http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Radar imaging at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar on June 12 and 14, 2009, revealed that near-Earth asteroid 1994 CC is a triple system. Asteroid 1994 CC encountered Earth within 2.52 million kilometers (1.56 million miles) on June 10. http://phys.org/news168801668.html Space & Earth Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:00:01 EST news168801668 When NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) leaves Earth in November 2009 onboard an Atlas V rocket, the thunderous launch will trigger an avalanche. http://phys.org/news168796053.html Space & Earth Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:01 EST news168796053 (PhysOrg.com) -- The new image, showing a very rich field of stars towards the Carina arm of the Milky Way, is centred on the star HD 87643, a member of the exotic class of B[e] stars [1]. It is part of a set of observations that provide astronomers with the best ever picture of a B[e] star. http://phys.org/news168689716.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:15:44 EST news168689716 (PhysOrg.com) -- Betelgeuse -- the second brightest star in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter) -- is a red supergiant, one of the biggest stars known, and almost 1000 times larger than our Sun. It is also one of the most luminous stars known, emitting more light than 100 000 Suns. Such extreme properties foretell the demise of a short-lived stellar king. With an age of only a few million years, Betelgeuse is already nearing the end of its life and is soon doomed to explode as a supernova. When it does, the supernova should be seen easily from Earth, even in broad daylight. http://phys.org/news168073732.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:10:17 EST news168073732 Ten years ago, on July 23, 1999, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched aboard the space shuttle Columbia and deployed into orbit. Chandra has doubled its original five-year mission, ushering in an unprecedented decade of discovery for the high-energy universe. http://phys.org/news167563042.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:17:57 EST news167563042 (AP) -- Hawaii was chosen Tuesday as the site for the world's biggest telescope, a device so powerful that it will allow scientists to see some 13 billion light years away and get a glimpse into the early years of the universe. http://phys.org/news167459977.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:40:01 EST news167459977 NASA and Northrop Grumman are keeping a "trained eye" on the James Webb Space Telescope, by training their engineers on how to handle and assemble the telescope's Optical Telescope Element (OTE), also known as the "eye" of the telescope. http://phys.org/news167314370.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:30:06 EST news167314370 (PhysOrg.com) -- A NASA panel that investigated the unsuccessful Feb. 24 launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO, has completed its report. http://phys.org/news167053792.html Space & Earth Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:10:01 EST news167053792 NASA's upcoming mission to study the sun in unprecedented detail and its effects on Earth, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. on July 9. http://phys.org/news166445789.html Space & Earth Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:57:53 EST news166445789 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new class of pulsars detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is solving the mystery of previously unidentified gamma-ray sources and helping scientists understand the mechanisms behind pulsar emissions. http://phys.org/news165763241.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:21:48 EST news165763241 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Herschel Space Observatory has snapped its first picture since blasting into space on May 14, 2009. The mission, led by the European Space Agency with important participation from NASA, will use infrared light to explore our cosmic roots, addressing questions of how stars and galaxies are born. http://phys.org/news165511407.html Space & Earth Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:24:01 EST news165511407 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, researchers have observed a singular cosmic act of rebirth: the transformation of an ordinary, slow-rotating pulsar into a superfast millisecond pulsar with an almost infinitely extended lifespan. http://phys.org/news162134312.html Space & Earth Thu, 21 May 2009 14:19:34 EST news162134312 NJIT's new 1.6-meter clear aperture solar telescope—the largest of its kind in the world—is now operational. The unveiling of this remarkable instrument—said to be the pathfinder for all future, large ground-based telescopes—could not have come at a more auspicious moment for science. This year marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope that he used to demonstrate that sunspots are indeed on the Sun. http://phys.org/news161972205.html Space & Earth Tue, 19 May 2009 17:17:14 EST news161972205 The Whole Earth Telescope (WET), a worldwide network of observatories coordinated by the University of Delaware, is synchronizing its lenses to provide round-the-clock coverage of a cooling star. As the star dims in the twilight of its life, scientists hope it will shed light on the workings of our own planet and other mysteries of the galaxy. http://phys.org/news161629628.html Space & Earth Fri, 15 May 2009 18:07:38 EST news161629628 (AP) -- Spacewalking astronauts had to put a refurbished pair of gyroscopes into the Hubble Space Telescope after a brand new set refused to go in Friday, but scientists were satisfied nonetheless and confident the observatory would point precisely to ever more distant objects in the cosmos. http://phys.org/news161629096.html Space & Earth Fri, 15 May 2009 17:58:36 EST news161629096 (AP) -- A pair of spacewalking astronauts overpowered a stubborn bolt and successfully installed a new piano-sized camera in the Hubble Space Telescope on Thursday, the first step to making the observatory better than ever. http://phys.org/news161526656.html Space & Earth Thu, 14 May 2009 13:31:27 EST news161526656 Away from sunlight it can get very cold in space, but not cold enough for the Herschel and Planck missions, which ESA and European industry have equipped with state-of-the-art refrigeration systems to make the detectors of the two spacecraft among the coldest objects in the cosmos for the duration of their missions. http://phys.org/news161269905.html Space & Earth Mon, 11 May 2009 14:12:26 EST news161269905 On 30 April, the team observed the first "interferometric fringes" of an astronomical source by linking two 12-metre diameter ALMA antennas, together with the other critical parts of the system. Mars was chosen as a suitable target for the observations, which demonstrate ALMA's full hardware functionality and connectivity. This important milestone was achieved at the ALMA Operations Support Facility, high in Chile's Atacama region, at an altitude of 2900 metres. http://phys.org/news160830221.html Space & Earth Wed, 06 May 2009 12:04:42 EST news160830221 The SETI@home project, which has involved the worldwide public in a search for radio-wave evidence of life outside Earth, marks its 10th anniversary on May 17, 2009. http://phys.org/news160402800.html Space & Earth Fri, 01 May 2009 13:20:54 EST news160402800 Many of the organic molecules that make up life on Earth have also been found in space. A University of Michigan astronomer will use the Herschel Space Observatory to study these chemical compounds in new detail in the warm clouds of gas and dust around young stars. http://phys.org/news160277292.html Space & Earth Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:28:38 EST news160277292 A montage of comet images made using NASA's Swift spacecraft illustrates just how different three comets can be. The images, including a never-released image of Comet 8P/Tuttle, were shown during a webcast called "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" Organized by the European Southern Observatory headquartered in Garching, Germany. http://phys.org/news159812197.html Space & Earth Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:18:42 EST news159812197 The gamma-ray sky comes alive in a movie made from data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope during its first three months of operations. Gamma rays from sources near and far turn the sky into a hypnotic froth. The sun arcs serenely across the northern sky as active galaxies called blazars flare up and fade out. http://phys.org/news159812078.html Space & Earth Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:15:44 EST news159812078 (PhysOrg.com) -- About two weeks ago, Herschel was weighed to record its dry mass before the satellite was fuelled with 256 kg of liquid hydrazine. After switching it on to confirm normal function, engineers integrated the fuelled satellite with the Ariane 5 adapter. http://phys.org/news159632933.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:29:13 EST news159632933 The most crowded collision of galaxy clusters has been identified by combining information from three different telescopes. This result gives scientists a chance to learn what happens when some of the largest objects in the Universe go at each other in a cosmic free-for-all. http://phys.org/news159100327.html Space & Earth Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:32:30 EST news159100327 The cameras watch her every move. Thousands of strangers want to be her friend, and thousands more follow her latest exploits hour by hour on their laptops and cell phones. She's Mount Redoubt, Internet star. http://phys.org/news158942343.html Technology Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:40:08 EST news158942343 Two places on opposite sides of Earth may hold the secret to how the moon was born. NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are about to enter these zones, known as the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points, each centered about 93 million miles away along Earth's orbit. http://phys.org/news158515936.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:15:44 EST news158515936 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers hit the jackpot in late March, when, for the first time, they began recording data on lightning in a volcanic eruption--right from the start of the eruption. http://phys.org/news158430510.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:29:13 EST news158430510 Around the World in 80 Telescopes, part of the International Year of Astronomy's 100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project of global outreach activities, will begin on April 3. Observatories in 15 countries spanning all the continents, as well as 11 observatories in space, will participate in this 24-hour trip to observatories across the globe and in the so-called final frontier. http://phys.org/news157294187.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:50:20 EST news157294187 (AP) -- Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano erupted five times overnight, sending an ash plume more than 9 miles into the air in the volcano's first emissions in nearly 20 years. http://phys.org/news157032733.html Space & Earth Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:12:53 EST news157032733 An international team of astrophysicists, involving several research groups in Spain, has discovered a source of very high energy gamma rays in the region of the distant galaxies 3C 66A and 3C 66B. This new gamma emission, observed from the MAGIC telescope in La Palma (Canary Islands) is not consistent with what scientists expected to find, and has resulted in them suggesting three hypotheses to explain their origin. http://phys.org/news155567370.html Space & Earth Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:10:14 EST news155567370