Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
Misplaced muons either mundane or monumental
During an experiment in Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator, a group of elementary particles called muons showed up in a strange place. Physicists are considering the likely implications.
- Space
Extrasolar planetary system makes pictorial debut
The first images of a planetary system beyond the solar system are released, while the Hubble Space Telescope snaps a shot of likely planet orbiting a nearby star.
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- Space
Half-life (more or less)
Physicists are stirred by claims that the sun may change what’s unchangeable—the rate of radioactive decay.
- Space
Hubble repair mission delayed yet again
Even as the Hubble Space Telescope was able to snap an image after several weeks of idling, a mission to visit and upgrade Hubble suffered another delay.
- Space
MESSENGER glimpses Mercury’s Western hemisphere, new features
The results are in from MESSENGER’s second flyby of Mercury, one of the least-explored planets in the solar system.
- Astronomy
Double the rubble: Nearby star system has two asteroid belts
Epsilon Eridani hosts an inner asteroid belt and planet arranged like those in the solar system.
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- Space
Try, try again
NASA announced October 23 that, despite a series of setbacks, the prognosis is good for reviving the Hubble Space Telescope.
- Space
New light on moon water
Kaguya, a Japanese spacecraft orbiting the moon, finds that a south pole crater called Shackleton has no visible signs of ice.
- Space
More problems with Hubble
Hubble’s resurrection is suspended while engineers examine two anomalies.
- Space
Hubble revives
A plan to switch the Hubble Space Telescope to a backup system works, waking up the telescope after more than two weeks of silence.
