Massive lava flows may have given rise to two distinct rock types on Mercury’s surface. CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(ENEWSPF)–February 21, 2013. By analyzing Mercury’s rocky surface, scientists have been able to partially reconstruct the planet’s history over billions of years. Now, drawing upon the chemical composition of rock features on the planet’s[Read More…]
Space
ESA Chooses Instruments for its JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer
JUICE EU–(ENEWSPF)–21 February 2013 The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission, JUICE, will carry a total of 11 scientific experiments to study the gas giant planet and its large ocean-bearing moons, ESA announced today. JUICE is the first Large-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 programme. Planned for launch in 2022[Read More…]
A Cool Discovery About the Sun’s Next-Door Twin
EU–(ENEWSPF)–21 February 2013. Cool layer in a Sun-like star ESA’s Herschel space observatory has detected a cool layer in the atmosphere of Alpha Centauri A, the first time this has been seen in a star beyond our own Sun. The finding is not only important for understanding the Sun’s activity,[Read More…]
Water on the Moon: It’s Been There All Along
Called the “Genesis Rock,” this lunar sample of unbrecciated anorthosite collected during the Apollo 15 mission was thought to be a piece of the moon’s primordial crust. In a paper published online Feb. 17 in Nature Geoscience, a University of Michigan researcher and his colleagues report that traces of water[Read More…]
Proof: Cosmic Rays Come from Exploding Stars
The W44 supernova remnant is nestled within and interacting with the molecular cloud that formed its parent star. Fermi’s LAT detects GeV gamma rays (magenta) produced when the gas is bombarded by cosmic rays, primarily protons. Radio observations (yellow) from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array near Socorro, N.M.,[Read More…]
2 NASA Satellites See Cyclone Gino’s ‘Centered’ Power
On Feb. 13 at 0505 UTC (12:05 a.m. EST) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this visible image of Tropical Cyclone Gino in the Indian Ocean. This close-up image clearly shows the ocean surface in the middle of Gino’s eye. (Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team) NASA/Goddard[Read More…]
At the Mouth of the Red Valley
Southeast of Amenthes Planum EU–(ENEWSPF)–14 February 2013. ESA’s Mars Express took a high-resolution stereo image on 13 January of the southeast corner of the Amenthes Planum region on Mars, near to Palos crater and the mouth of a well-known sinuous valley, Tinto Vallis. At the bottom-centre of the full-colour[Read More…]
Strobe-like Flashes Discovered in a Suspected Binary Protostar (Video and Story)
Image caption below. Source: Hubblesite.org Baltimore, MD-(ENEWSPF)- Two of NASA’s Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, have teamed up to uncover a mysterious infant star that behaves like a police strobe light. Every 25.34 days, the object, designated LRLL 54361, unleashes a burst of light. Though a similar[Read More…]
Intelligent Civilizations Rarer Than One In A Million
Berkeley, CA-(ENEWSPF)- NASA’s Kepler mission has identified 2,740 planets orbiting other stars, but do any of them harbor intelligent life? Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have now used the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to look for intelligent radio signals from planets around 86 of these stars.[Read More…]
Stranger in the Night: Space Rock to Make Close Earth Flyby
EU–(ENEWSPF)–07 February 2013. Artist’s impression of asteroids passing Earth7 February 2013 A little-known asteroid will skim past Earth on 15 February, passing just 28 000 km from our planet. The 50 m-diameter chunk of space rock was discovered in last year by ESA-sponsored amateur astronomers in Spain. Details of the[Read More…]
