Space Exploration News

This image of the comet ISON was taken on April 10, 2013, when the comet was slightly closer than Jupiter's orbit at a distance of 386 million miles from the Sun (NASA / ESA / J.-Y. Li, Planetary Science Institute / Hubble Comet ISON Imaging Science Team)

Hubble Snaps Clearest View Yet of Comet ISON

Apr 24, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

NASA scientists have released the clearest view yet of the comet ISON, a newly discovered sungrazing comet that may light up the sky later this year. This...

Cassini Spacecraft Puts Enceladus in New Light

Apr 23, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers at the European Space Agency have released a new view of the Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. This color view of Enceladus was taken by Cassini...

Electron image of a silica grain found in GRV 021710 meteorite

Researchers Find Silica Grains from Ancient Supernova in Meteorites

Apr 22, 2013 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers has discovered tiny grains of sand from ancient supernova in two primitive meteorites. Primitive carbonaceous chondrite...

A perspective view of a 30-mile crater in Thaumasia Planum, Mars (ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / G. Neukum)

Dramatic Underground Explosions Responsible for Twin Crater Pits on Mars

Apr 17, 2013 by News Staff

Massive underground explosions, perhaps involving ice, have created the pits inside two large impact craters in the Thaumasia Planum region on Mars, say...

Europa global views in natural and enhanced colors (NASA / JPL / University of Arizona)

Essential Ingredient for Life Found in Abundance on Europa

Apr 8, 2013 by Natali Anderson

A new study published online in the Astrophysical Journal Letters (arXiv.org version) shows that hydrogen peroxide – an important energy supply for...

The International Space Station taken during STS-134 mission's fourth spacewalk. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) was installed one week earlier during the mission's first spacewalk (NASA)

Antimatter Hunter aboard International Space Station Detects Hints of Dark Matter

Apr 4, 2013 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists using the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer aboard the International Space Station has announced the first results in the...

Scientists: Voyager 1 Has Left the Solar System

Mar 20, 2013 by Natali Anderson

According to a new study published today online in the Geophysical Research Letters, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft appears to have exited the heliosphere. Voyager...

This image shows a large and very complex, thick-walled, carbon-rich microfossil that the team has identified as a hystrichosphere. Scale bar - 100 μm (Jamie Wallis et al)

Alien Algae? Scientists Say They Have Found Microfossils in Meteorite

Mar 13, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

In a controversial paper published in the March issue of the Journal of Cosmology, scientists from Cardiff University with colleagues from Sri Lanka and...

Two giant swaths of radiation, known as the Van Allen Belts, surrounding Earth were discovered in 1958. New observations from the Van Allen Probes showed that a third belt can sometimes appear (NASA / Van Allen Probes / Goddard Space Flight Center)

Mysterious Electron Storage Ring Found in Earth’s Magnetosphere

Mar 7, 2013 by News Staff

U.S. researchers have discovered a long-lived zone of high-energy electrons stored between Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts. Two giant swaths of radiation,...

Based on new evidence from Jupiter's moon Europa, astronomers hypothesize that chloride salts bubble up from the icy moon's global liquid ocean and reach the frozen surface where they are bombarded with sulfur from volcanoes on Jupiter's innermost large moon, Io (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

More Evidence for Salty Ocean on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Mar 6, 2013 by News Staff

A new study by Prof Mike Brown from the California Institute of Technology and Dr Kevin Hand from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggests that salty water...

Members of the Belgo-Japanese meteorite team with an 18kg meteorite found during a field trip on the Nansen Ice Field, 140km south of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (© International Polar Foundation)

Big Meteorite Found in Antarctica

Mar 1, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Scientists working at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station have found an 18 kg chondrite embedded in the East Antarctic ice sheet. Members of...

Mercury May Have Harbored Magma Ocean in Distant Past

Feb 22, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Planetary scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have proposed that Mercury may have harbored a large ocean of magma shortly after its formation...

New Observations Shed Light on Ionosphere of Venus

Feb 4, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

New observations of the second planet from the Sun made with ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft during a period of reduced solar wind pressure have provided...

Martian Ridges Point to Ancient Flowing Water

Jan 31, 2013 by Natali Anderson

Narrow ridges found in Martian impact craters in the Nilosyrtis highlands and the Nili Fossae region are the fossilized remnants of underground cracks...

Herschel: Asteroid Apophis More Massive Than Thought

Jan 10, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

New observations of the asteroid Apophis made with ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory as it approached our planet few days ago show the asteroid to be...

Study Links Water-Rich NWA 7034 Meteorite to Martian Crust

Jan 4, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

U.S. scientists have identified a new class of meteorite that fell to Earth and likely originated from the crust of the Red Planet. Fragments of the meteorite...

Sutter’s Mill Meteorite Identified as Rare Carbonaceous Chondrite

Dec 25, 2012 by Sergio Prostak

U.S. scientists have discovered that a meteorite that fell over El Dorado County in northern California this past spring was the rarest type known to have...

Cassini Sees Mini-Nile River on Titan

Dec 14, 2012 by Sergio Prostak

A miniature extraterrestrial version of the Nile River has been spotted on the largest moon of Saturn by ESA’s Cassini spacecraft. This Cassini image...

Venus Express Data Point to Active Venusian Volcanoes

Dec 4, 2012 by Sergio Prostak

Six years of observations of the second planet from the Sun by ESA’s Venus Express show that changes in the planet’s atmosphere could be the result...