Space
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Astronomy
Comet-crazed, and for good reason
Coming to the edge of knowledge, especially about what’s out in space, fires the imagination.
By Eva Emerson -
Astronomy
Rosetta readies for its close rendezvous with a comet
The Rosetta spacecraft and its lander Philae are ready to make history in a risky rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
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Astronomy
Cosmic jets re-created in a lab
Physicists have recreated in a lab the plasma jets that erupt from young stars and black holes.
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Planetary Science
Surprises lurk inside a Saturn moon
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft finds possible ocean or football-shaped core inside Mimas.
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Planetary Science
MAVEN gives first look at Mars’ escaping atmosphere
Bits of Mars have been caught in the act of floating off into space.
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Quantum Physics
Hawking radiation spotted within sonic black hole
Lab-created sonic black hole emits energy as famed physicist Stephen Hawking predicted, though the experiment may not be definitive.
By Andrew Grant -
Cosmology
Answers to questions posed by cosmology to philosophy
Tough questions about the philosophy of cosmology have answers; they just might not be right.
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Astronomy
Nearby galaxy might explain what tore apart universe’s hydrogen
A local galaxy is leaking enough ultraviolet light to ionize surrounding hydrogen, which could explain how the earliest galaxies transformed the universe.
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Astronomy
High-energy radiation from stellar explosions explained
The dance of a stellar duo might explain why some novas emit gamma rays.
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Chemistry
Lasers wrest oxygen from carbon dioxide
By zapping oxygen molecules off carbon dioxide, an experiment hints that Earth may have had breathable air long before the dawn of plants.
By Beth Mole -
Planetary Science
Sun may make most of the water on moon’s surface
A constant stream of particles from the sun bombarding the moon's surface may be the source of most lunar water.