This artist’s rendition of the super-Earth GJ 1214b shows it in orbit around a dim red dwarf star. If the atmosphere is thick in hydrogen, scientists may be able to spot signs of alien life.Credit: CfA/David Aguilar Detecting signs of life very different from that of Earth in the atmospheres of alien planets may be […]
In the Syfy original series “Dark Matter,” six people wake up on a spaceship with no memory of who they are. Jodelle Ferland plays “Five.”Credit: Syfy Syfy’s space-based TV series “Dark Matter” wraps up its first season tonight (Aug. 28) with back-to-back episodes and a jaw-dropping revelation that even the cast didn’t see coming. “Dark […]
Dwarf Planet Ceres Global Highs And Lows Animated | Video Future Explorers Powered By Fission? NASA Investigates | Video ISS Module Move Makes Way For U.S. Commercial Spacecraft | Animation Pluto And Charon Orbital Dance – New Horizons Gets Closer | Video Eyes On Pluto – How Our View Has Changed | Video What A […]
3 tough questions for NASA’s Jim Green, Director, Planetary Science Division: Will private industry put astronauts on Mars before NASA? Can roving robots do it better? Does NASA really want the SLS? [Space Launch System] Space.com’s @DavidSkyBrody reports from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as public interest in Mars is kindled by ‘The Martian’ motion picture […]
The plumes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, as seen by NASA’s Cassini probe in 2009.Credit: NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE Many astrobiologists are champing at the bit to bring back samples from Saturn’s ocean-harboring moon Enceladus, but others say it may be best to exercise a little patience. In 2005, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft discovered that geysers blast from […]
A global view of Mars created using images taken by NASA’s Viking mission.Credit: NASA/JPL New strategies are required to make sure hitchhiking Earth microbes don’t contanimate Mars and other alien worlds, researchers say. Today’s spacecraft feature sensitive gear that may not be able to withstand the treatment that sterilized previous Mars explorers such as NASA’s […]
The planets of the solar system as depicted by a NASA computer illustration. Orbits and sizes are not shown to scale.Credit: NASA A gas giant is a large planet composed mostly of gases, such as hydrogen and helium, with a relatively small rocky core. The gas giants of our solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus […]
Topics List Aug. 25, 2015 UpdatedKOUNOTORI5 captured and berthed at the ISS The “KOUNOTORI5” launched by the H-IIB F5 on Aug. 19 (Wed. Japan Standard Time) was captured by the robotic arm of the International Space Station (ISS), which was maneuvered by Astronaut Kimiya Yui, at 7:29 p.m. on August 24 (Mon. JST). The HTV5 […]
Astronauts Gordon Cooper (left) and Charles Conrad are seen in the Gemini 5 spacecraft just before launching on their “8 Days or Bust” mission in 1965. The crew was the first to design and wear a mission patch, as shown.Credit: NASA/Museum of Flight/collectSPACE.com Fifty years ago on Monday (Aug. 24), two NASA astronauts were more […]
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of an M5.6 solar flare (visible in the lower-center region of the sun) on Aug. 24, 2015.Credit: NASA/SDO The sun fired off a midlevel solar flare early this morning (Aug. 24) while a NASA satellite watched. The space agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an image of the […]
The Japanese cargo ship HTV-5 arrived at the International Space Station on Aug. 24, 2015. Astronaut Kimiya Yui of Japan posted this photo of the spacecraft after capturing it by robotic arm.Credit: Kimiya Yui / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency via Twitter A robotic Japanese cargo ship made a special delivery to the International Space Station […]
A middle-aged clutch of stars shines in many colors in a new view of deep space by a telescope in Chile. The stars in the image are from an open star cluster…Read More » called IC 4651, which lies in the Milky Way about 3,000 light-years from Earth. Astronomers used the La Silla Observatory in […]
A lightning storm illuminated the Arizona sky in this stunning skywatcher image of the Milky Way. Photographer Stephen Ippolito took this image from Bell Rock in Sedona, Arizona on Aug. 9. “I received a lot of help from mother nature for this image,” he told Space.com in an email. “As you can see, Bell Rock is […]