Planets and galaxies

Europa Spring cropped

Europa Spring

Monday, 20 May 2013

The Margarita Sushi Bar is expensive. I hook my prosthetic fins over the mooring bar as I wait and order beer; the green stuff is delivered in a sachet.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket, carrying a Bion-M satellite rises at a launch pad in the Russian-leased Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome on April 18, 2013. Credit: AFP

Mice, gerbils perish in Russia space flight

Monday, 20 May 2013

A number of mice and eight gerbils sent into space in a Russian capsule destined to find out how well organisms can withstand extended flights perished during their journey, scientists said as the month-long mission touched back down on Earth.

Four images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory of an X3.2-class flare from late at night on May 13, 2013. Credit: NASA/SDO/em>

Sun unleashes four potent solar flares

Thursday, 16 May 2013

The Sun has unleashed four potent solar flares this week, marking the most intense activity yet this year and causing limited interruptions to high-frequency radio communications.

Composite image of Earth and Mars created to show the relative sizes of the two planets. Credit: NASA / JPL

Mars exploration achievable, experts say

Monday, 6 May 2013

NASA and private sector experts now agree that a man or woman could be sent on a mission to Mars over the next 20 years, despite huge challenges.

International Space Station NASA cropped

Space experiment sheds light on immune struggles

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

A lab experiment that rode to space two years ago has offered new clues about why astronauts’ immune systems struggle to perform in zero gravity, U.S. military researchers said.

julian berengut credit Michael Gal cropped

The art of physics

Monday, 22 April 2013

Julian Berengut’s research into the fundamental physics of the universe goes beyond pure science and into philosophical questions of human existence, he says.

Relative sizes of the newly discovered habitable-zone planets and Earth. Left to right: Kepler-69c, Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f and Earth (except for Earth, these are artists' renditions). Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech

Kepler spots most Earth-like planets yet

Friday, 19 April 2013 - 1 comment

Using a powerful NASA space telescope to scan the skies for planets like ours where life might exist, astronomers said they have found the most Earth-like candidates yet.

MinutePhysics Parallel Universes

The true science of parallel universes

Thursday, 18 April 2013 - 1 comment

Everybody loves the idea of a parallel universe – but is there really a place in science for such wistful speculation, asks this video from MinutePhysics?

Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Did Mars camera find lost Soviet spacecraft?

Friday, 12 April 2013

Hardware from a Soviet spacecraft that went silent only seconds after making the first successful soft landing on Mars in 1971 might appear in images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 Earth NASA

NASA may tow asteroid to the Moon

Monday, 8 April 2013

NASA wants to grab a small asteroid and tow it into orbit around the Moon, as part of a long-range plan towards establishing permanent manned outposts in space, according to a U.S. senator.

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