Ah, black holes. The ultimate shiver-inducer of the cosmos, out-jawing sharks, out-ooking spiders, out-scaring… um, something scary. But we’re fascinated by ‘em, have no doubt — even if we don’t understand a whole lot about them.
NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander put itself in “safe mode” after its power reserves dipped too low, NASA announced Wednesday.
NASA rolled out its next-generation space capsule here Wednesday, revealing a bulbous module that is scheduled to carry humans back to the moon in 2020 and eventually onward to Mars. Unlike the space-plane shape of the shuttles, the new Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle looks strikingly similar to the old Apollo space capsule from 1969.
By starlight this eerie visage shines in the dark, a crooked profile evoking its popular name, the Witch Head Nebula.
Mars may have been wet for a billion years longer than previously thought, new water-related opal evidence from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests. The findings have implications for the possibility that Mars once supported life.
The telescope’s main camera is back on after being dormant for a month two other cameras may soon restart their observations.
Faint electrical signals in Titan’s smoggy atmosphere suggest the moon has lightning, which some experts believe helped life form on Earth.
As far as ghosts go, Mirach’s Ghost isn’t really that scary. In fact, Mirach’s Ghost is just a faint, fuzzy galaxy, well known to astronomers, that happens to be seen nearly along the line-of-sight to Mirach, a bright star. Centered in this star field, Mirach is also called Beta Andromedae.
Far from a photographic work of art (grainy, etc); but a pretty cool, you-were-there kind of shot. Edward White floating outside Gemini 4 in 1965.
Scientists searching for ‘Earth-like’ planets say that a nearby solar system similar to our own may contain as-yet undiscovered planets. The star at the centre of the system, which is just 10.5 light years away from Earth, is called Epsilon Eridani.