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Astronomers See Disks Surrounding Black Holes, Strengthened Evidence For Current Explanation Of Quasars
For the first time, researchers have found a way to view the accretion disks surrounding black holes and verify that their true electromagnetic spectra match what astronomers have long predicted they would be. A black hole and its bright accretion disk have been thought to form a quasar, the powerful light source at the center of some distant galaxies. Using a polarizing filter, astronomers isolated the light emitted by the accretion disk from that produced by other matter in the vicinity of the black hole.

Spitzer Reveals 'No Organics' Zone Around Pinwheel Galaxy
The Pinwheel galaxy is gussied up in infrared light in a new picture from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The fluffy-looking galaxy, officially named Messier 101, is dominated by a mishmash of spiral arms. In Spitzer's new view, in which infrared light is color coded, the galaxy sports a swirling blue center and a unique, coral-red outer ring.

New Project To Develop GPS-like System For Moon
The same researcher who is helping rovers navigate on Mars is leading a new effort to help humans navigate on the moon. When NASA returns to the moon -- the space agency has set a target date of 2020 to do so -- astronauts won't be able to use a global positioning system to find their way around, explained the professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science.

3-D Views Posted From NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander
NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission has released stereo images of the Martian surface near the Phoenix lander. The images in the new 3-D Gallery combine views from the left and right "eyes" of the lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) so that they appear three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses.

Mars Sample Return: Bridging Robotic And Human Exploration
The first robotic mission to return samples to Earth from Mars took a further step toward realization with the recent publication of a mission design report by the iMARS Working Group. The report, defines key elements of the future internationally-funded mission involving the cooperation of ESA, NASA and other national agencies.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Continues Tests With Rasp
The team operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander plans to tell the lander June 18 to do a second, larger test of using a motorized rasp to produce and gather shavings of frozen ground.

NASA's Deep Impact Films Earth As An Alien World
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has created a video of the moon transiting (passing in front of) Earth as seen from the spacecraft's point of view 31 million miles away. Scientists are using the video to develop techniques to study alien worlds.

Sun Could Cause 15% To 20% Of Effects Of Climate Change, Researcher Says
Global warming is mainly caused by greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities; however, current climatic variations may be affected "around 15% or 20%" by solar activity," according to one researcher. In the past, the sun was the main external agent affecting climate change on Earth, together with the effects of volcanic explosions and internal factors such as ocean currents. The role of the sun in the Earth's climatic variations "is not inconsiderable," but the researcher pointed out that over the last 40 years solar activity has not increased, and has in fact remained constant or even diminished, which is why it is difficult to attribute a significant global warming effect to it.

The International Space Station, A Test-bed For Future Space Exploration
The Heads of the International Space Station Agencies have noted the significantly expanded capability the ISS now provides for on-orbit research and technology development activities and as an engineering test-bed for flight systems and operations critical to future space exploration initiatives.

Three Red Spots Mix It Up On Jupiter
A new sequence of Hubble Space Telescope images offers an unprecedented view of a planetary game of Pac-Man among three red spots clustered together in Jupiter's atmosphere. The images were taken by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, developed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Phoenix Rasps Frozen Layer, Collects Sample
A powered rasp on the back of the robotic arm scoop of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander successfully drilled into the frozen soil and loosened material that was collected in the lander's scoop.

New Way To Weigh Giant Black Holes
How do you weigh the biggest black holes in the universe? One answer now comes from a completely new and independent technique that astronomers have developed using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. By measuring a peak in the temperature of hot gas in the center of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4649, scientists have determined the mass of the galaxy's supermassive black hole. The method, applied for the first time, gives results that are consistent with a traditional technique.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander To Begin Rasping Frozen Layer
A powered rasp on the back of the robotic arm scoop of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is being tested for the first time on Mars in gathering sample shavings of ice.

Ancient Mars Had Widespread Water, Potential To Support Life
Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies. Vast regions of the ancient highlands of Mars—which cover about half the planet—contain clay minerals, which can form only in the presence of water.

Brightest Star In The Galaxy Has New Competition
A contender for the title of brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy has been unearthed in the dusty metropolis of the galaxy's center. Nicknamed the "Peony nebula star," the bright stellar bulb was revealed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and other ground-based telescopes. It blazes with the light of an estimated 3.2 million suns.

Nano-sized Electronic Circuit Promises Bright View Of Early Universe
A newly developed nano-sized electronic device is an important step toward helping astronomers see invisible light dating from the creation of the universe. This invisible light makes up 98 percent of the light emitted since the "big bang," and may provide insights into the earliest stages of star and galaxy formation almost 14 billion years ago.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Extending Trench
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is using its Robotic Arm to enlarge an exposure of hard subsurface material expected to yield a sample of ice-rich soil for analysis in one of the lander's ovens.

Source Of Most Common Meteorites Discovered
When observing with the GEMINI telescopes, two astronomers discovered for the first time asteroids that are similar to "ordinary chondrites" -- the most common meteorites found on Earth. Until now, astronomers have failed to identify their asteroidal sources because of the various geologic processes that occur after the meteorites are ejected from their asteroidal parent body.

Orbiting Gamma-ray Observatory Begins Search For Odd Space Objects
The researchers have stopped holding their breath. The $690 million observatory they sent into orbit June 11 has awoken to begin its observation of the gamma-ray light from celestial mystery object such as black holes, spinning neutron stars and dark matter.

What's My Age? Mystery Star Cluster Has 3 Different Birthdays
Imagine having three clocks in your house, each chiming at a different time. Astronomers have found the equivalent of three out-of-sync "clocks" in the ancient open star cluster NGC 6791. The dilemma may fundamentally challenge the way astronomers estimate cluster ages, researchers said.

Solar Spin Put On Asteroid Moon Formation
Asteroids with moons, which scientists call binary asteroids, are common in the solar system. A longstanding question has been how most such moons are formed. In the journal Nature, a trio of astronomers say the surprising answer is sunlight, which can increase or decrease the spin rate of an asteroid. Their findings match observations and give information important for deflecting threatening asteroids away from Earth.

Solar Stake-out To Improve Space Weather Forecasts
About six times each minute for at least five years, a soon-to-be launched NASA satellite will measure the sun's quirky, occasionally violent, output of extreme ultraviolet light. To ensure that this solar stake-out yields data useful for understanding the weather in space and its earthly consequences, researchers are helping a NASA team prepare for annual rocket-borne check-ups of key instruments aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Universe Is More Transparent To High-energy Radiation Than Previously Assumed
New measurements have shown that the universe is more transparent to high-energy radiation than previously assumed. These measurements of high-energy gamma radiation from 5.3 billion light years away are yielding new knowledge about the nature of the universe.

Rare 'Star-Making Machine' Found In Distant Universe
Astronomers have uncovered an extreme stellar machine -- a galaxy in the very remote universe pumping out stars at a surprising rate of up to 4,000 per year. In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy turns out an average of just 10 stars per year.

Evidence Of Water Found Deep Within The Moon: Dampens Moon-formation Theory
A Brown-led research team has for the first time found evidence of water deep within the moon. Researchers believe the water was contained in lunar magmas ejected more than 3 billion years ago. The discovery strongly suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence -- and perhaps since it was first created.

Swerve Left To Avoid That Satellite: The Growing Issue Of Space Debris
Think you have trouble getting rid of the clutter in your living room? After more than 50 years of launching rockets and satellites into space, the human race now has to deal with the clutter left behind -- or is it "above"? Dead satellites, spent rocket stages, paint flakes, and coolant from nuclear-powered satellites continue to orbit the Earth at ultrahigh velocities.

Sample-Collection Tests By NASA's Phoenix Lander Continue
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's science and engineering teams are testing methods to get an icy sample into the Robotic Arm scoop for delivery to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA).

On The Edge Of The Sun's Bubble: Spacecraft Gives Data On Space Beyond Sun's Influence
The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have traveled beyond the edges of the bubble in space where the sun's constant outward wind of particles and radiation slams into the interstellar medium that pervades our galaxy. The deep-space probes, which were designed mainly to study the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, have now traveled more than 8 billion miles away from the Earth.

Phoenix Mars Lander Delivers Soil-Chemistry Sample
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander used its Robotic Arm to deliver a second sample of soil for analysis by the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory, data received from Phoenix on Sunday night confirmed.

Mining For Molecules In The Milky Way
Scientists are prospecting in a rich molecular cloud in our Milky Way Galaxy. They seek to discover new, complex molecules in interstellar space that may be precursors to life. As molecules rotate and vibrate, they emit radio waves at specific frequencies. Each molecule has a unique pattern of such frequencies, called spectral lines, that constitutes a "fingerprint" identifying that molecule. Laboratory tests can determine the pattern of spectral lines that identifies a specific molecule.

Volcanic Activity Shaped Mercury After All
Planetary geologists have determined that volcanism played a central role in forming Mercury's surface. The evidence of volcanic activity, published in Science, lends important insights into Mercury's geologic history.

Mercury's Surface Dominated By Volcanism And Iron-deficiency
Multispectral data on the composition of rock untis of the surface of Mercury show a widespread role for volcanism and an apparent deficiency in iron in the rocks' minerals.

Einstein Was Right, Astrophysicists Say
Researchers have confirmed a long-held prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, via observations of a binary-pulsar star system. Eclipses in a unique system of two dead stars, called pulsars, has shown that one of the pair is 'wobbling' in space - just like a spinning top. The effect, called precession, is precisely as predicted by Albert Einstein and is thus a new and exciting confirmation of his theory.

MESSENGER Settles Old Debates And Makes New Discoveries At Mercury
Scientists have argued about the origins of Mercury's smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field for more than 30 years. Now, analyses of data from the January 2008 flyby of the planet by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft have shown that volcanoes were involved in plains formation and suggest that its magnetic field is actively produced in the planet's core.

Phoenix To Bake Ice-Rich Sample Next Week
The next sample delivered to NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) will be ice-rich. A team of engineers and scientists assembled to assess TEGA after a short circuit was discovered in the instrument has concluded that another short circuit could occur when the oven is used again.

Asteroid Impacts On Earth: A Protection Plan
A century ago this week, an event in far-off Siberia rang a cosmic wake-up call for Earth. That explosive event over remote Tunguska is generally viewed by scientists as a large space rock that pierced through the atmosphere of Siberia, then detonated to flatten some 2,000 square kilometers of trees.

First Measurements Of The Solar Wind Termination Shock By Voyager 2 Spacecraft
Space physicists report that the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which has been traveling outward from the sun for 31 years, has made the first direct observations of the solar wind termination shock, according to an article in the journal Nature.

Exploding Asteroid Theory Strengthened By New Evidence Located In Ohio, Indiana
Was the course of life on the planet altered 12,900 years ago by a giant comet exploding over Canada? New evidence suggests the answer is affirmative. The timing attached to this theory of about 12,900 years ago is consistent with the known disappearances in North America of the wooly mammoth population and the first distinct human society to inhabit the continent, known as the Clovis civilization.

Voyager Squashes View Of Solar System
Scientists using data from NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft have observed the bubble of solar wind surrounding the solar system is not round, but has a squashed shape, according to recent data published as part of a series of papers in this week's (July 3) Nature.

First Images Of Solar System's Invisible Frontier
An instrument aboard NASA's STEREO spacecraft unexpectedly detected particles from the edge of the solar system last year, allowing UC Berkeley scientists to map for the first time the energized particles in the region where the hot solar wind slams into the cold interstellar medium. The region, at about 100 AU, is invisible to other telescopes, but can be mapped by detecting energetic neutral atoms, largely hydrogen.

Hubble Sees Stars And A Stripe In Celestial Fireworks
A delicate ribbon of gas floats eerily in our galaxy. A contrail from an alien spaceship? A jet from a black-hole? Actually this image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is a very thin section of a supernova remnant caused by a stellar explosion that occurred more than 1,000 years ago.

What Hit Siberia 100 Years Ago? Tunguska Event Still Puzzles Scientists
The year is 1908, and it's just after seven in the morning. A man is sitting on the front porch of a trading post at Vanavara in Siberia. Little does he know, in a few moments, he will be hurled from his chair and the heat will be so intense he will feel as though his shirt is on fire. That's how the Tunguska event felt 40 miles from ground zero.

SOHO Discovers Its 1,500th Comet
The ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft has just discovered its 1,500th comet, making it more successful than all other comet discoverers throughout history put together. Not bad for a spacecraft that was designed as a solar physics mission.

If The Large Hadron Collider Produced A Microscopic Black Hole, It Probably Wouldn't Matter
Particle colliders creating black holes that could devour the Earth. Sounds like a great Hollywood script. But, according to UC Santa Barbara Physics Professor Steve Giddings, it's pure fiction. Giddings has co-authored a paper documenting his study of the safety of microscopic black holes that might possibly be produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is nearing completion in Europe.

Cluster Satellites Listen To The Sounds Of Earth
The first thing an alien race is likely to hear from Earth is chirps and whistles, a bit like R2-D2, the robot from Star Wars. In reality, they are the sounds that accompany the aurora. Now ESA's Cluster mission is showing scientists how to understand this emission and, in the future, search for alien worlds by listening for their sounds.

Cassini To Earth: 'Mission Accomplished, But New Questions Await!'
NASA's Cassini mission is closing one chapter of its journey at Saturn and embarking on a new one with a two-year mission that will address new questions and bring it closer to two of its most intriguing targets -- Titan and Enceladus.

Phoenix Scrapes To Icy Soil In Wonderland
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scraped to icy soil in the "Wonderland" area on Thursday, June 26, confirming that surface soil, subsurface soil and icy soil can be sampled at a single trench.

A Quark Star? Super-luminous Stellar Explosion Observed
Astronomers recently announced that they have found a novel explanation for a rare type of super-luminous stellar explosion that may have produced a new type of object known as a quark star.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for Requirements for Amateur Rocket Activities