Space

Planetary Science

Journey to Mars

The rugged Mars Exploration Rover (MER) is scheduled to land on Mars on Jan. 4, 2004. A variety of Web sites offer information about the exploration of Mars and Mars rovers. Check out the official MER Web site for background information and up-to-the-minute reports. San Francisco’s Exploratorium Web site highlights various Mars-related activities. Go to: […]

Planetary Science

Lunar finding doesn’t hold water

A new radar study of craters at the moon's north and south poles reveals that neither region contains substantial amounts of frozen water.

Planetary Science

Next Stop, Interstellar Space

Data recorded by the venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft suggest the craft has either recently encountered or will soon enter a key region near the edge of the solar system.

Astronomy

Cool Cosmos: Orbiting telescope views infrared universe

Astronomers unveiled the first images and spectra taken by the most sensitive and highest-resolution infrared observatory ever sent into space.

Astronomy

Cool Cosmos: Orbiting telescope views infrared universe

Astronomers unveiled the first images and spectra taken by the most sensitive and highest-resolution infrared observatory ever sent into space.

Planetary Science

Did rivers once run on the Red Planet?

A fan-shaped region of debris on Mars is providing new evidence that some places on the Red Planet, now bone-dry, once had long-lasting rivers or lakes.

Planetary Science

Did rivers once run on the Red Planet?

A fan-shaped region of debris on Mars is providing new evidence that some places on the Red Planet, now bone-dry, once had long-lasting rivers or lakes.

Astronomy

Breach of the Shield: Magnetic links between sun and Earth last hours

Once breaches have formed in Earth's protective magnetic field, they persist for many hours, allowing charged particles from the sun to gush through and create electrical disturbances.

Astronomy

Spying a planet in star’s dusty veil

Astronomers blocked out the light of a nearby star and found hints of an orbiting planet.

Astronomy

Alien stars pass close to home

Stars from an alien galaxy are raining down on our own Milky Way and passing just a few hundred light-years from Earth.

Astronomy

Solar Flip-Flops: Sun storms spawn magnetic reversal

Coronal mass ejections, billion-ton clouds of charged particles blasted from the sun, appear to play a key role in reversing the sun's magnetic poles every 11 years.

Planetary Science

Martian sand ripples are taller than Earth’s

New data gathered by a Mars-orbiting probe suggest that large ripples found in sandy areas of the Red Planet are more than twice as tall as their terrestrial counterparts.