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08 June 2010
The Earth and Moon May Have Formed Later Than Previously Thought
The Earth and Moon were created as the result of a giant collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus. Until now it was thought to have happened when the solar system was 30 million years old or approximately 4.5 billion years ago. But new research shows that the Earth and Moon may [...]
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02 June 2010
Voyager 2 Update from Dr. Ed Stone
In early May 2010, the 33-year-old Voyager 2 spacecraft experienced an anomaly where the data it returned to Earth was unreadable. Engineers diagnosed the problem as a flip of a bit in the memory in the flight data system computer that packages data to transmit back to Earth, and were able to successfully reset the [...]
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24 May 2010
Wild and Crazy Multi-Planetary System Surprises Astronomers
Astronomers are finding that not only are there a wide range of different extrasolar planets, but there are different types of planetary systems, as well. "We're not in Kansas anymore as far as solar systems go," said Barbara McDonald from the University of Texas' McDonald Observatory, at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Miami, [...]
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06 May 2010
NASA Diagnoses Problem With Voyager 2
What could be happening out near the edge of the solar system? The 33-year-old Voyager 2 spacecraft has experienced an anomaly where the data it sends back is unreadable. To try and understand the problem, engineers at JPL have shifted the spacecraft into a mode where it transmits only spacecraft health and status [...]
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24 April 2010
Astronomy Without A Telescope – The Nice Way To Build A Solar System
When considering how the solar system formed, there a number of problems with the idea of planets just blobbing together out of a rotating accretion disk. The Nice model (and OK, it’s pronounced ‘niece’ – as in the French city) offers a better solution.(...)Read the rest of Astronomy Without A Telescope – The Nice Way [...]
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18 April 2010
WORF and Klingons occupy ISS
WORF has finally joined the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). That’s great news for NASA as well as members and fans of the Klingon High Council who are delighted to occupy a prime location for exquisite surveillance of the Earth and Federation activities. WORF is the acronym for the Window [...]
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17 April 2010
Astronomy Without A Telescope – One Potato, Two Potato
Sometimes it’s good to take a break from mind-stretching cosmology models, quantum entanglements or events at 10-23 seconds after the big bang and get back to some astronomy basics. For example, the vexing issue of the potato radius.(...)Read the rest of Astronomy Without A Telescope – One Potato, Two Potato (518 words)© Steve Nerlich for [...]
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08 April 2010
Mother of Pearl Colored Clouds form above Kennedy after Discovery Blast Off
(Editor's Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Discovery) Beautiful billowing clouds of all shapes, sizes and appearance always form from rocket exhaust plumes following a mighty rocket launch, whether it’s from the Space Shuttle or an unmanned rocket like the Atlas for the SDO launch (see [...]
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02 April 2010
Silent Spirit … Long Winter Ahead
The Mars rover Spirit has entered her long anticipated low power hibernation mode according to a statement released by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Wednesday (March 31). Spirit skipped her scheduled downlink on Sol 2218 (March 30, 2010) via the Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) relay through the Mars Odyssey orbiter from her location on the Martian [...]
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01 April 2010
NASA: A possible Reprieve for Phoenix
Well my original thought for this piece was, “Last Chance for Phoenix”, since the third and final chance for NASA to reestablish radio contact with the long silent Phoenix Mars Lander was coming up soon on April 5 to 9. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to just learn from the director of NASA’s Mars [...]
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03 March 2010
Spirit Hunkered Down for Winter; Stuck Forever ? Maybe Not !
The plucky Mars rover ‘Spirit’ may yet rove again ! She’ll just have to outwit and outlast the unavoidably harsh cold and desperately low power levels of the looming winter in Mars southern hemisphere. Rather long odds to be sure – but she’s done it before. Remember – at this moment [...]
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02 March 2010
Phoenix Still Silent as Martian Ice Recedes
As expected, NASA’s February 2010 listening campaign for the Phoenix Mars Lander has failed to detect any signals emanating from the long silent vehicle. NASA’s attempts to reestablish contact with Phoenix were restarted in January 2010 and timed to coincide with the onset of springtime and disappearance of ice at her location in the [...]
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27 February 2010
Small Asteroids, Bread Flour, and a Dutch Physicist's 150-year Old Theory
No, it's not the Universe Puzzle No. 3; rather, it's an intriguing result from recent work into the strange shapes and composition of small asteroids. Images sent back from space missions suggest that smaller asteroids are not pristine chunks of rock, but are instead covered in rubble that ranges in size from meter-sized boulders to flour-like [...]
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26 February 2010
New Results from Stardust Mission Paint Chaotic Picture of Early Solar System
One of the most surprising results from the Stardust mission – which returned comet dust samples to Earth in 2006 – is that comets don't just consist of particles from the icy parts of the outer solar system, which was the common assumption, but also includes sooty dust from the hot, inner region close to [...]
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10 February 2010
NASA Sun Probe rolled to Pad; 10 hours to Blast off
(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the launch of SDO and Endeavour.) NASA’s nearly $1 Billion hi tech sun probe, the Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO, was rolled out today (Feb 9) to Launch Pad 41 on a rainy day here in Florida at 1 day from blast off. [...]
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