Space Science News

FERMI Improves its Vision for Thunderstorm Gamma-Ray Flashes
Thursday, December 6, 2012 - 11:24

Thanks to improved data analysis techniques and a new operating mode, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is now 10 times better at catching the brief outbursts of high-energy light mysteriously produced above thunderstorms.

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NASA Opportunity Rover Finishes Walkabout on Mars Crater Rim
Tuesday, December 4, 2012 - 15:11

The latest work assignment for NASA's long-lived Mars rover Opportunity is a further examination of an area where the robot just completed a walkabout.

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NASA Voyager 1 probe encounters new region in deep space
Monday, December 3, 2012 - 15:36

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region at the far reaches of our solar system that scientists feel is the final area the spacecraft has to cross before reaching interstellar space.

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Scientists discover water ice on Mercury
Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 15:32

Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system, revolves around the sun in a mere 88 days, making a tight orbit that keeps the planet incredibly toasty. Surface temperatures on Mercury can reach a blistering 800 degrees Fahrenheit — hot enough to liquefy lead. 

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A Multi-Wavelength View of Radio Galaxy Hercules A
Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 11:03

Spectacular jets powered by the gravitational energy of a supermassive black hole in the core of the elliptical galaxy Hercules A illustrate the combined imaging power of two of astronomy's cutting-edge tools, the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, and the recently upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico.

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Black hole upsets galaxy models
Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 07:56

A group headed by Remco van den Bosch from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy has discovered a black hole that shakes the foundations of current models of galaxy evolution. This monster has 17 billion solar masses and is thus significantly heavier than the models predict. And even more significantly: the object could be the most massive black hole known to date.

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