Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Telescope Tuned Up: Back to work for orbiting observatory
A rejuvenated Hubble Space Telescope floated away from the space shuttle Columbia on March 9 after astronauts spent a week renovating the observatory.
- Planetary Science
Probing Jupiter’s big magnetic bubble
Simultaneous measurements by two spacecraft have probed in greater detail than ever before Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the invisible bubble of charged particles that surrounds the giant planet.
- Astronomy
Rethinking an Astronomical Icon
Examining the Eagle nebula's pillars of creation with infrared detectors, scientists are viewing an astronomical icon in a whole new light.
- Planetary Science
Odyssey’s First Look: Craft spies signs of ice at the Martian south pole
Astronomers have for the first time found evidence of large amounts of frozen water in the subsurface of Mars.
- Astronomy
Martian equator: A watery outpost?
A catastrophic outpouring of water—four times the volume contained in Lake Tahoe—may have gushed from fissures near the equator on Mars as recently as 10 million years ago.
- Astronomy
Ambitious Mission: Hubble slated to get one heckuva tune-up
If all goes according to plan, astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia will embark on the fourth and most technically challenging mission to replace damaged parts and install new detectors on the Hubble Space Telescope.
- Planetary Science
Galileo at Jupiter: The goodbye tour
After more than 6 years spent touring Jupiter and its four largest moons, the Galileo spacecraft’s mission is beginning to wind down.
- Astronomy
The Milky Way’s Middle
Sensitive X-ray, infrared, and radio telescopes are now providing an extraordinarily clear view of the dust-shrouded center of our galaxy.
- Astronomy
X-Ray Universe: Quasar’s jet goes the distance
Collisions with photons left over from the birth of the universe appear to have generated the longest X ray-emitting jet ever found in a distant galaxy.
- Astronomy
UV telescopes: One dead, one revived
One ultraviolet observatory burned up in Earth's atmosphere late last month while another has gotten a new lease on life.
- Planetary Science
Extreme weather: Massive hurricanes meet on Jupiter
Both professional and amateur sky watchers are pointing their telescopes at Jupiter as two titanic storms in the giant planet's upper atmosphere meet each other.
- Astronomy
Supernova dealt deaths on Earth? Stellar blasts may have killed ancient marine life
The explosion of nearby supernova may have caused the widespread extinction of marine life on Earth 2 million years ago.
