JPL/NASA

Spitzer sees the light of alien 'super earth'

(Phys.org) -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (18) | comments 16 | with audio podcast

A star explodes, turns inside-out

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new X-ray study of the remains of an exploded star indicates that the supernova that disrupted the massive star may have turned it inside out in the process. Using very long observations ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Spitzer finds solid buckyballs in space

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have, for the first time, discovered buckyballs in a solid form in space. Prior to this discovery, the microscopic carbon spheres ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 22, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (15) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Kepler announces 11 planetary systems hosting 26 planets

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (24) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Chandra finds largest galaxy cluster in early universe

(PhysOrg.com) -- An exceptional galaxy cluster, the largest seen in the distant universe, has been found using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the National Science Foundation-funded Atacama Cosmology ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (9) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

First of NASA's GRAIL spacecraft enters Moon orbit

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first of two NASA spacecraft to study the moon in unprecedented detail has entered lunar orbit.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 01, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (9) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Kepler finds first earth-size planets beyond our solar system

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 20, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (33) | comments 61 | with audio podcast

Opportunity rover finds mineral vein deposited by water

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found bright veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water. Analysis of the vein will help improve understanding of the history of ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Voyager 1 hits new region at solar system edge

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 05, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (37) | comments 118 | with audio podcast

Kepler confirms its first planet in habitable zone of sun-like star

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 05, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (29) | comments 41 | with audio podcast

New study shows very first stars not monstrous

(PhysOrg.com) -- The very first stars in our universe were not the behemoths scientists had once thought, according to new simulations performed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 10, 2011 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (9) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

New 'super-black' material absorbs light across multiple wavelength bands

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA engineers have produced a material that absorbs on average more than 99 percent of the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and far-infrared light that hits it -- a development that promises ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Nov 09, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (10) | comments 32 | with audio podcast

Study of clays suggests watery Mars underground

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new NASA study suggests if life ever existed on Mars, the longest lasting habitats were most likely below the Red Planet's surface.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 02, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 88 | with audio podcast

Telescopes help solve ancient supernova mystery

(PhysOrg.com) -- A mystery that began nearly 2,000 years ago, when Chinese astronomers witnessed what would turn out to be an exploding star in the sky, has been solved. New infrared observations from NASA's ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 24, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (11) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Spitzer detects comet storm in nearby solar system

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected signs of icy bodies raining down in an alien solar system. The downpour resembles our own solar system several billion years ago during a period ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 20, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (9) | comments 12 | with audio podcast