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. (Phys.org) —Scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a valuable tool for learning more about one of the most Earth-like and interesting worlds in the solar system. The map was just published as part of a paper in the journal Icarus. http://phys.org/news287857267.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 May 2013 17:21:32 EST news287857267 On the night of April 24 and the morning of April 25, 2013, the sun erupted with two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar phenomena that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space that can affect electronic systems in satellites. http://phys.org/news286117174.html Space & Earth Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:59:53 EST news286117174 A fine apparition of the planet Mercury graces the dawn skies this week, leading up to its greatest elongation from the Sun for 2013. http://phys.org/news283513271.html Space & Earth Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:41:18 EST news283513271 NASA has selected key contributions to a 2022 European Space Agency (ESA) mission that will study Jupiter and three of its largest moons in unprecedented detail. The moons are thought to harbor vast water oceans beneath their icy surfaces. http://phys.org/news280744281.html Space & Earth Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:31:28 EST news280744281 The history of astronomy is littered with astronomical objects in the solar system that have fallen to the wayside. These include fleeting sightings of Venusian moons, inter-mercurial planets, and even secondary moons of the Earth. http://phys.org/news279448151.html Space & Earth Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:29:21 EST news279448151 A recent image acquired by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft shows the interior of Eminescu, a youngish 130-km (80 mile) wide crater just north of Mercury's equator. Eminescu made science headlines last year with MESSENGER's discovery of curious eroded blotches called "hollows" scattered across its interior and surrounding its central peak, and now it looks like the spacecraft may have spotted some of these strange features in their earliest stages of formation along the inner edge of the crater's rim. http://phys.org/news275217249.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:14:16 EST news275217249 Thanks to NASA's Cassini spacecraft which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, scientists have been able to observe for the first time ever the seasonal atmospheric circulation direction change on Titan – an event which only happens once every 15 years and is never observable from Earth. Their findings are published today in Nature. http://phys.org/news273327277.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:18 EST news273327277 (Phys.org)—Humanity has landed a rover on Mars. Now, say scientists, it's time to land a boat on Titan. This outlandish scenario could become reality, according to engineers presenting their proposals at the European Planetary Science Congress on 27 September. http://phys.org/news268049283.html Space & Earth Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:08:14 EST news268049283 (PhysOrg.com) -- On March 17, the tiny MESSENGER spacecraft completed its primary mission to orbit and observe the planet Mercury for one Earth-year. The bounty of surprises from the mission has completely altered our understanding of the solar system's innermost planet. As reported in one of two papers published today on Science Express, scientists have found that Mercury's core, already suspected to occupy a greater fraction of the planet's interior than do the cores of Earth, Venus, or Mars, is even larger than anticipated. The companion paper shows that the elevation ranges on Mercury are much smaller than on Mars or the Moon and documents evidence that there have been large-scale changes to Mercury's topography since the earliest phases of the planet's geological history. http://phys.org/news251548735.html Space & Earth Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:39:10 EST news251548735 (PhysOrg.com) -- A group of scientists from Hawaii, Brazil and California has measured the diameter of the Sun with unprecedented accuracy by using a spacecraft to time the transits of the planet Mercury across the face of the Sun in 2003 and 2006. http://phys.org/news251532797.html Space & Earth Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:13:30 EST news251532797 (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 to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun. http://phys.org/news243610019.html Space & Earth Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:27:13 EST news243610019 Scientists from Boston University's Center for Space Physics reported today that NASA satellites designed to view the escaping atmosphere of the Sun have also recorded evidence of escaping gas from the planet Mercury. The STEREO mission has two satellites placed in the same orbit around the Sun that the Earth has, but at locations ahead and behind it. This configuration offers multi-directional views of the electrons and ions that make up the escaping solar wind. On occasion, the planet Mercury appears in the field of view of one or both satellites. http://phys.org/news204362442.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:20:58 EST news204362442 (PhysOrg.com) -- About a month and a half after its last double flyby, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be turning another double play this week, visiting the geyser moon Enceladus and the hazy moon Titan. The alignment of the moons means that Cassini can catch glimpses of these two contrasting worlds within less than 48 hours, with no maneuver in between. http://phys.org/news193420973.html Space & Earth Tue, 18 May 2010 17:40:03 EST news193420973 (PhysOrg.com) -- For observers at mid-northern latitudes, Mercury will make its best evening appearance of the year during the first half of April. During those two weeks, the elusive planet will be at least 10 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon a half-hour after sunset, lingering there until the end of twilight. It will fade considerably during that period, however, so binoculars may be needed to see it by midmonth. On April 8, Mercury will reach its greatest elongation from the sun. http://phys.org/news189786408.html Space & Earth Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:27:30 EST news189786408 The MESSENGER spacecraft's third flyby of the planet Mercury has given scientists, for the first time, an almost complete view of the planet's surface and revealed some dramatic changes in Mercury's comet-like tail. http://phys.org/news176575356.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:43:05 EST news176575356 By travelling to the outer solar system, the two Voyager spacecraft allowed us to see amazing details of far-distant planets and moons. http://phys.org/news176412079.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:22:16 EST news176412079 (PhysOrg.com) -- Boston University astronomers announced today observations of a cloud of sodium gas ejected from the Moon’s surface as a result of the NASA impact experiment that was part of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission (LCROSS). Jeffrey Baumgardner and Jody Wilson, senior research associates in the Center for Space Physics (CSP), conducted the observations from BU’s observing facility housed on the grounds of the McDonald Observatory in Ft. Davis, Texas. http://phys.org/news174582461.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:08:09 EST news174582461 Shortly before 5:55 p.m. EDT, MESSENGER skimmed 228 kilometers (141 miles) above the surface of Mercury in its third and final flyby of the planet. http://phys.org/news173555074.html Space & Earth Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:45:03 EST news173555074 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft will fly past the planet Mercury on Sept. 29, and a free online simulator created by staff at Montana State University's Burns Technology Center helps explain how the spacecraft uses gravity to alter its path. http://phys.org/news172776324.html Space & Earth Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:25:53 EST news172776324 Saturn's haze-enshrouded moon Titan turns out to have much in common with Earth in the way that weather and geology shape its terrain, according to two pieces of research to be presented at the XXVII General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Wind, rain, volcanoes, tectonics and other Earth-like processes all sculpt features on Titan's complex and varied surface in an environment more than 100 C colder on average than Antarctica. http://phys.org/news168791012.html Space & Earth Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:10:02 EST news168791012