Space Station Threshold

WeekEnd SkyWatcher's Forecast: July 4 - 6, 2008

Universe Today — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:36:34 GMT

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! If you're enjoying a holiday weekend where you live, then start the fireworks off as we begin by remembering Deep Impact and journey towards a nearby star approaching the supernova phase. As things heat up towards one of the most spectacular conjunctions of the year, we'll also take a look at [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

Giant Jupiter Shines Bright

SPACE.com — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:04:04 GMT

Natural Hazards: Activity on Mount Etna

NASA's Earth Observatory — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:32:41 GMT

Theory of Relativity Passes Another Test

Universe Today — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:57:29 GMT

Einstein's theory of General Relativity has been around for 93 years, and it just keeps hanging in there. With advances in technology has come the ability to put the theory under some scrutiny. Recently, taking advantage of a unique cosmic coincidence, as well as a pretty darn good telescope, astronomers looked at [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

MESSENGER Provides New Insights on Mercury

Universe Today — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:49:56 GMT

Data from the MESSENGER spacecraft's first flyby of Mercury in January of 2008 are now turning into science results. Several scientists discussed their findings at a press conference today highlighting the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission, the first spacecraft to visit Mercury since NASA's Mariner 10 made three flyby passes [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

International Group Studies Mars Sample Return Mission

Universe Today — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:50:54 GMT

Until humans can actually set foot on the Red Planet, the next best thing would be a sample return mission, to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth. A sample return would exponentially increase our knowledge and understanding Mars and its environment. And in order to pull off a mission of this magnitude, [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

Explosive Spacewalk?

Universe Today — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:38:25 GMT

Explosive bolts that help detach the Russian Soyuz capsule from the International Space Station may be the source of the problems the spacecraft has encountered during the last two landings. Investigative space journalist and Jim Oberg at MSNBC, who is one of the best experts on the inner workings of the Russian space [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

Volcanoes on Mercury Solve 30-year Mystery

SPACE.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:03:04 GMT

Mars Lander's Next Bake Test Could Be Its Last

SPACE.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:03:04 GMT

Adopt a Scientist

SPACE.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:03:01 GMT

Strange Asteroid Shapes Explained

SPACE.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:03:01 GMT

Next TEGA "Bake" Could Be Last for Phoenix

Universe Today — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:46:49 GMT

The "vibrating" done to get the first Mars arctic soil sample into Phoenix's TEGA (Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer) oven may have caused a short circuit that could happen again the next time the oven is used, perhaps with fatal results. A team of engineers and scientists assembled to assess TEGA after a short circuit [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

Where In The Universe Challenge #10

Universe Today — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:29:39 GMT

I've been enjoying a few lazy days of summer relaxing by a lake. The weather has been perfect, the lake is clear and warm, the food and drinks plentiful; a perfect vacation. But I finally realized (late in the day) today is Wednesday, and its time for another "Where In The Universe" challenge. [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

GLAST Powers Up

Universe Today — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:51:36 GMT

The GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) spacecraft blasted off on June 11, 2008, and after acclimating to the cold reaches of space, the instruments on board are now powering up and have sent back signals to Earth indicating that all systems are operational. Meanwhile back on Earth, several bases of operations for [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

Natural Hazards: Fires in Central Canada

NASA's Earth Observatory — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:01:55 GMT

STEREO Maps Far Reaches of Solar System

Universe Today — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:36:59 GMT

NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft have been studying the sun since their launch in 2006. But the mission made a surprising and unexpected discovery by detecting particles from the edge of the solar system, and for the first time, scientists have now been able to map the region where the hot solar wind meets up [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

Natural Hazards: Melt Season along the Greenland West Coast

NASA's Earth Observatory — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:53:47 GMT

Gamma-Ray Hunter Powers Up

SPACE.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:02:05 GMT

The Road to Spaceport America

SPACE.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:02:00 GMT

Voyager Spacecraft Reveals Solar System Edge

SPACE.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:02:02 GMT

2 Men Charged in Killing of NASA Engineer, 3 Others

SPACE.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:02:02 GMT

Physics and Fitness Meld for Space Tourist, NFL Player

SPACE.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:02:00 GMT

Proposed Mission Could Study Space-Time Around Black Holes

Universe Today — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:57:12 GMT

What do black holes, magnetars and supernovae have in common? They all emit X-rays. But it's difficult, if not impossible to study certain aspects of the X-ray emissions from these powerful objects. And there's much we don't understand about how black holes distort space-time around them, or how magnetars affect their [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

"Almost Perfect" Samples are Scraped From Mars Surface For Analysis

Universe Today — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:59:50 GMT

With the Phoenix Mars lander in full science-operation-swing, the robotic arm has just scraped an "almost perfect" mix of regolith and water ice for its next analysis. Using a blade on the scoop, the robotic arm carried out 50 scraping actions across the bottom of the enlarged "Snow White" trench that was excavated on June [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

Canada to build World's First Asteroid-hunting Satellite

Universe Today — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:27:32 GMT

Just yesterday (June 30th) was the 100-year anniversary of the Tunguska event, when a small piece of ice or rock created a huge blast crater near the Podkammenaya Tungus river in Siberia, flattening trees and scaring the heck out of people in the surrounding area. Thankfully, the blast didn't happen in a populated area and [...] Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)