A few years ago, a large controversy was set in motion in the international scientific community about the possible existence of fossilized life forms in a Martian meteorite that crash-landed in Antarctica. The piece of rock, known as ALH 84001, was then believed by some to contain certain proof that life existed on the Red Planet sometime in the past. Skeptics were naturally less than willing to accept that, and proposed that cross-contamination may have been responsible for the discovery. Just recently, results of a new set of analysis have demonstrated that a non-biological explanation for how the structures formed is unfeasible and impo... [read more >>] Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is of the massive spiral variety, which means that it features two arms (four by some accounts) filled with stars. Measuring the distance to these stars is something that may seem simple at first, but which is actually very complicated, mostly because of the inherent uncertainties that existing models bring to the table. All that is about to change, as the first results of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are starting to be made available. For almost a decade, astronomers have been using the 2.5 meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory, in New Mexico, to scout the skies and create a new map of our galaxy, that... [read more >>] Recent astronomical observations seem to point at the fact that the Milky Way, our own galaxy, is currently colliding with a dark, high-velocity cloud of hydrogen gas, known as Smith's Cloud. The formation may be a galaxy in itself, according to the most recent hypothesis, and not a common one. In fact, astronomers believe, the fact that the structure has the mass of about one million Suns seems to point at a single conclusion, namely that it is a dark matter galaxy, a long-proposed clump of the form of matter that can explain how galaxies come together in the skies. The trajectory that the High-Velocity Cloud (HVC) has would seem to ... [read more >>] 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 >>] | 
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