tiny cubesats into orbit for the NRO and NASA. […]

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US Spy Satellite Launches Into Space Along with 13 Tiny Cubesats

An American spy satellite and 13 tiny “cubesats” shared a rocket ride to orbit this morning, lighting up the predawn sky over their California launchpad.  A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket blasted off today (Oct. 8) from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:49 a.m. EDT (0949 GMT; 8:49 a.m. local California time), lofting […]

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Astronaut brains as beacons for researchers

How astronauts adapt to the stresses of living in space is helping researchers to pinpoint the causes of common disorders on Earth. From the brain’s point of view, living in space is very stressful. The signals from an astronaut’s body in space go haywire as they float in weightlessness. The inner ear reports that it […]

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Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Join us Friday, 9 October, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-1A image of the Azore Islands in Portugal To source

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Space, astronomy and science