Starry Skies Network

Explore Mars with Stargazing Live

cp — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:01:07 +0000

With the help of Stargazing Live, 69,962 citizen scientists
are exploring the surface of Mars like never before. And you can too!
http://planetfour.org/

Chile Inaugurates World’s Most Powerful Space Telescope

cp — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:32:50 +0000

After two decades of construction, the world’s largest and most powerful radio telescope has begun operating… Voice of America: Chile Inaugurates World’s Most Powerful Space Telescope

Is there life on Mars? Why the question still eludes us after years of discovery

cp — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:29:50 +0000

Is there life on Mars or did it previously support life?” Short answer, we still don’t know…

theverge.com: Is there life on Mars? Why the question still eludes us after years of discovery NASA is slowly learning where to look for microbes on the Red Planet, but there are no answers yet

Monarch Butterfly Population Falls To Record Low, Mexican Scientists Say

cp — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:22:09 +0000

NPR reports: Monarch butterflies that once covered 50 square acres of forest during their summer layover in central Mexico now occupy fewer than 3 acres, according to the latest census.

Cape Cod Storm Damage Seen From Space

cp — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:20:17 +0000

Cape Cod Sand Dune Breach

NASA’s Earth Observatory has an interesting view of a sand dune breach and swirling sediment off the coast. Be sure to check out the slider to compare the before and after images. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80523

With NASA Bake Sale, Planetary Fundraisers Go Old School

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:03:50 +0000

As someone who’s been known to enjoy her cupcakes with a side of science, I was excited to find out about the National Planetary Exploration Car Wash & Bake Sale, coming to a town near you on Saturday, June 9.

Boulder planetary scientists to shine shoes Saturday to highlight budget cuts

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:01:08 +0000

Some of Boulder’s biggest brains will be on the Pearl Street Mall this weekend — shining shoes.
Local gurus of the cosmos will join their astro-brethren across the country on Saturday for the “Planetary Car Wash & Bake Sale,” an event organized by Alan Stern, associate vice president of the Southwest Research Institute’s Space Science and Engineering Division in Boulder, to call attention to the deep budget cuts being proposed for NASA’s planetary science program.

Einstein was right, neutrino researchers admit

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:59:24 +0000

A team of scientists who last year suggested neutrinos could travel faster than light have conceded that Einstein was right and the sub-atomic particles are – like everything else – bound by the universe’s speed limit.

Saturn moon spouts plasma unlike any seen before

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:56:42 +0000

A NEW form of matter surrounds Saturn – a plasma put there by Enceladus, the planet’s tiny moon.
“It’s a type of charged particle that has never been observed before,” says Tom Hill of Rice University in Houston, Texas.

ONLY TWO COSMIC DOOMSDAYS ARE CERTAIN

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:50:54 +0000

The sardonic proverb “nothing is certain but death and taxes,” can now be recast for the cosmos.
Last week’s announcement of the inevitable collision of the Andromeda galaxy with the Milky Way is one of only two apocalyptic astronomical predictions that we can be absolutely certain of. The other is the death of our sun. Purely deterministic processes drive both.

You’re Invited to Attend the “Save Our Science” Event June 9

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:48:39 +0000

You’re invited to attend the “Save Our Science” event for June 9th at the Red Rock Café in Mountain View. Dr. Jill Tarter, Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI Research, Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, Leader of the Planetary Lakes Lander Team, and other planetary scientists from the SETI Institute will speak about out against the devastating budget cuts proposed by the Obama administration, which threaten the future of solar system exploration and will hurt America’s intellectual talent pool.

Editorial: NASA’s future is a future worth funding

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:43:39 +0000

Call it giving hand-me-downs to a younger brother, or charity to the needy, but we’re glad to see NASA get some help from the Department of Defense, which donated two unused space telescopes to the cash-strapped space agency (“Defense agency’s junk now NASA jewel,” Page A1, Tuesday).

Future Shock: M31 to Hit Milky Way Head-On

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:40:26 +0000

Astronomers have long known that the Andromeda Galaxy is headed our way. Now they’ve concluded that it most likely will collide with the Milky Way head-on — with dramatic consequences.

Craters serve as a Martian chronicle

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:37:55 +0000

In honor of science-fiction legend Ray Bradbury’s passing, here’s a totally non-fictional Martian chronicle: a picture of two craters on the Red Planet that record how the climate has changed over the course of billions of years.

Aliens calling? Send in the robots!

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:35:28 +0000

If we ever come across traces of an advanced alien civilization like the one featured in “Prometheus,” the new semi-prequel to the “Alien” movie series, our first course of action should not be to send them a shipload of human meat. Instead, send in the robots.

Mars crater shows evidence for climate evolution

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:29:04 +0000

ESA’s Mars Express has provided images of a remarkable crater on Mars that may show evidence that the planet underwent significant periodic fluctuations in its climate due to changes in its rotation axis.

PEERING INTO THE DUSTY HEART OF CENTAURUS A

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:26:42 +0000

Centaurus A, the nearest galaxy to Earth with an active core, has undergone much scrutiny since the discovery of its peculiar shape in 1826. So, it’s pretty amazing when a new telescope comes online and shows us a whole new view of the workings of this complicated galaxy mess.

Some newfound planets are something else

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:22:49 +0000

When the Kepler spacecraft finds a giant planet closely orbiting a star, there’s a one in three chance that it’s not really a planet at all.

Set Phasers to Smash: Shuttle Enterprise Damaged In Transit

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:14:27 +0000

It’s often said that when traveling, how you get where you’re going is more important more than where you end up. For the space shuttle Enterprise, its journey to the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City is one no one will soon forget as much as they might want to. During its maritime transit, NASA’s first shuttle had its wing clipped.

NASA kills X-ray telescope, blames project’s cost

kmiles — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:09:29 +0000

NASA killed a new X-ray telescope mission on Thursday, two years before its planned launch.
The Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer mission, or GEMS for short, was supposed to blast off in 2014 to study black holes and neutron stars. But external reviews found the project would likely come in considerably over budget.