Space : Science World Report

Feb 27, 2012 08:04 AM EST

NASA's Spitzer Finds Solid Buckyballs in Space

Astronomers using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have, for the first time, discovered buckyballs in a solid form in space. Prior to this discovery, the microscopic carbon spheres had been found only in gas form in the cosmos.

Feb 27, 2012 07:55 AM EST

Ice Cover on Lake Sakakawea, North Dakota

This photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station illustrates the harsh winter conditions frequently experienced in North Dakota. Ice covers the surface of northwestern Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir on the Missouri River.

Feb 25, 2012 08:31 AM EST

Dust over the Arabian Sea

Dust plumes stretched southward over the Arabian Sea in late February 2012. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAâ€™s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image on February 22, 2012. The thickest plume arises just west of the Iran-Pakistan border. Thinner plume...

Feb 25, 2012 08:25 AM EST

Activity at Shiveluch Volcano

Dark volcanic debris mars the otherwise pristine lower flanks of Shiveluch Volcano in this false-color satellite image. The debris traveled about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Shiveluch's growing lava dome. Rock falls and pyroclastic flows (avalanches of hot volcanic material) are common at Shiveluch...

Feb 24, 2012 03:17 PM EST

Aiming for an Open Window

Why does NASA sometimes schedule a rocket launch for the middle of the night, or aim for a liftoff time when weather is notoriously unlikely to cooperate?

Feb 24, 2012 01:01 PM EST

Astrophysicists from Clemson University and Europe Unmask a Black Hole

A study of X-rays emitted a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away has unmasked a stellar mass black hole in Andromeda, a spiral galaxy about 2.6 million light-years from Earth. Two Clemson University researchers joined an an international team of astronomers, including scientists at Germany's M...

Feb 24, 2012 07:37 AM EST

The Aral Sea, Before the Streams Ran Dry

It was once the fourth largest lake in the world. Fed primarily by snowmelt and precipitation from faraway mountains, the Aral Sea supported extensive fishing communities and a temperate oasis in a mostly arid region of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Feb 24, 2012 07:34 AM EST

Dust Storm in Texas

In late February 2012, a dust storm in the Texas Panhandle dropped visibility to near-zero, and caused numerous accidents and two deaths, according to news station WJLA. The dust swept from eastern New Mexico through Texas, forming a giant arc north of Lubbock.

Feb 24, 2012 07:28 AM EST

NASA Pinning Down 'Here' Better Than Ever

Before our Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation devices can tell us where we are, the satellites that make up the GPS need to know exactly where they are. For that, they rely on a network of sites that serve as "you are here" signs planted throughout the world. The catch is, the sites don't si...

Feb 23, 2012 01:32 PM EST

Earth Siblings Can be Different!

The study of the photospheric stellar abundances of the planet-host stars is the key to understanding how protoplanets form, as well as which protoplanetary clouds evolve planets and which do not. These studies, which have important implications for models of giant planet formation and evolution, al...

Feb 23, 2012 12:18 PM EST

NASA'S Chandra Finds Fastest Wind from Stellar-Mass Black Hole

Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have clocked the fastest wind yet discovered blowing off a disk around a stellar-mass black hole. This result has important implications for understanding how this type of black hole behaves.

Feb 23, 2012 12:05 PM EST

Scoping the Cost of the World's Biggest New Supercomputer

The world's most powerful telescope â€“ the new Square Kilometre Array (SKA) â€“ is likely to need the world's biggest computer to handle the incredible amount of data it will produce âˆ’ and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) is working out how to do it with...