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Astronomy News

Your online destination for news articles on planets, cosmology, NASA, space missions, and more. You’ll also find information on how to observe upcoming visible sky events such as meteor showers, solar and lunar eclipses, key planetary appearances, comets, and asteroids.

May 2009
Big Bear Solar Observatory
The New Jersey Institute of Technology's 1.6-meter instrument will be used in conjunction with NASA satellites to optimize the scientific output of Sun observations.
Provided by the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark
Published: May 29, 2009
Exoplanet VB 10b
Astrometry helps astronomers find a Jupiter-like exoplanet 20 light-years away in the constellation Aquila.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: May 29, 2009
Cosmic ghost
This is the first X-ray ghost ever seen after the demise of radio-bright jets.
Provided by the Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Published: May 28, 2009
VLA
Astronomers discover Radio Supernova SN 2008iz in the nearby starburst galaxy M82
Provided by the Max Planck Institute, Garching, Germany
Published: May 28, 2009
Suyoz spacecraft launches for ISS
The addition of the three-member team will mark the first time all five partner agencies are represented aboard the space lab.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 27, 2009
XXM-Newton supermassive black hole illustration
Observations of iron emissions reveal that the black hole is spinning very rapidly and eating matter quickly.
Provided by ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Published: May 27, 2009
Space shuttle Atlantis lands after Hubble mission
Weather concerns at Kennedy Space Center in Florida forced Atlantis to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 26, 2009
Very Large Telescope's X-shooter instrument
The Very Large Telescope's X-shooter can capture data from a source whose nature and energy distribution are not known in advance of the observation.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: May 26, 2009
Opportunity's view at Victoria Crater
The rover revealed the effects of wind and water. The data show water repeatedly came and left billions of years ago. Wind persisted much longer, heaping sand into dunes between ancient water episodes.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 22, 2009
LRO/LCROSS stacked and ready for encapsulation
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's instruments will allow scientists to explore the Moon's deepest craters, look beneath its surface for clues to the location of water ice, and identify and explore both permanently lit and permanently shadowed regions.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 22, 2009
Asteroid bombardment
Impacts could have created subsurface habitats for life, such as extensive networks of cracks or even hydrothermal vents.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 21, 2009
Atlantis crew
NASA flight directors will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center before permitting Atlantis and its crew to land .
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 21, 2009
Neutron star with companion star
The neutron star's companion has less than half the Sun's mass, and orbits the neutron star once every 4.75 hours .
Provided by NRAO, Socorro, New Mexico
Published: May 21, 2009
Ares I parachute test
The parachutes — the largest rocket parachutes ever manufactured — are designed to slow the rapid descent of the rocket's spent first-stage motor, permitting its recovery for use on future flights.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 20, 2009
Planetary nebulae
Astronomers have probed the edge of M87 for the first time, and they found it to be about three times as large as our own Milky Way.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: May 20, 2009
Mars Rover Spirit
Weeks of testing are anticipated before any attempt is made to move Spirit.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: May 19, 2009
SuperNova Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS)
A simple new method standardizes the brightness of Type Ia supernovae.
Provided by the Lawrence Berekeley Lab, Berkeley, California
Published: May 19, 2009
Fifth spacewalk of Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission
Mission specialists John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel will finish replacing the telescope's battery and also replace one of the instrument's guidance sensors during the 6-hour project.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 18, 2009
Spitzer Space Telescope
Scientists and engineers will recalibrate the telescope.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: May 18, 2009
Atlantis 2nd walk
The spacewalkers will remove the rate sensor units.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 15, 2009
Kepler
The spacecraft will search for planets by looking for periodic dips in the brightness of stars.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: May 15, 2009
Atlantis spacewalk
Mission specialists will install a new wide-field camera for the Hubble Space Telescope.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 14, 2009
Ariane 5
These two large observatories will look deep into space and time.
Published: May 14, 2009
Sun-like star
Observations show the production of crystalline silicates like those found in comets and meteorites in our own solar system.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 13, 2009
Hubble Space Telescope
The astronauts will refurbish, restore, and renew the space telescope.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 13, 2009
Mars Exploration Rover
Scientists are proceeding methodically and cautiously with the Mars rover.
Provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Published: May 12, 2009
Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off
STS-125 will be the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 11, 2009
SIDECAR ASIC
The upgrade will condense an entire circuit board's worth of electronics into a small package.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: May 8, 2009
Hubble repair mission facts
NASA astronauts will repair and update the venerable space observatory for the final time.
By Daniel Pendick
Published: May 7, 2009
NGC 3021
With the Hubble Space Telescope's powerful capabilities, the team was able to sidestep some of the shakiest rungs along the previous distance ladder involving uncertainties in the behavior of Cepheids.
Provided by STScI, Baltimore, Maryland
Published: May 7, 2009
Spitzer Space Telescope
Temperature rise means two of Spitzer's instruments will no longer be cold enough to detect cool objects in space.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 6, 2009
Two ALMA antennas
Such pairs of antennas are the building blocks of imaging systems that enable radio telescopes to deliver pictures that approach or even exceed the resolving power of visible light telescopes.
Provided by ESO, Garching, Germany
Published: May 6, 2009
Herschel / Planck
The Herschel observatory has the ability to peek into the dustiest and earliest stages of planet, star, and galaxy growth. Planck will answer fundamental questions about how the universe came to be, and how it will change in the future.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 5, 2009
Fermi Very Large Telescope
Astronomers believe the highest-energy cosmic rays arise from exotic places within our galaxy, such as the wreckage of exploded stars.
Provided by Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Published: May 4, 2009
Mercury high-resolution color images
Discovery of the impact basin, Rembrandt, is the first time scientists have seen terrain well-exposed on the floor of a large impact basin.
Provided by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Published: May 1, 2009
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