This map shows the frequency of carbon dioxide frost’s presence at sunrise on Mars, as a percentage of days year-round. Carbon dioxide ice more often covers the ground at night in some mid-latitude regions than in polar regions, where it is generally absent for much of summer and fall. Credits:[Read More…]
Space
NASA’s Hubble Captures the Beating Heart of the Crab Nebula
Credits: NASA and ESA, Acknowledgment: J. Hester (ASU) and M. Weisskopf (NASA/MSFC) MARYLAND–(ENEWSPF)–July 7, 2016. Peering deep into the core of the Crab Nebula, this close-up image reveals the beating heart of one of the most historic and intensively studied remnants of a supernova, an exploding star. The inner region[Read More…]
Hubble Captures Vivid Auroras in Jupiter’s Atmosphere
Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–June 30, 2016. Astronomers are using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study auroras — stunning light shows in a planet’s atmosphere — on the poles of the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter. This observation program is supported by measurements made by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, currently on[Read More…]
NASA’s K2 Finds Newborn Exoplanet Around Young Star (Video)
When a planet such as K2-33b passes in front of its host star, it blocks some of the star’s light. Observing this periodic dimming, called a transit, from continual monitoring of a star’s brightness, allows astronomers to detect planets outside our solar system with a high degree of certainty. This[Read More…]
NASA Hybrid Electric Research Plane Gets X Number, New Name
Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–June 17, 2016. With 14 electric motors turning propellers and all of them integrated into a uniquely-designed wing, NASA will test new propulsion technology using an experimental airplane now designated the X-57 and nicknamed “Maxwell.” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden highlighted the agency’s first X-plane designation in a decade during[Read More…]
Gravitational Waves Detected from Second Pair of Colliding Black Holes (Video)
LIGO collaborations observe another event in data This illustration shows the merger of two black holes and the gravitational waves that ripple outward as the black holes spiral toward each other. The black holes—which represent those detected by LIGO on Dec. 26, 2015—were 14 and 8 times the mass of[Read More…]
ExoMars Sets Sights on the Red Planet
TGO’s first image of Mars EU–(ENEWSPF)–16 June 2016. ExoMars captured its first images of Mars this week as part of its preparations for arriving at the Red Planet in October.ExoMars, a joint mission with Roscosmos, was launched on 14 March and has already travelled just under half of its nearly[Read More…]
NASA Mars Rover Descends Plateau, Turns Toward Mountain
This May 11, 2016, self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the “Okoruso” drilling site on lower Mount Sharp’s “Naukluft Plateau.” The scene is a mosaic of multiple images taken with the arm-mounted Mars Hands Lens Imager (MAHLI). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS CALIFORNIA–(ENEWSPF)–June 14, 2016. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover[Read More…]
LISA Pathfinder Exceeds Expectations
LISA Pathfinder in space EU–(ENEWSPF)–7 June 2016. ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission has demonstrated the technology needed to build a space-based gravitational wave observatory.Results from only two months of science operations show that the two cubes at the heart of the spacecraft are falling freely through space under the influence of[Read More…]
Fireball Lights Pre-Dawn Sky over Arizona (Video)
ARIZONA–(ENEWSPF)–June 3, 2016. For a few seconds early Thursday, night turned into day as an extremely bright fireball lit the pre-dawn sky over much of Arizona, blinding all-sky meteor cameras as far away as western New Mexico. Based on the latest data, a small asteroid estimated at 5 feet (1-2 meters)[Read More…]
