outer space

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NASA Releases Explosive Sun Shots

Historic images reveal high-def surface, flares

(Newser) - NASA has released astounding new photos and videos of the sun for the first time revealing high definition, close-up views of the solar surface and exploding flares. The images were captured by the space telescope of the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and are providing historic new insight into sun mechanics, notes...

Man Finds Likely Meteor Fragment

Probably came from asteroid belt between Mars, Jupiter

(Newser) - Scientists say an apparent fragment from a meteor that lit up skies over the US Midwest this week has been recovered in southwestern Wisconsin. The fragment weighs 0.3 pounds and is about the size of an unshelled peanut. The meteor had streaked across the sky about 10pm Wednesday and...

What Was That Giant Fireball Over Midwest?

Blast lights up sky in several states

(Newser) - Scientists are scratching their heads after a giant fireball lit up the midwestern sky, then vanished. The fireball rattled homes and shook the earth as it streaked across the sky and apparently triggered a sonic boom. Scientists speculate the phenomenon, that also lit up police station phone lines, was a...

Obama Says of the Moon: Been There, Done That

There's a lot more out there to explore, he says

(Newser) - President Obama insisted today that he's "100% committed" to NASA and future space missions. But the moon is old news, and it's time to think bigger. "We've been there before," he said at Kennedy Space Center, unswayed by critics who say his vision will bring an end...

NY Prof Urges UFO Degree
 NY Prof Urges UFO Degree 
Apr 14, 2010 2:40 AM CDT

NY Prof Urges UFO Degree

'Millions' of sightings require serious research

(Newser) - An American professor believes it's high time universities seriously study UFO sightings. "Millions" of sightings are reported each year, noted anthropology professor Philip Hasely. "It’s about time we looked into this as a worthy area of study," he tells the Buffalo News . "It's important that...

Solar Sail to Clean Up Space Junk

'CubeSail' designed to drag orbiting debris to fiery reentry

(Newser) - British scientists have devised a way to get rid of some of the 5,000-plus tons of space trash orbiting the earth and endangering satellites and astronauts. The team's CubeSail—a plastic sail utilizing high atmospheric gases and solar radiation—is designed to drag dead rockets and satellites out of...

Man Snaps Stunning Space Photos Using Balloon, Duct Tape
 Man Snaps Stunning 
 Space Photos Using 
 Balloon, Duct Tape 
in case you missed it
Mar 27, 2010 8:16 PM CDT

Man Snaps Stunning Space Photos Using Balloon, Duct Tape

Balloon/camera contraption cost Robert Harrison just $750

(Newser) - Armed with a few hundred dollars and a dream, a British man has come up with a way to take photos of the earth from space that would make NASA proud—and have. “A guy phoned up who worked for NASA. He wanted to know how the hell we...

Hubble Spots Mysterious 'Flying X'

The lead investigators thinks it's the result of an asteroid collision

(Newser) - An object captured on film by the Hubble telescope has astronomers scratching their heads. The body, named P/2010 A2 after it was discovered in early January, shares comet-like traits, but the head is x-shaped and seems to be disconnected from its tail, reports the New York Daily News .

As Analog Dies, Earth Falls Silent
 As Analog Dies, 
 Earth Falls Silent 
THEY CAN'T HEAR US
Jan 26, 2010 8:51 AM CST

As Analog Dies, Earth Falls Silent

Our digital chatter makes us invisible to alien life forms, scientist says

(Newser) - Mankind's odds of being discovered by aliens are plummeting as digital chatter makes Earth all but invisible from space. Whereas old-fashioned analog signals spread millions of miles into space, digital signals stay put. As we move toward the latter, says space expert Frank Drake, Earth becomes harder to find.

Top Scientists Set Sights on Aliens

London conference sussing out ETs

(Newser) - ET, phone London. That's where top scientists are meeting this week to discuss the existence of alien life, possibly even on our own planet. The search for aliens should focus not on outer space, but on earth, Arizona State University physicist Paul Davies will argue in a presentation to his...

'Ocean of Diamond' May Shimmer on Neptune, Uranus

Molten diamond experiment suggests that liquid space bling abounds

(Newser) - Vast oceans of liquid diamond with icebergs of solid diamond floating on the surface may exist on Uranus and Neptune. Scientists melting diamonds—which requires incredibly high pressure as well as temperatures—were surprised to discover that it behaves much like water in its molten state and believe that could...

Astronomers Find Watery Planet

Probably can't support life, but it's the closest find yet

(Newser) - Astronomers have found a planet made mostly of water, coming ever closer to finding something out there that could theoretically support life. This one, dubbed GJ 1214b, probably isn't it—it's way too hot and surrounded by superheated gases. But it's "the most watertight evidence so far for a...

NASA Launches Telescope to Detect Space Threats

WISE infrared telescope will scan whole sky for hazardous objects

(Newser) - NASA today launched the first orbiting telescope since 1983 designed to search the entire sky for objects and phenomena invisible to conventional optics. Over the next nine months, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer will scan the whole sky one and a half times over looking for asteroids and comets that...

NASA Will Try to Free Rover Stuck on Mars

Spirit has been in a sand trap since April

(Newser) - Help is on the way, rover. NASA will attempt to free the Mars rover Spirit from its sand-trap prison on Monday. The plucky machine got stuck in April—“the equivalent of falling through the ice over a frozen pond," says a NASA official. Spirit has been exploring Mars...

ET, Phone Rome: Vatican Holds Alien Conference

Astrobiology experts ponder big picture

(Newser) - Does intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe and if so, is it Christian? Those and other weighty questions are up for discussion this week at a Vatican conference on astrobiology. Religious leaders and a range of scientists—including some non-Catholics—have been called in to discuss the possibility of...

Ares Test Rocket Blasts Off

Possible space shuttle replacement launches after long delay

(Newser) - NASA’s Ares I-X test rocket finally blasted off this morning, after several delays and a storm-foiled first attempt. The $445 million rocket is the first of its kind, and NASA hopes it’ll eventually replace the space shuttle and take astronauts to the moon. Originally it was supposed to...

Mammoth Ring Found Around Saturn

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a colossal ring around Saturn, the biggest planetary ring yet found. It's enormous even by solar system standards: Among the analogies being used to make it clear to our little earthly minds is that it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it. "This thing is...

Orbiting Telescope Snaps Delicious Pics of Milky Way

Herschel captures whirling gas, dust, star in chaotic galaxy

(Newser) - Stunningly detailed images of our Milky Way galaxy showing whirling clouds of gas peppered with stars have been captured by Europe's $1.4 billion orbiting Herschel Space Observatory. Herschel has the largest mirror ever placed on an orbiting telescope and is able to capture images beyond the reach of other...

MIT Students Snap Space Pics on the Cheap

'Project Icarus' sends camera to the stratosphere for under $150

(Newser) - A trio of MIT students managed to take photographs from the edge of space for less than $150, the Guardian reports. The students sent a digital camera and a GPS-equipped mobile phone in a coolbox into the stratosphere by attaching the kit to a helium balloon. They retrieved the photos...

Scientists Find Rocky Exoplanet
 Scientists Find Rocky Exoplanet 
Sep 16, 2009 12:33 PM CDT

Scientists Find Rocky Exoplanet

(Newser) - Scientists have at long last discovered a rocky world outside of our solar system, Wired reports. Dubbed COROT-7b (it circles the star COROT-7), the planet has a density similar to Earth’s, said researchers, who believe our greatest chance of finding extraterrestrial life is on a rocky planet with such...

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