News tagged with planetary orbit

NASA GRAIL returns first student-selected moon images

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of two NASA spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed back the first student-requested pictures of the lunar surface from its onboard camera. Fourth grade students from the Emily Dickinson ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

The origin of the moon's craters

(PhysOrg.com) -- Moon's craters, together with samples of the surface returned during the Apollo program, tell the story of impacts from two different populations of small bodies. The first rocky collection ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 19, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Neptune on tiptoes

(PhysOrg.com) -- The formation and development of the solar system, long a topic of study for philosophers and scientists, is today often used as a case study for the formation and development of planetary ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | 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

Can Earth-sized planets survive their star's expansion?

Two Earth-sized planets have been discovered circling a dying star that has passed the red giant stage. Because of their close orbits, the planets must have been engulfed by their star while it swelled up ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Chance of Russia Mars probe rescue 'very small'

The chances of rescuing a Russian probe that is stuck in an Earth orbit after failing to set out on its planned mission for Mars are very small, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 11, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 33

Mission to mysterious Uranus

Scientists want to send an orbiter and probe to the ice giant planet Uranus, but do the resources exist to support such an ambitious project?

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 22

MESSENGER results after six months in orbit

(PhysOrg.com) -- MESSENGER scientists will highlight the latest results on Mercury from MESSENGER observations obtained during the first six months (the first Mercury solar day) in orbit. These findings will ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Spinning hourglass object may be the first of many to be discovered in the Kuiper belt

(PhysOrg.com) -- The bizarre, hourglass-shaped Kuiper belt object 2001QG298 spins round like a propeller as it orbits the Sun, according to an astronomer from Queens University Belfast. The discovery that ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 03, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (10) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Interstellar crashes could throw out habitable planets

(PhysOrg.com) -- Our solar system, where planets have a range of sizes and move in near-circular paths, may be rather unusual, according to a German-British team led by Professor Pavel Kroupa of the University ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 18, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

NASA's Juno to circle Jupiter for 'planetary recipe'

The US space agency plans to launch next week a solar-powered spacecraft called Juno that will journey to the gassy planet of Jupiter in search of how the huge, stormy giant was formed.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 30, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1

Setting his sights on Mars

(PhysOrg.com) -- Alfred McEwen, professor of planetary science at the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and principal investigator of the largest imaging campaign ever launched to another planet, has been ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

NASA details achievements of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

NASA has declared full mission success for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). As a result of the mission, LRO has changed our view of the entire moon and brought it into sharper focus with unprecedented ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3

Kepler's astounding haul of multiple-planet systems

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler spacecraft is proving itself to be a prolific planet hunter. Within just the first four months of data, astronomers have found evidence for more than 1,200 planetary candidates. ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 24, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 36 | with audio podcast

Flipping hot Jupiters: Why some planets orbit the wrong way

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the last few years astronomers have observed that in some extrasolar systems the star is spinning one way and the planet, a "hot Jupiter," is orbiting the star in the opposite direction. ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 11, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (10) | comments 23 | with audio podcast