Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
