Yes, it's back this month, but not with all the news that I didn't send to the newspaper last month. I didn't have time to include that all this time.
There was something about a new ISS crew, and something about Solar storms and some discoveries. If I have time next month, I'll try to include the most interesting things, but the news will not be really new anymore then ;)
Bram
Science Facts
First Images From Spitzer Space Telescope Unveiled
NASA unveiled the first images from the $670 million Spitzer Space Telescope Thursday, spectacular infrared glimpses of the optically-hidden heart of a distant galaxy, the dusty cradle of an infant solar system and a peek at heretofore unseen stars lurking inside a vast cloud of gas and dust. (Includes video!)
The Space Infrared Telescope Facility has been renamed the Spitzer Space Telescope. It was named in honor of the late Dr. Lyman Spitzer Jr., one of the 20th century's most distinguished scientists. (Includes video!)
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey missions have provided evidence of a recent ice age on Mars. In contrast to Earth's ice ages, a martian ice age waxes when the poles warm up and water vapor is transported toward lower latitudes. Martian ice ages wane when the poles cool and lock water into polar icecaps.
As the Mars Express spacecraft nears the Red Planet, another European Space Agency mission is turning its gaze towards Mars. This recent X-ray image of the planet was taken by the XMM-Newton observatory.
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is the best place in the solar system to study primordial soup -- the stuff from which life emerged. In January 2005, planetary scientists will get a closer look at Titan's version of soup when the European Space Agency's Huygens probe floats to the surface.
Although rings around planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are relatively short-lived, new evidence implies that the recycling of orbiting debris can lengthen the lifetime of such rings, according to University of Colorado researchers.
A Giant Cocoon Discovered Around Massive Young Star
Astronomers have discovered a giant envelope or disk of glowing gas more than half a light year across, illuminated by shockwaves caused by winds travelling at up to 220,000 miles/hour. The disk is orbiting a massive star 20,000 light years from Earth. This is the first time such a disk has been found emitting its own light.
In a survey of distant clusters of galaxies, European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory has found puzzling differences between today's clusters of galaxies and those present in the Universe around seven thousand million years ago. Some scientists claim that this can be interpreted to mean that the 'dark energy' which most astronomers now believe dominates the Universe simply does not exist.
Sunstorm Electron Clouds Surrounding Earth Studied
Using an orbiting camera designed to block the light from the sun and stars, an international team of solar physicists has been able for the first time to directly image clouds of electrons surrounding Earth that travel from the sun during periods of solar flare activity.
The most sensitive and comprehensive ultraviolet image ever taken of the Andromeda Galaxy, our nearest large neighbor galaxy, has been captured by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The image is one of several being released to the public as part of the mission's first collection of pictures.
Earthlike Planets Might Be Common, Model Indicates
Astrobiologists disagree about whether advanced life is common or rare in our universe. But new research suggests that one thing is pretty certain -- if an Earthlike world with significant water is needed for advanced life to evolve, there could be many candidates.
Galaxy Shows Key Evidence For Furious Star Formation
Astronomers have discovered a key signpost of rapid star formation in a galaxy 11 billion light-years from Earth, seen as it was when the Universe was only 20 percent of its current age. Using the Very Large Array radio telescope, the scientists found a huge quantity of dense interstellar gas -- the environment required for active star formation -- at the greatest distance yet detected.
A stricken Japanese Mars probe lost its last chance at success Tuesday, as the deadline for a remedy to its problems came and passed with no solution in sight. Nozomi continues to speed toward a close fly-by of the planet later this week.
Large-scale destruction of magnetic fields in the sun's atmosphere likely powers enormous solar explosions, according to a new observation from NASA's Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft.
Mars may be going through a period of climate change, new findings from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter suggest. "One explanation could be that Mars is just coming out of an ice age," a mission scientist says.
Trail Of Black Holes, Neutron Stars Points To Collision
An image of an elliptical galaxy by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed a trail of black holes and neutron stars stretching more than fifty thousand light years across space. The trail of intense X-ray sources is evidence that this apparently sedate galaxy collided with another galaxy a few billion years ago.
More than a year before Cassini arrives at Saturn, the spacecraft has made the first in situ observations of interstellar pickup ions beyond the orbit of Jupiter. By observing these pickup ions, researchers can better understand the interstellar medium, the low-density gas and dust that fill the space between stars.
Details Of Saturn Become Visible To Cassini Spacecraft
One year since last sighting Saturn, and less than eight months before reaching the planet, the cameras on NASA's Cassini spacecraft have caught another glimpse of the ringed planet, growing more detailed with time. The image shows details in the rings and atmosphere not seen a year ago, as well as five of Saturn's icy moons.
Europe's Moon-bound SMART-1 spacecraft is now in its 130th orbit high above Earth, in good status and all its functions are performing nominally. As in previous weeks, the spacecraft was operated in electric propulsion mode almost continuously. However, it has experienced three flame-outs.
NASA Scientists Use Radar To Detect Asteroid Force
NASA scientists have for the first time detected a tiny but theoretically important force acting on asteroids by measuring an extremely subtle change in a near-Earth asteroid's orbital path. This force, called the Yarkovsky Effect, is produced by the way an asteroid absorbs energy from the sun and re-radiates it into space as heat. The research will impact how scientists understand and track asteroids in the future.
India's space program has successfully conducted an endurance test for duration of more than 16 minutes on the indigenous cryogenic engine for Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV.
