On October 9, NASA slammed its $79-million LCROSS space probe into the surface of the Moon, in a quest for discovering water-ice in the Cabeus Crater at the south pole. At the time, as the world watched this endeavor live, the impact crater and the ejection plume that the spent Centaurus rocket stage created as it impacted the lunar surface, just a few minutes before the space probe itself, were not that impressive, and many called the mission a failure. However, NASA officials refrained from making comments until the science results were in – and they are good. “Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a litt... [read more >>] For a great many years, scientists have believed that the oceans on our planet were formed from water vapors emitted during volcanic eruptions that condensed and fell to the ground over millions of years. But a scientist now proposes that this might not have been the case. He argues that water is not something that our planet had when it was formed, and believes that the life chemical was brought here on comets coming in from the outer solar system. The expert adds that the region was filled with turbulences, caused by large planets launching meteorites and comets towards the Sun. French researcher Francis Albarede, the proponent of the n... [read more >>] The standard cosmological model holds that there is a type of matter known as dark matter permeating the Universe, which accounts for the massive discrepancies that exist between how much matter the Universe has, and the amount it should have, according to predictions. Astronomers hypothesized that dark matter should exist, comprising most of the unseen matter, and exerting its influence on normal matter through the force of gravity alone. Now, some experts propose a new approach to explaining the discrepancy – the Modified Theory of Newtonian Dynamics, or MOND, Space reports. Astronomical observations have shown over recent years tha... [read more >>] Top officials in the Russian Federation announced on Thursday that they gave their acceptance to a proposal stating that the country should pursue the development of a nuclear-powered spacecraft, which is currently set to fly as early as 2012. This would essentially leave the former Communist nation in charge of the nuclear space race, as the United States continue to lose their role as the dominating force in space today. According to Russian scientists, building the new spacecraft could cost as much as $600 million, Wired reports. “The idea [of nuclear-powered spaceflight] has bright prospects, and if Russia could stage a breakthro... [read more >>] NASA's Swift satellite is the first spacecraft to have spotted the first signs from the earliest known explosion in the entire Universe. The phenomenon is believed to have taken place about 13 billion years ago, when the Cosmos was just around 700 million years old. The star that exploded sent forth a massive amount of radiation, in the form of a gamma-ray burst (GRB). It required all this time to reach our planet, and it was first observed on April 23. Usually, these types of emissions become visible when stars collapse into black holes, at the end of their burning cycle, Space reports. Two astronomy teams then took it upon themselv... [read more >>] Central Michigan University professor Axel Mellinger has recently compiled a new groundbreaking image of the night sky, with the Milky Way at its center, by stitching up more than 3,000 individual photographs. The high-resolution panoramic view, presented in an interactive manner here, can be used by professional and amateur astronomers alike, and shows known features of our galaxies in great detail. The creation process for the new image is described in the November issue of the respected journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. “This panorama image shows stars 1,000 times fainter than the human eye can see, ... [read more >>] In astronomy, the term binary system refers to a group of two stars, which are locked to each other through their mutual gravitational forces and orbit a common center of gravity. Instances in which a small star orbits a massive one are not unheard of as well. The difference between such a system and an eclipsing binary is strictly a matter of perspective, as in how we see them from the Earth. Their orbits around their center of gravity must be organized in such a manner that, from time to time, they either fully or partially cover one another, Space Fellowship reports. In most instances, the two stars are not of the same caliber, size an... [read more >>] Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, features a large number of rings, some of which usually experience a brief “night,” lasting from six to 14 hours. At times, however, the entire ring system is engulfed by shadows, when the planet reaches its equinox. This happens once every 15 Earth years, and the latest such occurrence took place on August 11. Fortunately for us, the Cassini space probe was in orbit around the gas giant, and sent back some of the most outstanding measurements of the phenomenon's influences that astronomers ever got the chance to look at. “The equinox is a very special geometry,... [read more >>] Black holes are known to be the remnants of massive stars' collapsed cores, which fall under their own weight to an area of intense gravity that is so large, it can even absorb light. Supermassive ones can be found at the core of all large galaxies, but, even then, they cannot be accurately studied because all sensors that emit radiation at them receive no feedback. After getting used to the fact that there is nothing they can do about this, astronomers have turned to studying the large swirls of matter that any black hole attracts, namely its accretion disk, ScienceNow reports. Scientists at the Osaka University, in Japan, have rec... [read more >>] The fly-by technique is a very common one for spacecraft, as they depart from the Earth to other destinations inside the solar system, or beyond. In order to limit the amount of fuel these probes carry, they are set on trajectories that bring them very close to a planet or other celestial body, but without being captured by that body's gravitational pull. This considerably increases their speed, without the need for very advanced motors or large fuel sources. However, as spacecraft have flown by the Earth, astronomers have detected a peculiarity that they cannot explain yet. As the probes have flown past our planet, ground-based monit... [read more >>] | 
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