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Starts With A Bang!
6 Dec 2013, 01:09 UTC
“Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.” -Robert Frost Depending on… “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.” -Robert Frost Depending on where you are in the world right now, you might really be feeling the effects of the emerging winter, as cold snaps, freezes and snowstorms take hold across the northern hemisphere. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, Goddard Space Flight Center. But we can all be pretty sure that this is temporary, and that the spring is just a few short months away. It’s not like it’s just going to get colder and colder until everything asymptotes towards absolute zero, right? …right? Image credit: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi ...
For destruction ice is also great and would suffice
6 Dec 2013, 01:09 UTC
“Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.” -Robert Frost Depending on… “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.” -Robert Frost Depending on where you are in the world right now, you might really be feeling the effects of the emerging winter, as cold snaps, freezes and snowstorms take hold across the northern hemisphere. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, Goddard Space Flight Center. But we can all be pretty sure that this is temporary, and that the spring is just a few short months away. It’s not like it’s just going to get colder and colder until everything asymptotes towards absolute zero, right? …right? Image credit: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi ...
The Planetary Society Blog
5 Dec 2013, 23:49 UTC
Comet ISON captivated our world, and many of our world’s robotic emissaries for many months. But, alas, poor ISON is dead -- again. Here I wrap up our enthusiastic coverage of this multi-morphing zombie comet that tried to survive and re-survive as it came within one solar diameter of the Sun.
Comet ISON Wrap Up
5 Dec 2013, 23:49 UTC
Comet ISON captivated our world, and many of our world’s robotic emissaries for many months. But, alas, poor ISON is dead -- again. Here I wrap up our enthusiastic coverage of this multi-morphing zombie comet that tried to survive and re-survive as it came within one solar diameter of the Sun.
Lunar Networks
5 Dec 2013, 22:14 UTC
LROC Featured Image, released December 5, 2013: Lobate scarp ridge along the east floor of Buys-Ballot crater. LROC NAC image centered on 21.321°N, 175.152°E, field of view 1.41 km. Sunset illumination (angle of incidence 82.35°), LROC NAC observation M1095343282LR, LRO orbit 13796, June 26, 2012; mean resolution 1.4 meters per pixel, spacecraft and camera slew 2.31° off nadir, captured from 139.75 km over 20.94°N, 175.0°E [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].Hiroyuki SatoLROC News SystemThe opening image is of the eastern edge of the floor of the farside crater Buys-Ballot (66.4 km in diameter). The shape of this crater is elongated from the northwest to southeast (see next WAC context image), likely due to a low impact angle. The floor is partially resurfaced by basaltic lava, leaving a relatively flat area around the linearly aligned central peaks. The topographic ridge from upper-left to lower-right of the opening image is offset along a lobate scarp that extends about ~60 km along the contact of the flat floor and eastern crater wall. The late afternoon illumination from the left side of this image (incidence angle is 82.4°) highlights the fault scarp and the up thrown lava (lower left half of the image). The scarps extend out ...
Offset floor of Buys-Ballot crater
5 Dec 2013, 22:14 UTC
LROC Featured Image, released December 5, 2013: Lobate scarp ridge along the east floor of Buys-Ballot crater. LROC NAC image centered on 21.321°N, 175.152°E, field of view 1.41 km. Sunset illumination (angle of incidence 82.35°), LROC NAC observation M1095343282LR, LRO orbit 13796, June 26, 2012; mean resolution 1.4 meters per pixel, spacecraft and camera slew 2.31° off nadir, captured from 139.75 km over 20.94°N, 175.0°E [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].Hiroyuki SatoLROC News SystemThe opening image is of the eastern edge of the floor of the farside crater Buys-Ballot (66.4 km in diameter). The shape of this crater is elongated from the northwest to southeast (see next WAC context image), likely due to a low impact angle. The floor is partially resurfaced by basaltic lava, leaving a relatively flat area around the linearly aligned central peaks. The topographic ridge from upper-left to lower-right of the opening image is offset along a lobate scarp that extends about ~60 km along the contact of the flat floor and eastern crater wall. The late afternoon illumination from the left side of this image (incidence angle is 82.4°) highlights the fault scarp and the up thrown lava (lower left half of the image). The scarps extend out ...
SPACE.com
5 Dec 2013, 22:07 UTC
Venus is shining at its brightest in the low southwestern night sky just after sunset, making it a fine time for stargazers to observe the brilliant planet, weather permitting. Here is how to see Venus with the unaided eye, telescopes or binoculars.
Venus Now Shining at Its Brightest: How to See It
5 Dec 2013, 22:07 UTC
Venus is shining at its brightest in the low southwestern night sky just after sunset, making it a fine time for stargazers to observe the brilliant planet, weather permitting. Here is how to see Venus with the unaided eye, telescopes or binoculars.
Universe Today
5 Dec 2013, 21:33 UTC
Could Comet ISON possibly still be alive? The latest high-resolution images available from the STEREO spacecraft are still showing some remains of the comet, although each day seems to show less and less activity. “If anything of ISON’s nucleus is left, it’s an inactive husk of a nucleus now,” Karl Battams from the Comet ISON […] This images from the STEREO A spacecraft shows Comet ISON (upper right) still visible on Dec. 3, 2013. Credit: NASA. Could Comet ISON possibly still be alive? The latest high-resolution images available from the STEREO spacecraft are still showing some remains of the comet, although each day seems to show less and less activity. “If anything of ISON’s nucleus is left, it’s an inactive husk of a nucleus now,” Karl Battams from the Comet ISON Observing Campaign told Universe Today. “The comet remnant is fading fast in the STEREO data.” Carey Lisse, also from CIOC was a bit more hopeful. In a web posting yesterday (Dec. 4) he said, “At this time, scientists are not sure how much of the comet survived intact. We may be seeing emission from rubble and debris in the comet’s trail, along its orbit, or we may be seeing ...
Is Anything Left of ISON? Spacecraft Continue to Monitor Comet’s Remains
5 Dec 2013, 21:33 UTC
Could Comet ISON possibly still be alive? The latest high-resolution images available from the STEREO spacecraft are still showing some remains of the comet, although each day seems to show less and less activity. “If anything of ISON’s nucleus is left, it’s an inactive husk of a nucleus now,” Karl Battams from the Comet ISON […] This images from the STEREO A spacecraft shows Comet ISON (upper right) still visible on Dec. 3, 2013. Credit: NASA. Could Comet ISON possibly still be alive? The latest high-resolution images available from the STEREO spacecraft are still showing some remains of the comet, although each day seems to show less and less activity. “If anything of ISON’s nucleus is left, it’s an inactive husk of a nucleus now,” Karl Battams from the Comet ISON Observing Campaign told Universe Today. “The comet remnant is fading fast in the STEREO data.” Carey Lisse, also from CIOC was a bit more hopeful. In a web posting yesterday (Dec. 4) he said, “At this time, scientists are not sure how much of the comet survived intact. We may be seeing emission from rubble and debris in the comet’s trail, along its orbit, or we may be seeing ...
Astro Bob
5 Dec 2013, 20:19 UTC
Good old moon. It’s back again for another appointment with the planet Venus. Watch them this evening at dusk starting 20-30 minutes after sunset when they’ll light up the southwestern sky like a celestial holiday display. On Monday Dec. 2 … Continue reading → The crescent moon and Venus brighten up the western sky after sunset tonight Dec. 5, 2013. Good old moon. It’s back again for another appointment with the planet Venus. Watch them this evening at dusk starting 20-30 minutes after sunset when they’ll light up the southwestern sky like a celestial holiday display. Nova Centauri isn’t far from the bright southern stars Beta and Alpha Centauri. Alpha is the closest star beyond the sun at 4.4 light years or 26.4 trillion miles away. The map shows the sky facing southeast for skywatchers in Sydney, Australia just before the start of dawn tomorrow. Stellarium On Monday Dec. 2 John Seach of Chatsworth Island, New South Wales, Australia, discovered a brand new nova in the constellation Centaurus the Centaur using only a camera with a standard 50mm lens. At the time, the star had already surpassed the naked eye limit at magnitude 5.5. Today, less than a week later, ...
Venus and moon beautify the night / Nova Centauri flares to naked eye brilliance
5 Dec 2013, 20:19 UTC
Good old moon. It’s back again for another appointment with the planet Venus. Watch them this evening at dusk starting 20-30 minutes after sunset when they’ll light up the southwestern sky like a celestial holiday display. On Monday Dec. 2 … Continue reading → The crescent moon and Venus brighten up the western sky after sunset tonight Dec. 5, 2013. Good old moon. It’s back again for another appointment with the planet Venus. Watch them this evening at dusk starting 20-30 minutes after sunset when they’ll light up the southwestern sky like a celestial holiday display. Nova Centauri isn’t far from the bright southern stars Beta and Alpha Centauri. Alpha is the closest star beyond the sun at 4.4 light years or 26.4 trillion miles away. The map shows the sky facing southeast for skywatchers in Sydney, Australia just before the start of dawn tomorrow. Stellarium On Monday Dec. 2 John Seach of Chatsworth Island, New South Wales, Australia, discovered a brand new nova in the constellation Centaurus the Centaur using only a camera with a standard 50mm lens. At the time, the star had already surpassed the naked eye limit at magnitude 5.5. Today, less than a week later, ...
The Half-Astrophysicist Blog
5 Dec 2013, 19:54 UTC
I have always wanted to try a star trails picture. A couple of weeks ago, I had an evening at Kitt Peak. The Moon was waxing gibbous and very bright and lit up the domes very nicely. I was with a group over by the 0.9 meter telescope so I set up my camera outside, programmed it to take 30 second exposures for a few hours, and went about my work. I ended up with 162 pictures by the time we were getting ready to go. I made some adjustments in Lightroom to tame the bright sky and then imported them into a free program called StarStax. StarStax will add the individual images automatically and create the star trails picture for you. There are some options you can adjust, but it’s pretty automated. Here is the result. Overall I am pretty pleased with the first attempt. I can spot a couple of flaws to clean up (and I would like to figure out where they came from, but I might have to look closely at 162 pictures to find the bloody things!) You can see the north star in its tight dance around the celestial pole and many other stars ...
Star Trails Over Kitt Peak
5 Dec 2013, 19:54 UTC
I have always wanted to try a star trails picture. A couple of weeks ago, I had an evening at Kitt Peak. The Moon was waxing gibbous and very bright and lit up the domes very nicely. I was with a group over by the 0.9 meter telescope so I set up my camera outside, programmed it to take 30 second exposures for a few hours, and went about my work. I ended up with 162 pictures by the time we were getting ready to go. I made some adjustments in Lightroom to tame the bright sky and then imported them into a free program called StarStax. StarStax will add the individual images automatically and create the star trails picture for you. There are some options you can adjust, but it’s pretty automated. Here is the result. Overall I am pretty pleased with the first attempt. I can spot a couple of flaws to clean up (and I would like to figure out where they came from, but I might have to look closely at 162 pictures to find the bloody things!) You can see the north star in its tight dance around the celestial pole and many other stars ...
Astro Watch
5 Dec 2013, 19:23 UTC
Ghana is preparing to launch a 32- meter telescope which will be part of the network of African Radio Astronomy telescopes, Joseph Oteng-Agyei, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, announced on Tuesday. It will be used for hi-tech scientific research and perhaps the future planet discoveries as well as give career opportunities to students in pure science and engineering, the minister added. Opening the three-day Fifth African Leadership Conference (ALC) on Space Science and Technology in Accra, Ghana, the minister explained that the trickle-down effect of such sustainable national initiatives was on job creation and improving the living conditions of the people.Vodafone Ghana had earlier donated a satellite dish used previously for communications to the infant Space Science and Technology center opened here May last year to be used to launch the telescope.Oteng-Agyei explained that the launching of the 32 meter telescope as well as the launching of other such national telescopes across the continent would give the world a clear signal that Ghana was committed to the implementation of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project as a partner country.The minister lauded South Africa for the support it continues to give Ghana in the development of its space science ...
Ghana to Launch 32-Meter Telescope
5 Dec 2013, 19:23 UTC
Ghana is preparing to launch a 32- meter telescope which will be part of the network of African Radio Astronomy telescopes, Joseph Oteng-Agyei, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, announced on Tuesday. It will be used for hi-tech scientific research and perhaps the future planet discoveries as well as give career opportunities to students in pure science and engineering, the minister added. Opening the three-day Fifth African Leadership Conference (ALC) on Space Science and Technology in Accra, Ghana, the minister explained that the trickle-down effect of such sustainable national initiatives was on job creation and improving the living conditions of the people.Vodafone Ghana had earlier donated a satellite dish used previously for communications to the infant Space Science and Technology center opened here May last year to be used to launch the telescope.Oteng-Agyei explained that the launching of the 32 meter telescope as well as the launching of other such national telescopes across the continent would give the world a clear signal that Ghana was committed to the implementation of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project as a partner country.The minister lauded South Africa for the support it continues to give Ghana in the development of its space science ...
StarStruck
5 Dec 2013, 18:35 UTC
If all goes as planned, NASA may land its first experimental garden on the moon in late 2015. Scientists at the Ames Research Center in California are putting together the “Lunar Plant Growth Habitat” project with the hopes of sending an automated small greenhouse (complete with turnips, basil and flower seeds) to the moon in… As depicted in this early NASA artwork, in the distant possible future lunar bases may have greenhouses. Credit: NASA If all goes as planned, NASA may land its first experimental garden on the moon in late 2015. Scientists at the Ames Research Center in California are putting together the “Lunar Plant Growth Habitat” project with the hopes of sending an automated small greenhouse (complete with turnips, basil and flower seeds) to the moon in an attempt to see if plants will germinate there. NASA is looking at possible private rides to the moon—commercial spacecraft companies are competing to collect the Google Lunar X-Prize—but no decision has been made yet. NASA plans on germinating vegetable and flower seeds on the moon. Credit: NASA Soon after touching down on the dusty lunar surface, the self-contained habitat would release a spray of water from a reservoir and automatically ...
NASA May Test Its Lunar Green Thumb
5 Dec 2013, 18:35 UTC
If all goes as planned, NASA may land its first experimental garden on the moon in late 2015. Scientists at the Ames Research Center in California are putting together the “Lunar Plant Growth Habitat” project with the hopes of sending an automated small greenhouse (complete with turnips, basil and flower seeds) to the moon in… As depicted in this early NASA artwork, in the distant possible future lunar bases may have greenhouses. Credit: NASA If all goes as planned, NASA may land its first experimental garden on the moon in late 2015. Scientists at the Ames Research Center in California are putting together the “Lunar Plant Growth Habitat” project with the hopes of sending an automated small greenhouse (complete with turnips, basil and flower seeds) to the moon in an attempt to see if plants will germinate there. NASA is looking at possible private rides to the moon—commercial spacecraft companies are competing to collect the Google Lunar X-Prize—but no decision has been made yet. NASA plans on germinating vegetable and flower seeds on the moon. Credit: NASA Soon after touching down on the dusty lunar surface, the self-contained habitat would release a spray of water from a reservoir and automatically ...
Most Recent Blogs
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- 6 Dec 2013
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08:57 UTC
AmericaSpace
Atlas V Successfully Launches Classified NROL-39 Payload ...
The Atlas V successfully launches the classified NROL-39 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office at 11:14:30 p.m. PST Thursday, 5 December. Photo Credit: ULA, via Mike Barratt Cloaked in secrecy ...
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08:55 UTC
Space Fellowship
ATK and NASA Successfully Demonstrate New Rocket Motor fo...
STAR 48GXV Motor Will Give Boost Needed to Send Spacecraft on Path to the Sun. ARLINGTON, Va. -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) and NASA successfully tested a proof-of-concept STARTM 48GXV motor ...
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08:45 UTC
Space Fellowship
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center's Mighty Eagle Succes...
The Mighty Eagle, a NASA robotic prototype lander managed out of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., successfully completed an autonomous, free flight test today to help validate ...
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08:24 UTC
Spaceports
PLA Military Missile Base on the Moon? Really?
An expert from the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration Program Center has allegedly told the Beijing Times that the country is planning on installing a lunar military base by ...
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08:10 UTC
Astro Watch
Goddard Planetary Instruments Score a Hat Trick
Planetary instruments from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., hit the trifecta on Dec. 4, running three experiments of the same kind at different places in space. The ...
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07:37 UTC
The Planetary Socie...
Why We're Writing the President (& Congress) Now
Decisions about both the 2014 and 2015 budgets are happening soon.
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07:36 UTC
Astro Watch
New Instrument Continues Gathering Sun's Effects on the E...
Maintaining a record of solar measurements is important in understanding the sun's effect on Earth and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), Total solar irradiance Calibration Transfer Experiment, or ...
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07:35 UTC
Alice's Astro Info
Winter Solstice Sunset Watch – 2013
It’s time for the 19th seasonal sunset watch!! When: Saturday, December 21 at 4:05pm (so come at 3:30pm) Actual sunset is supposed to be at 4:20pm, but we have noticed ...
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07:25 UTC
Parabolic Arc
Atlas V Launches From Vandenberg
UPDATE: The 30th Space Wing seems happy, based on their Tweet: 30th Space Wing Yet another launch from good ole Vandenberg! To tonight’s dedicated launch watchers, go warm your fingers ...
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07:10 UTC
SALT Astronomy
Night Log 2013-12-05
SA: Paul SO: Thea Others: Luke, Simon, Eddy & Ray via Skype ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - R.I.P. Tata Madiba... :( ::: - Not shut down by humidity afterall & the ...
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06:20 UTC
Astro Watch
What Happened to Comet ISON?
Astronomers have long known that some comets like it hot. Several of the greatest comets in history have flown close to the sun, puffing themselves up with solar heat, before ...
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05:48 UTC
Astro Watch
ELaNa II Mission Helps Launch Student-Built Satellites
With help from NASA, four student-built CubeSat research satellites will launch into space Friday from the California coast as part of the agency's CubeSat Launch Initiative. The CubeSats will be ...
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05:12 UTC
Spaceports
Bill Nye's SOS for Planetary Science: HELP!
Stand with the Planetary Society and with Bill. Write the President and your elected officials and tell them to #FundPlanetary. Click the hot link to write your members of Congress. ...
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05:00 UTC
Astrobiology Magazi...
Current Events on Europa
A new study shows how the rise and fall of Europa s ice may bring evidence of life to the surface.
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05:00 UTC
Astrobiology Magazi...
Cassini s View of Saturn s Hexagon
Cassini has captured a spectacular movie of a six-sided jet stream around Saturn s north pole.
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05:00 UTC
NASA: Earth Observa...
Fog Fills the Grand Canyon
A rare weather event gives Grand Canyon visitors a walk in the clouds.
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04:25 UTC
Beyond Apollo
Linking Space Station & Mars: the IMUSE Strategy (1985)
Organizational barriers prevent NASA's piloted and robotic programs from working together closely. In the past decade, nonetheless, space planners have increasingly proposed a human-robot partnership for space exploration. This is, ...
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04:22 UTC
The Mars Society
Founding Mars Society Member Honored with Aerospace Liter...
Dr. William J. Clancey, a senior research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) and a founding member of the Mars Society, has won the 2014 ...
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04:21 UTC
Space Safety Magazi...
All the King’s Horses: The Final Mission to Skylab (Part ...
By Ben Evans This is the final installment of a four part series on the final Skylab mission. Follow the link to Catch up on Part 1, Part 2, and ...
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04:00 UTC
Astronomy.com News
Supernova blast provides clues to age of binary star syst...
Data has revealed faint remnants of a supernova explosion and helped researchers determine that Circinus X-1 is the youngest of this class of objects found to date.
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03:24 UTC
What's Up? The Spac...
Lovejoy - The OTHER Comet
Hey Space Placers!Although Comet ISON was getting all of the attention - I will have another Comet ISON post tomorrow - Comet Lovejoy has been putting on a fine show ...
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02:40 UTC
The Planetary Socie...
Chang'e 3 and LADEE updates -- and Lunar Reconnaissance O...
Chang'e 3 is just about to land on the Moon, and the LADEE orbiter has begun a new science mission there, while Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still producing amazing images.
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02:25 UTC
The Astrogator's Gu...
Guessing the Chang’e-3 trajectory [Where is Chang'e-3 now...
Our Chinese colleagues launched a lander to the Moon on December first, but unfortunately they have chosen not to publicly share where their spacecraft is. A few days ago there ...
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02:24 UTC
Spaceports
A Garden on the Moon via GLXP in 2015
Scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center in California are putting together the “Lunar Plant Growth Habitat” project with the hopes of sending an automated small greenhouse (complete with turnips, ...
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02:00 UTC
Discover
Voyager 1 Goes Interstellar
More than three decades after it left our planet, Voyager 1 entered a realm where no Earthborn spacecraft has gone before.
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01:50 UTC
Parabolic Arc
Four Student CubeSats to Launch on Atlas V
With help from NASA, four student-built CubeSat research satellites will launch into space Friday from the California coast as part of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The CubeSats will be ...
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01:44 UTC
NASASpaceFlight.com
Atlas V preparing to launch NROL-39 from Vandenberg
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) are preparing to launch an Atlas V rocket on the NROL-39 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ...
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01:36 UTC
Zamboni Pilot
Did the Canadian Space Agency win the lottery?
In an announcement on Monday, December 2 that didn’t garner much fanfare, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) may have won the lottery – or at least bought a potentially winning ...
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01:09 UTC
Starts With A Bang!
For destruction ice is also great and would suffice
“Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to ...
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01:04 UTC
e! Science News
NASA Goddard planetary instruments score a hat trick
Planetary instruments from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., hit the trifecta on Dec. 4, running three experiments of the same kind at different places in space. read ...
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01:01 UTC
Parabolic Arc
Moon Express Unveils “MX-1” Commercial Lunar Lander
LAS VEGAS, NV, December 5, 2013 (Moon Express PR) – Moon Express, Inc., a privately funded lunar resources company, unveiled its “MX-1” lunar lander spacecraft today as a breakthrough robotic ...
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00:15 UTC
The Planetary Socie...
An Open Letter to President Barack Obama
Bill Nye writes President Obama arguing that the President should embrace a bold future of planetary exploration.
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00:07 UTC
NASA Hack Space
DARPA MOIRE Concept
As the need for higher-resolution orbital imagery expands, glass mirrors are fast approaching the point where they will be too large, heavy and costly for even the largest of today's ...
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08:57 UTC
AmericaSpace
- 5 Dec 2013
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23:58 UTC
Discovery News - Sp...
Why the Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life is Important
Lawmakers of the House Science Committee discussed the search for extraterrestrial life with three experts for 2 hours -- an event that exposed the good and bad of political attitudes ...
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23:55 UTC
SPACE.com
Moon Express Unveils Private Lunar Lander (Images)
California-based Moon Express unveiled the blueprint of its MX-1 lunar lander today. In addition to delivering payloads to the lunar surface, the coffee-table-size MX-1 could also help service satellites and ...
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23:49 UTC
The Planetary Socie...
Comet ISON Wrap Up
Comet ISON captivated our world, and many of our world’s robotic emissaries for many months. But, alas, poor ISON is dead -- again. Here I wrap up our enthusiastic coverage ...
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23:46 UTC
SPACE.com
Images: Moon Express' Private Lunar Lander
Moon Express, a privately funded company, is developing a robotic spacecraft to land on the moon.
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23:22 UTC
Spaceports
The Sun Reverses its Magnetic Poles
This visualization shows the position of the sun's magnetic fields from January 1997 to December 2013. The field lines swarm with activity: The magenta lines show where the sun's overall ...
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23:17 UTC
Spaceports
Military Space: X-37B Spotted On Orbit
The unmanned X-37B spacecraft — flying a mission known as Orbital Test Vehicle 3 (OTV-3) — launched into space atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force ...
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22:16 UTC
Astro Watch
Laser Instrument on Curiosity Rover Tops 100,000 Zaps
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has passed the milestone of 100,000 shots fired by its laser. It uses the laser as one way to check which chemical elements are in rocks ...
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22:14 UTC
Universe Today
Subaru Telescope Reveals Orderly Massive Galaxy Evolution
Nobody likes a sloppy COSMOS (Cosmological Evolution Survey) and astronomers utilizing the Fiber-Multi-Object Spectrograph (FMOS) mounted on the Subaru Telescope have put order into chaos through their studies. The survey ...
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22:14 UTC
Lunar Networks
Offset floor of Buys-Ballot crater
LROC Featured Image, released December 5, 2013: Lobate scarp ridge along the east floor of Buys-Ballot crater. LROC NAC image centered on 21.321°N, 175.152°E, field of view 1.41 km. Sunset ...
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22:13 UTC
Lunar Meteorite Hun...
The Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News 05DEC2013
Chelyabinsk meteor had flown to Earth for over 1.2 mln years ...The Voice of RussiaThe Chelyabinsk meteor that hit the Earth in February this year had been part of a ...
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22:09 UTC
Universe Today
Astrophoto: Star Trails Over Kitt Peak
Our pal Rob Sparks said he had always wanted to try creating a star trails picture and this is his first attempt. Very nice! Of course, he had a great ...
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22:07 UTC
SPACE.com
Venus Now Shining at Its Brightest: How to See It
Venus is shining at its brightest in the low southwestern night sky just after sunset, making it a fine time for stargazers to observe the brilliant planet, weather permitting. Here ...
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22:02 UTC
The Night Sky Guy
Saturn’s Giant Hex At Its Best
A mysterious hexagon-shaped weather pattern on the planet Saturn had its most detailed portrait taken this autumn, courtesy of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Monstrous jet streams on the ringed gas giant ...
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22:00 UTC
Discover
Two Elusive Prime Number Problems Solved
After centuries of flummoxing number crunchers, two mathematical puzzles about prime numbers were cracked this year.
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21:58 UTC
Lunar Meteorite Hun...
The Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News 06DEC2013 - ea...
Possible meteor actually a jet trail, says expert - Yahoo News CanadaFrom Yahoo News Canada: Low-angle sunlight in Yellowknife made plane's contrail appear red, says University of Calgary professor.ca.news.yahoo.com/possible-meteor-actually-jet-trail-says-exp...Giant Fireball ...
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21:55 UTC
Meteorwatch
Geminid Meteor Shower 2013
Geminid Meteor Shower 2013 The Geminid meteor shower 2013 is the grand finale of astronomical events this year and is the most reliable and prolific of the annual meteor showers. ...
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21:52 UTC
Astro Watch
Heat Shield for Orion Spacecraft Arrives at Kennedy Space...
NASA's Orion spacecraft is just about ready to turn up the heat. The spacecraft's heat shield arrived at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday night aboard the agency's ...
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23:58 UTC
Discovery News - Sp...
