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Updated: 1 hour 10 min ago

IceCube spies unexplained pattern of cosmic rays

Fri, 07/30/2010 - 02:00
One possible explanation for the irregular pattern is the remains of an exploded supernova, such as the nearby supernova remnant Vela, whose location corresponds to one of the cosmic-ray hotspots.

Astronomers find planets in unusually intimate dance around dying star

Thu, 07/29/2010 - 02:00
Scientists have uncovered two pairs of planets so close to each other that they interact gravitationally.

Brilliant star in a colorful neighborhood

Wed, 07/28/2010 - 02:00
WR 22, a member of a double star system in the Carina Nebula, is shedding its atmosphere at a rate many millions times faster than our Sun.

James Webb Space Telescope completes cryogenic mirror test

Tue, 07/27/2010 - 02:00
The test gauges how the mirrors change temperature and shape over a range of operational temperatures in space.

Massive results for scientists homing in on Higgs boson

Tue, 07/27/2010 - 02:00
Scientists have significantly narrowed down the possible mass range of the elusive Higgs boson particle, predicted to exist by the standard model of particle physics.

Hyperfast star was booted from Milky Way

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 02:00
This is the first direct observation linking a high-flying star to a galactic center origin.

NASA's Odyssey spacecraft camera yields most accurate Mars map ever

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 02:00
The map was constructed using almost 21,000 images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System, a multiband infrared camera.

NASA telescope finds elusive buckyballs in space for first time

Fri, 07/23/2010 - 02:00
Buckyballs are the largest molecules known to exist in space.

Subaru telescope detects clues for understanding the origin of mysterious dark gamma-ray bursts

Fri, 07/23/2010 - 02:00
The results open the possibility that dark gamma-ray bursts may spring from high-metallicty environments.

Cassini sees moon building giant snowballs in Saturn ring

Thu, 07/22/2010 - 02:00
Prometheus' gravitational pull sloshes ring material around, creating wake channels that trigger the formation of objects as large as 12 miles in diameter.

Black hole jerked around twice

Thu, 07/22/2010 - 02:00
Either a merging of the two central black holes from the colliding galaxies or more gas falling onto the black hole caused the spin axis to jerk around to its present direction.

Radio astronomers develop new technique for studying dark energy

Wed, 07/21/2010 - 02:00
Sound waves in the early universe are thought to have left detectable imprints on the large-scale distribution of galaxies. The researchers developed a way to measure such imprints by observing the radio emission of hydrogen gas.

Astronomers find a 300 solar mass star

Wed, 07/21/2010 - 02:00
Star R136a1 is the most massive star ever found with a current mass of about 265 solar masses and a birth mass of about 320 times that of the Sun.

NASA's WISE mission completes first extensive sky survey

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 02:00
WISE has observed more than 100,000 asteroids — most in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, but some near-Earth objects, asteroids, and comets as well.

Cluster's decade of discovery

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 02:00
The Cluster mission provides a 3-D picture of how the continuous solar wind of charged particles or plasma from the Sun affects our near-Earth space environment and its protective magnetosphere.

Caltech scientists measure changing lake depths on Titan

Mon, 07/19/2010 - 02:00
Using data gathered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft over a span of 4 years, researchers have obtained two separate lines of evidence showing a roughly consistent yearly drop in the levels of lakes in Titan's southern hemisphere.

Astronomers discover an unusual cosmic lens

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 02:00
A quasar, acting as a gravitation lens, has magnified a distant galaxy.

MESSENGER spacecraft reveals new information about Mercury

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 02:00
Data from the final flyby has revealed the first observations of ion emissions in Mercury's exosphere, new information about the planet's magnetic substorms, and evidence of young volcanic activity.

Record-breaking X-ray blast briefly blinds space observatory

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 02:00
Although the Swift satellite was designed specifically to study gamma-ray bursts, the instrument was not designed to handle an X-ray blast this bright.

NASA finds hot planet with unique comet-like tail

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 02:00
Observations suggest powerful stellar winds are sweeping the cast-off atmospheric material behind the scorched planet and shaping it into a comet-like tail.