Space : Science World Report

May 09, 2012 09:40 AM EDT

SpaceX Launch Targeted for May 19

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif., on Friday targeted May 19 for the launch of its upcoming demonstration mission to the International Space Station.

May 09, 2012 09:29 AM EDT

Methane Leaking through the Cracks

The fragile and rapidly changing Arctic is home to large reservoirs of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. As Earth's climate warms, that methane is vulnerable to possible release into the atmosphere, where it can add to global warming.

May 09, 2012 06:10 AM EDT

VISTA Views a Vast Ball of Stars

Globular clusters are held together in a tight spherical shape by gravity. In Messier 55, the stars certainly do keep close company: approximately one hundred thousand stars are packed within a sphere with a diameter of only about 25 times the distance between the Sun and the nearest star system, Al...

May 08, 2012 05:00 PM EDT

NASA's Spitzer Sees the Light of Alien 'Super Earth'

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

May 08, 2012 03:06 PM EDT

JUICE is Europeâ€™s Next Large Science Mission

Jupiter's icy moons are the focus of Europe's next large science mission, ESA announced.

May 08, 2012 11:03 AM EDT

VIDEO: Black Hole Hunter

A large number of galaxies are hiding black holes that we can't detect, and NASA's NuSTAR will use X-ray vision to find them.

May 08, 2012 08:53 AM EDT

UF Astronomer: Some Giant Planets in Other Systems Most Likely to be Alone

"Hot Jupiter-type" planets are most likely to be alone in their systems, according to research by a University of Florida astronomer and others, made public today.

May 08, 2012 07:56 AM EDT

Looking Back on Ten Years of Aqua

Reaching a height of 4 to 5 kilometers (13,000-17,000 feet), the plume of ash from Iceland's EyjafjallajÃ¶kull Volcano rises above a sea of clouds in this image. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured the image on May 12, 2010.

May 08, 2012 07:47 AM EDT

Looking for Earths by Looking for Jupiters

In the search for Earth-like planets, it is helpful to look for clues and patterns that can help scientist narrow down the types of systems where potentially habitable planets are likely to be discovered. New research from a team including Carnegie's Alan Boss narrows down the search for Earth-like ...

May 07, 2012 03:08 PM EDT

1 Supernova Type, 2 Different Sources

The exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae serve an important role in measuring the universe, and were used to discover the existence of dark energy. They're bright enough to see across large distances, and similar enough to act as a "standard candle" - an object of known luminosity.

May 07, 2012 02:53 PM EDT

Hubble to Use Moon as Mirror to See Venus Transit

This mottled landscape showing the impact crater Tycho is among the most violent-looking places on our moon. Astronomers didn't aim NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study Tycho, however. The image was taken in preparation to observe the transit of Venus across the sun's face on June 5-6.

May 07, 2012 02:44 PM EDT

Ancient Volcanic Blast Provides More Evidence of Water on Early Mars

The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1 percent the density of Earth's. It's one of the reasons liquid water covers much of our planet but cannot exist on the Red Planet. As more research points toward the possibility of water on early Mars, scientists have increased their studies on the density of it...