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Solar System's Edge Mystifies Scientists

Voyager 1 reaches outer limits and smashes old theories

(Newser) - Voyager 1 may not have exited our solar system , but it's throwing scientists some unexpected curve balls from 11 billion miles away, reports the Los Angeles Times . The spacecraft is now in a strange zone known as the "magnetic highway," and nothing out there seems to be...

The Supermoon Is Coming
 The Supermoon Is Coming 
Jun 21, 2013 1:18 PM CDT

The Supermoon Is Coming

Largest full moon of 2013 arrives Sunday

(Newser) - This weekend will be a little more super than most. That's because the "supermoon" will grace the sky on Sunday. Space.com explains why it's so special: At 7am ET, the moon will hit the point in its orbit that's closest to us (ie, reaching "...

'Space Ark' Returns, With Lots of Dead Animals

Few mice survive month in orbit aboard Russian capsule

(Newser) - The first Russian critter on Mars likely won't be a mouse, if the results of a month-long "space ark" mission are anything to go by. A capsule containing 45 mice, along with eight gerbils, 15 newts, crayfish, snails, and other small animals, landed yesterday with more than half...

International Space Station Springs a Leak

Astronauts not in danger: NASA

(Newser) - The International Space Station is leaking ammonia coolant used to maintain its solar-panel power gear, Space.com reports. NASA says astronauts are "in no danger," but the situation could affect the station's power capabilities. Crew members spotted the frozen ammonia leaking from from a coolant loop yesterday....

NASA Spots Colossal Saturn Hurricane

It's bigger, more powerful, and longer-lasting than Earth counterpart

(Newser) - The hurricane roiling around Saturn's north pole looks a lot like a hurricane on Earth—except much, much bigger. Its eye is about 20 times bigger than Earth standards at 1,250 miles wide, and the storm is also more powerful, with winds as high as 330mph. A NASA...

Experts Want to Fight Space Junk With Harpoons

Garbage collisions in space risk starting chain reaction

(Newser) - Experts want to use nets and harpoons to haul in space junk threatening the $100 billion worth of satellites currently in orbit round Earth. What sounds like a cosmic fishing trip is part of a raft of proposals to come out of a global conference on space debris ending today...

Russia to Pump $52B Into Space Industry

And may create new space ministry

(Newser) - Russia is getting (even more) serious about space exploration. Vladimir Putin today announced a plan to pump roughly $52 billion into the country's space industry, and floated the idea of creating a special "space ministry," Russia Today reports. "Russia should preserve its status of the leading...

Crew Hops 6-Hour Flight— to International Space Station

Trip usually takes 2 days

(Newser) - Typically, a voyage to the International Space Station is a two-day affair. Though it's just 250 miles from the Earth, it's constantly moving, complicating the trip. But a team of three astronauts—two Russian, one from NASA—arrived at 10:28pm last night after just a five-hour, 45-minute...

Scientists Figure Out Russia Meteor's Origin

As biggest piece yet found in Ural Mountains

(Newser) - Turns out there is a cool use for trigonometry: Scientists in Colombia have been able to calculate the trajectory of the meteor that injured 1,000 in Russia this month using data gleaned from local camera footage and a lake landing spot. Once they had determined the meteor's path...

Angry Egyptians Try to Send Prez Into Space

They enter him in Buzz Aldrin-backed contest

(Newser) - Egypt has found a new way to express political discontent. An opposition group has entered President Mohamed Morsi in a contest to win a space flight, the AP reports. It's a way of showing their desire to eject the leader, the April 6 Youth Movement says on its Facebook...

Scientists Spot Smallest Planet Ever Seen

Exoplanet Kepler-37b is the size of our moon

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the smallest known planet, just a third of the size of the Earth. Mercury, the smallest in our solar system, is two-fifths Earth's size, the AP notes; the new discovery, Kepler-37b, is a far-off exoplanet. "This research shows for the first time that other stellar...

Moon May Once Have Hosted Water
 Moon May 
 Once Have 
 Hosted Water 
study says
Feb 18, 2013 12:08 PM CST

Moon May Once Have Hosted Water

Study undermines theories of its creation

(Newser) - Scientists' theories on how the moon developed may not hold water—because it seems that the moon itself once did. That's what researchers are saying after new analysis of Apollo mission moon rocks, the Los Angeles Times reports. The widely-accepted story is that the moon is the result of...

Russian Meteor Strike Was Biggest in 100 Years

Sonic shockwave believed to have caused most of the damage

(Newser) - The meteor that struck Russia today was the largest to hit Earth since 1908, releasing hundreds of kilotons of energy, scientists tell Nature . The blast put out so much energy that it was detected by networks designed to pick up infrasound data on nuclear explosions—and indeed, the blast was...

Huge Meteor Rocks Russia
 Huge Meteor Rocks Russia 
Feb 15, 2013 7:57 AM CST

Huge Meteor Rocks Russia

950 hurt, 110 hospitalized amid bomb-like damage

(Newser) - A meteor that shattered over Chelyabinsk, Russia, today injured some 950 people, with more than 110 hospitalized, RT reports. Several victims are said to be in "grave" condition, RIA Novosti reports. The 10-ton meteor was traveling at least 33,000mph when it entered the atmosphere, experts say, according to...

Ahmadinejad: Send Me to Outer Space

Now that a monkey's done it, he wants to be next

(Newser) - Iran's space-bound monkey may have died during flight, but that hasn't spooked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who today declared that he would very much like to be the first person Iran launches into orbit. But his statement, as reported by state media via the AP , indicates he's not totally...

Iran: We Launched a Monkey Into Space

News may fuel US rocket concerns

(Newser) - Somewhere Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be trying on his spacesuit, because Iran is inching closer to sending a person into space—and perhaps to developing long-range missiles, if US concerns prove accurate. Iranian state TV today said that the country launched a monkey into space and it came home safe and...

Mars Crater Points to Water ... and Life?

Scientists find evidence of long-dry lake

(Newser) - Photos of an enormous crater on Mars indicate possible underground water—water that could have supported life, and could still be doing so. Images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the 57-mile-wide McLaughlin Crater, which is now dry. It's one of the planet's deepest spots at...

Earth-Like Planet Spotted
 Earth-Like Planet Spotted 
Jan 10, 2013 2:20 PM CST

Earth-Like Planet Spotted

KOI 172.02 orbits star like our sun

(Newser) - Less than two weeks after astronomers predicted they would find an Earth-like planet some time in 2013, the feat may have already been accomplished. Scientists this week announced at the 221st meeting of American Astronomical Society that the Kepler telescope has found a "super-Earth" whose radius is 1.5...

'Doomsday Asteroid' Even Bigger Than Thought

And there's still a chance it could hit us in 2036

(Newser) - The asteroid Apophis , whose reported threat to our planet has attracted widespread attention, is even larger than scientists believed, according to new images. Europe's Herschel Space Observatory says the asteroid is some 1,066 feet feet wide, some 20% wider than previously thought. That "translates into a 75%...

Milky Way Has 17B Planets the Size of Ours

And that's a conservative estimate

(Newser) - Before we start feeling too special about our home planet, scientists have a message: There are at least 17 billion planets the size of Earth in the Milky Way alone, Space.com reports. About 17% of our galaxy's stars have Earth-size exoplanets closely orbiting them—so 100 billion stars...

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