Hubble Images of Asteroids Vesta and Ceres

These Hubble Space Telescope images of Vesta and Ceres show two of the most massive asteroids in the asteroid belt, a region between Mars and Jupiter. The images are helping astronomers plan for the Dawn spacecraft’s tour of these hefty asteroids.On July 7, NASA is scheduled to launch the spacecraft on a four-year journey to the asteroid belt. Once there, Dawn will do some asteroid-hopping, going...

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Weather Without Water

Bright mid-latitude clouds near the bottom of this view hint at the ongoing cycling of methane on Titan. These cloud streaks are near the same latitude as similar clouds observed above different longitudes on Titan.The view is centered on Titan's trailing hemisphere, over the 1,700 kilometer (1,050 mile) wide bright region known as Adiri. North on Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is...

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New Science on the Moon

NASA has selected proposals, including two from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for future lunar science activities. In addition, the agency has established two new programs that will enhance research made possible by the Vision for Space Exploration.The proposals and programs are part of an effort by NASA to develop new opportunities to conduct important science investigations...

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Messenger Flies By Venus

The MESSENGER spacecraft snapped a series of images as it approached Venus on June 5. The planet is enshrouded by a global layer of clouds that obscures its surface to the MESSENGER Dual Imaging System (MDIS) cameras.This single frame is part of a color sequence taken to help the MESSENGER team calibrate the camera in preparation for the spacecraft’s first flyby of Mercury on January 14, 2008. Over...

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Crews to Fold Arrays, Prep for Spacewalk Repair Tasks

As Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station sail above Earth today, the STS-117 and Expedition 15 crews will continue retracting solar arrays and preparing for repair work during Friday’s spacewalk.STS-117 Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas will review procedures and practice techniques they will use during the spacewalk set to begin at 1:38 p.m. EDT Friday. The first...

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ESA takes steps toward quantum communications

A team of European scientists has proved within an ESA study that the weird quantum effect called 'entanglement' remains intact over a distance of 144 kilometres. The experiment allows ESA to take a step closer to exploiting entanglement as a way of communicating with satellites with total security.Quantum entanglement is one of the many non-intuitive features of quantum mechanics. If two photons...

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Enceladus

Peeking over the crescent of Enceladus, the Cassini spacecraft views the towering plume of ice particles erupting from the moon's south polar region.Multiple components of the overall plume are visible in this view of Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across).The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 24, 2007 at a distance of approximately...

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Boring Star May Mean Livelier Planet

“Boring” light from red dwarf star Gliese 581 means better odds for extraterrestrial life in that planetary system, according to University of British Columbia astronomer Jaymie Matthews. Approximately 20.5 light years from the Earth, Gliese 581 made the headlines in April 2007 when European scientists discovered a planet, named Gliese 581c. Dubbed “superEarth,” the planet orbits Gliese 581 and could...

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STS-117 Crew Inspected Shuttle Heat Shield

The STS-117 crew members completed the day's scheduled inspections of Space Shuttle Atlantis’ heat shield. They used Atlantis’ robotic arm and an attached boom extension to check the spacecraft’s underside, nose cap and leading edges of the wings as well as hard to reach shuttle surfaces.The inspections are performed to check if any damage occurred to the heat shield during the climb to orbit that...

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Mars photos by HiRISE

The first image shows gullies in a crater in Terra Sirenum in the southern hemisphere of Mars. This image was acquired during the winter, which explains the abundant frost (the bright material) seen throughout the image. The frost is likely water frost, as opposed to carbon dioxide, because temperatures at this latitude probably do not get cold enough for carbon dioxide to condense.The formation...

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New View of Titan III

This image of Titan's surface, obtained by Huygens' DISR imager, shows patterns of tectonic and fluid-flow activity. The tectonic patterns are indicated by blue lines; the drainage divide is indicated by the red line; flow directions are indicated by the green arrows. The Huygens landing site is marked by a white cross.Credits: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Source: N...

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New View of Titan II

This composite of Huygens DISR images shows patterns of drainage, flow and erosion in the Huygens landing site region.The top panel shows two types of drainage networks in the bright region about 5-10 kilometres north of the landing site. The lower-left panel is a high-resolution view of the erosional channels around the landing site. The lower right panel is a medium-resolution view of bright ridges...

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Titan

Despite centuries of speculation and decades of research, scientists are still seeking fundamental clues to the question of how life began on Earth. Titan [TIE-tun] is the frozen vault that may contain these secrets for the Cassini-Huygens mission to discover.Titan is the largest of Saturn's moons, bigger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. The study of Titan is one of the major goals of the Cassini-Huygens...

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NASA Updates Shuttle Target Launch Date for Hubble Mission

NASA managers officially are targeting Sept. 10, 2008, for the launch of the fifth and final space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day flight, Atlantis' seven astronauts will repair and improve the observatory's capabilities through 2013.Mission planners have been working since last fall, when the flight was announced, to determine the best time in the shuttle...

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STS 117 Mission

At today's Launch Readiness News Conference, the Mission Management Team announced that they were in agreement that Space Shuttle Atlantis is ready to fly on Friday."The team is ready to go and we're just really excited to be at this point after a very long and arduous spring and a lot of really hard work by the entire team," said LeRoy Cain, launch integration manager for the Space Shuttle Program....

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MESSENGER spacecraft approaches the brightly illuminated Venus on June 5

In the coming evenings, sky watchers can acquaint themselves with the MESSENGER spacecraft mission to Mercury. Late afternoon on Tuesday, June 5, 2007, MESSENGER will fly within about 210 miles (340 kilometers) of the surface of the planet Venus, and get a gravity kick toward its ultimate destination, the sun-baked planet Mercury.Both Venus and Mercury will be well-placed for viewing during dusk...

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Pillars of Creation

This image composite highlights the pillars of the Eagle nebula, as seen in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (bottom) and visible light by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (top insets).The top right inset focuses on the three famous pillars, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation," which were photographed by Hubble in 1995. Hubble's optical view shows the dusty towers in exquisite detail, while...

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Pleiades Cluster

The Seven Sisters, also known as the Pleiades star cluster, seem to float on a bed of feathers in a new infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Clouds of dust sweep around the stars, swaddling them in a cushiony veil.The Pleiades, located more than 400 light-years away in the Taurus constellation, are the subject of many legends and writings. Greek mythology holds that the flock of stars...

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Rosset nebula

This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Rosette nebula, a pretty star-forming region more than 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros. In optical light, the nebula looks like a rosebud, or the "rosette" adornments that date back to antiquity.But lurking inside this delicate cosmic rosebud are so-called planetary "danger zones" (see spheres illustrations in...

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Wind Streaks Landscape and Boosts Rover Power Levels

Opportunity recently completed work on soil exposures north of the rim of Victoria Crater where winds channeled by alcoves have produced alternating light and dark streaks. The rover finished in-situ analyses with measurements at a target known as "Alicante," where there appears to be a concentration of dark sand on the downwind side of a rock, on sol 1149 (April 18, 2007). Analysis continues of...

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M81 Galaxy is Pretty in Pink

The perfectly picturesque spiral galaxy known as Messier 81, or M81, looks sharp in this new composite from NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. M81 is a "grand design" spiral galaxy, which means its elegant arms curl all the way down into its center. It is located about 12 million light-years away in the Ursa Major constellation and is one of the brightest...

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New view of Titan

Today, two and a half years after the historic landing of ESA’s Huygens probe on Titan, a new set of results on Saturn’s largest moon is ready to be presented. Titan, as seen through the eyes of Huygens still holds exciting surprises, scientists say.On 14 January 2005, after a seven-year voyage on board the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft, ESA’s Huygens probe spent 2 hours and 28 minutes descending...

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Enceladus

Peeking over the crescent of Enceladus, the Cassini spacecraft views the towering plume of ice particles erupting from the moon's south polar region.Multiple components of the overall plume are visible in this view of Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across).The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 24, 2007 at a distance of approximately...

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Neon Saturn

Flying over the unlit side of Saturn's rings, the Cassini spacecraft captures Saturn's glow, represented in brilliant shades of electric blue, sapphire and mint green, while the planet's shadow casts a wide net on the rings.This striking false-color mosaic was created from 25 images taken by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer over a period of 13 hours, and captures Saturn in nighttime...

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Spitzer Nets Thousands of Galaxies in a Giant Cluster

In just a short amount of time, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has bagged more than a thousand previously unknown dwarf galaxies in a giant cluster of galaxies.Despite their diminutive sizes, dwarf galaxies play a crucial role in cosmic evolution. Astronomers think they were the first galaxies to form, and they provided the building blocks for larger galaxies. They are by far the most numerous galaxies...

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Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching Dangerous Point

NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.Image above: Antarctica lost much more ice to the sea than it gained from snowfall according to a NASA survey done between 1992 and 2002. It also had a corresponding rise in sea level....

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