Space
- Jupiter: Europa's Ocean Could Have Earth-Like Chemical Balance, Even Without Volcanic Hydrothermal Activity
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One belief is that Jupiter's moon Europa has a deep, hidden ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell. Whether the Jovian moon has the raw materials and chemical energy in the right proportions to support biology is a topic of speculation and ...
Article - News Staff - May 18 2016 - 7:30am
- Case For Moon: Humanity's Gateway To Solar System Exploration, Open Ended, Planetary Protection At Its Heart
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I'll be on David Livingston's the Space Show this Friday, 27th May, to talk about my new "Case for Moon". It's main themes are: first, the Moon as our natural first destination in the solar system. Then, planetary protection and b ...
Article - Robert Walker - May 29 2016 - 7:38am
- The Universe Is Expanding Even Faster Than Believed
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Astronomers have used Hubble to measure the distances to stars in nineteen galaxies more accurately than previously possible. They found that the Universe is currently expanding faster than the rate derived from measurements of the Universe shortly after ...
Article - News Staff - Jun 5 2016 - 9:54am
- Light Pollution Means Milky Way Hidden From One-third Of Humanity
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When anti-science activists set out to drive astronomy from the state of Arizona by trumping up an environmental hazard, they were failing to prevent a problem that would creep across many places that don't want space science in their neighborhood- l ...
Article - News Staff - Jun 12 2016 - 1:46pm
- Extreme Trans-Neptunian Objects May Lead The Way To Planet Nine- Or 10
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In the race towards the discovery of another planet in our solar system, the ninth or tenth depending on how seriously you take the 2 percent of astronomers who demoted Pluto, scientists are striving to calculate its potential orbit using the tracks left ...
Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2016 - 11:47am
- Chirality In Space: Prebiotic Molecule Detected In Interstellar Cloud
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Chiral molecules, compounds that come in otherwise identical mirror image variations, like a pair of human hands--are crucial to life as we know it. Living things are selective about which "handedness" of a molecule they use or produce. For exam ...
Article - News Staff - Jun 15 2016 - 10:54am
- Creating Venus: 'Electric Wind' Can Strip Planets Of Oceans And Atmospheres
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Venus has an "electric wind" strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere, which may have played a significant role in stripping Earth's twin planet of its oceans, according to new results from ESA's Venus ...
Article - News Staff - Jun 22 2016 - 7:30am
- Tidal Disruption Event: Black Hole Eats Star, Beams Signal To Earth
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Roughly 90 percent of the biggest black holes are dormant, meaning that they are not actively devouring matter and therefore not giving off any light or other radiation. Yet dormant is not dead, so when a star wanders too close, the ensuing feeding frenzy ...
Article - News Staff - Jun 24 2016 - 12:53pm
- Bewildering Dune Formation On Mars
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Researchers have discovered a type of dune on Mars intermediate in size between tiny ripples and wavier dunes, and unlike anything seen on Earth. Because dunes can be preserved in rock over time, these mysterious sedimentary deposits may represent a way t ...
Article - News Staff - Jul 1 2016 - 10:31am
- Life On Venus? Greenhouse Earth? It Could Have Happened
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If conditions had been just a little different an eon ago, there might be plentiful life on Venus and none on Earth. In Astrobiology, researchers note that minor evolutionary changes could have altered the fates of both Earth and Venus in ways that scient ...
Article - News Staff - Jul 6 2016 - 7:05am