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Planet Found Orbiting Star
Planet Found Orbiting Star
Nov 6, 2007 10:28 PM CST

Planet Found Orbiting Star

Gas giant is 45 times the size of Earth

(Newser) - Astronomers have found a planet that’s at least 45 times the size of Earth orbiting a star 41 light years away, Space.com reports. The giant ball of gas is the fifth planet discovered around the star 55 Cancri. And while it's not a "twin of our solar...

Discovery Crew Bids Teary Bye
Discovery Crew Bids Teary Bye
Nov 5, 2007 3:55 AM CST

Discovery Crew Bids Teary Bye

Astros exit space station after 11-day renovation project

(Newser) - Astronauts bid each other teary goodbyes yesterday as the shuttle Discovery prepared to leave the international space station and return to Earth. Seven people will make the two-day journey home, including astronaut Clay Anderson, who completed a 152-day mission aboard the station. Crew member Dan Tani is taking his place...

China Launches 1st Lunar Probe
China Launches 1st Lunar Probe
Oct 24, 2007 12:46 PM CDT

China Launches 1st Lunar Probe

Plans to land astronaut on lunar surface by 2020

(Newser) - China launched its first lunar mission today, beginning its gambit to be the third country to put a man in space. The Chang'e-I probe fired into space unmanned, but the lunar orbiter should earn China’s space program respect—and lucrative contracts, Bloomberg reports. China next plans to land a...

Teams Fail to Build Elevator to Heaven

Contestants still struggling to realize Willy Wonka fantasy

(Newser) - The race was on and the wind was up, which was something of a problem because contestants in the second annual Space Elevator Games in Utah yesterday were vying to send a vehicle 400 feet up a vertical cable attached to a crane. The prize of $500,000 in NASA...

Orion Nebula Closer to Us
Orion Nebula Closer to Us
Oct 11, 2007 9:12 PM CDT

Orion Nebula Closer to Us

Famous stellar nursery 300 light-years nearer to Earth than thought

(Newser) - The famed Orion Nebula is the closest stellar nursery to Earth, and it's even nearer than scientists previously thought, a study finds. Researchers had pinned it at about 1,565 light years away 25 years ago, but using multiple telescope shots to create a "virtual telescope" as wide as...

NASA Probe Gets Lucky with Jupiter Flyby

Spacecraft New Horizons sees storms and supervolcanoes

(Newser) - New Horizons, the robotic probe destined to reach Pluto in 2015, took some exciting photos when it flew within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter last February. Data from the fruitful detour for NASA’s fastest spacecraft will be published in Science this month. Highlights include photos of Jupiter’s...

After Sputnik: Satellites Today
After Sputnik: Satellites Today
Oct 4, 2007 4:47 PM CDT

After Sputnik: Satellites Today

Fifty years later, thousands of descendants have made a home in space

(Newser) - Satellites have lost a bit of their star power since Sputnik blasted into orbit. But 50 years later, its grandkids continue to look down at the Earth and out into deep, deep space. Here are some of the coolest, according to Wired:
  • James Webb Space Telescope: Putting the Hubble to
...

Scientists Stumped by Blast From Outer Space

Mysterious pulse could be sign of black hole evaporating or supernovas colliding

(Newser) - A bizarre burst from outer space has scientists talking black holes and colliding stars, Physorg reports — and may even help us "determine the amount of material in intergalactic space," one researcher says. The radio waves, which were measured in milliseconds, might be a blast from 2 superdense...

Hidden Galaxies Come to Light
Hidden Galaxies Come to Light
Sep 24, 2007 12:15 PM CDT

Hidden Galaxies Come to Light

Scientists discover star systems obscured by quasars

(Newser) - Astronomers have added 14 “invisible galaxies” to their map of the heavens, thanks to an imaginative breakthrough and a massive telescope. Researchers realized that some galaxies might be hidden by the bright lights of quasars behind them, so they scanned quasar data for “dips” where those lights might...

From Tokyo With Love: Japan Launches 1st Lunar Probe

Mission to rival Apollo program

(Newser) - Japan began its first trip to the moon today, launching a lunar probe that will spend a year orbiting Earth’s natural satellite. In what the Japanese call the most complex moon mission since America’s famous Apollo program, Selene will study the body’s origin and evolution, the BBC...

Mars Rover Steps Into Crater
Mars Rover Steps Into Crater
Sep 13, 2007 6:00 PM CDT

Mars Rover Steps Into Crater

NASA vehicle got second chance, after withstanding a two-month dust storm

(Newser) - The dust has finally settled on Mars, and NASA's Mars rover Opportunity took its first steps Tuesday 13 feet into the half-mile-wide Victoria Crater—and then backed out after slipping beyond acceptable levels. With Opportunity's six wheels perched over the lip of the crater, researchers paused the operation in order...

New 'Lucky' System Takes Clearest-Ever Space Pics

Images are twice as sharp as Hubble's

(Newser) - A ground-based optics system has been developed that can take pictures of space twice as sharp as those from the Hubble Telescope. The system uses advanced light detection chips and calculates when the atmosphere is least distorting, the BBC reports. The system gathers together the clear pictures and eliminates distortions...

Russia Shoots For the Moon
Russia Shoots For the Moon
Sep 3, 2007 12:10 PM CDT

Russia Shoots For the Moon

Cash-strapped space agency aims to send a man to the moon by 2025

(Newser) - Russia has announced a plan to put a man (or woman) on the moon by 2025, reports ABC. The cash-strapped Russian space agency also plans a permanent moon base and a Mars mission. "The Russians have some big ideas, but their space program is coming up slowly from being...

Probe to Study Asteroid Too Close to Earth

Scientists weighing options on how to veer giant rock off collision course

(Newser) - Astronomers are preparing to send a probe to investigate an asteroid that in 2029 will pass closer to Earth than communications satellites do. The mission would gather information on the 1,000-foot-wide rock to figure out whether it poses a serious danger the next time it passes Earth in 2036.

NASA Blasts Rumors of Drunken Astronauts

US space agency dismisses inebriation allegations as 'urban legends'

(Newser) - NASA said today there is no truth to allegations that several astronauts were drunk as they were blasted into space, the Miami Herald reports. A month after an independent panel reported vague accounts of astronauts drunk on the job, space agency officials said interviews and a review of 20 years'...

The Force Is With the Discovery
The Force Is With the Discovery
Aug 29, 2007 8:56 AM CDT

The Force Is With the Discovery

Lucasfilm loans original light saber to NASA for upcoming flight

(Newser) - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery will have a bit of extra protection on their next mission: Luke Skywalker's original light saber from 1977's Star Wars. Lucasfilm has loaned the prop—in real life not much more than a slick flashlight—to NASA for the shuttle's launch this October, reports...

Western US Awaits Total Lunar Eclipse

Early birds who look to the skies will get an eyeful on Tuesday

(Newser) - The Western US will get a celestial treat early Tuesday morning: a total lunar eclipse. Residents of the Western Hemisphere and eastern Asia will get at least a glimpse of the spectacle, but Europeans will miss out—the moon will be below the horizon. Space.com tells you how to...

Enormous Hole Found in Cosmos
Enormous Hole Found in Cosmos
Aug 24, 2007 3:32 AM CDT

Enormous Hole Found in Cosmos

Scientists spot unexpected void a billion light years wide

(Newser) - Astronomers have discovered a mysterious gigantic hole in the universe, reports Space.com. Unlike black holes, created by super dense material, this hole is devoid of matter. It measures nearly a billion light years wide and is 10 billion light years from earth. The hole was discovered by examining input...

Google Takes Map Program to the Stars
Google Takes Map Program
to the Stars
Aug 22, 2007 12:28 PM CDT

Google Takes Map Program to the Stars

Google Sky will boot up computer-chair space exploration

(Newser) - Launching off of the success of Google Earth, Google launched a new program today allowing armchair astronomers to chuck the telescope and gaze at the heavens from their monitors. Google Sky will harness Hubble photos along with a database of information, and feature more than one million stars and 200...

Dying Star Unlocks Life Cycle Mystery

Comet-like tail supports theory that shed matter creates stars

(Newser) - Astronomers have recently spotted a dying red giant star trailing material knocked off by winds  created by its high-speed orbit, providing an important clue to the life cycle of stars. Scientists have long theorized that the detritus of old stars become the seeds for new ones, but they've never before...

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