Space

Astronomy

Eros: The movie

Close-up views of the asteroid 433 Eros, showing jagged rocks, fields of boulders, and debris-filled craters, are featured in a minute-long movie.

Astronomy

Senior star may have comets

Astronomers have found what could be the first evidence of water-bearing objects that orbit a star other than the sun.

Astronomy

Light’s Debut: Good Morning, Starshine!

Astronomers have at last detected signs of one of the earliest and least-understood eras in the universe: the murky time just before the first stars and quasars flooded the cosmos with light.

Astronomy

Anybody Out There?

This elaborate Web site brings together a wide variety of resources devoted to the question of life in the universe. Mounted by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other European agencies, the site serves as home base for a competition aimed at eliciting responses from European students to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. […]

Astronomy

Ground-based telescope detects star’s corona

Astronomers using a ground-based telescope have for the first time observed near-ultraviolet light from the corona of a star other than our sun.

Astronomy

When Galaxies Collide

Dramatic images from the largest computer simulation ever of a plausible collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies highlight this report from the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Astrophysicist John Dubinski describes the science underlying the computations. Go to: http://www.npaci.edu/online/v4.9/galaxies2.html and http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~dubinski/tflops/.

Planetary Science

Craft tracks giant dust storm on Mars

The largest dust storm observed on Mars in 25 years is now engulfing the Red Planet.

Astronomy

A Rocky Bicentennial

Mounting evidence that many asteroids aren't solid rock but collections of loosely bound fragments could have far-reaching implications for elucidating their internal structure, understanding planet formation, and developing strategies to mitigate the threat of one striking Earth.

Astronomy

Bow-wowing them with radar

The sharpest radar image ever of an asteroid shows features on 1999 KW4 as small as 7.5 meters—about the length of a stretch limo.

Planetary Science

Space Flight Basics

For armchair space explorers, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers a tutorial on how to operate an interplanetary space mission. Originally created a decade ago, the newly updated guide includes information on spacecraft engineering, mission design, trajectories, launch, navigation, telecommunications, and much more. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/

Astronomy

Landing data confirm Eros’ primitive nature

Gamma rays detected by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft after it landed on asteroid 433 Eros add to evidence that the rock is unaltered since the birth of the solar system.

Astronomy

A comet continues to crumble

Ever since astronomers first spied a comet 6 months ago and officially dubbed it C/2001 A2, the icy body has been breaking apart.