Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
Gamma-ray observations shrink known grain size of spacetime
A new study eliminates some theories of quantum gravity by finding that spacetime isn’t as lumpy as some models had proposed.
- Planetary Science
Mercury, As Never Seen Before: MESSENGER visits innermost planet
The first spacecraft to visit Mercury in 33 years imaged 25 percent of the crater-pocked surface that had never before been seen close-up.
- Space
Panel says planned NASA rocket won’t do the job
The Ares 1 set to replace the space shuttle is too expensive and won’t be ready soon enough, the Augustine Committee concludes.
- Space
SuperEarths common for other stars
A mother lode of 32 newly discovered planets brings the number of known extrasolar planets to more than 400 and suggests that lightweight planets are common around sunlike stars.
- Space
Images show puny plume from moon crash
Data from another craft suggest iron and mercury, not frozen water, were kicked up when a spent rocket plunged into a lunar crater
- Space
Solar system’s edge surprises astronomers
New observations reveal a dense ribbon structure that current models don't explain.
- Ecosystems
Windy with a chance of weevils
Scientists have traced the reappearance of cotton pests in west-central Texas to a tropical storm.
- Space
Europa’s proposed ocean could be rich in oxygen
A proposed ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa may receive about 100 times more oxygen than previously estimated.
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- Space
Moon crash delivers no obvious plume
But the two impacts still yield data that could help in search for water
- Planetary Science
Award named for late Science News writer
Jonathan Eberhart's name lives on in a new planetary-sciences award.
- Space
Ice confirmed on an asteroid
Reporting from the American Astronomical Society meeting in Puerto Rico, planetary scientists confirm, for the first time, the presence of frozen water on an asteroid.
