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Coming Soon: First-Ever Picture of a Black Hole

It will take an array of 50 telescopes to spot its shadow

(Newser) - How do you photograph a black hole, which is normally invisible due to the fact that its gravity is so intense it pulls in even light ? You probably won't be surprised to hear that it's never been done before—and that to do it for the first...

Astronomers: Yep, Milky Way Is White

And it has a lot of planets

(Newser) - What does the Milky Way look like, from outside the Milky Way? It seems like an impossible question to answer, but astronomers found a way—and discovered in the process that the Milky Way is, as one might have guessed, white. "If you looked at new spring snow, which...

Astronaut Shoots Comet Video... From Space

Lovejoy visible in 'most amazing' clip

(Newser) - An astronaut has captured video of a comet, and it looks like it's straight out of a sci-fi flick. International Space Station Commander Dan Burbank was snapping images of lightning storms over the Pacific when Comet Lovejoy made its appearance. He didn't know what it was at first,...

World's Biggest Plane to Rocket People into Space

Paul Allen project might be ready for tests in 2016

(Newser) - The world's biggest plane, with wings longer than a football field, is being built to launch astronauts and cargo into outer space. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace innovator Burt Rutan have teamed up to create the gargantuan aircraft, which will work by hauling a rocket high into the...

&#39;Large Regions&#39; of Mars Are Habitable

 'Large Regions' 
 of Mars Are 
 Habitable 
study says
Dec 12, 2011 7:45 AM CST

'Large Regions' of Mars Are Habitable

But no sign of aliens, spaceships: researchers

(Newser) - More fascinating news about the potential for life on Mars . Some 3% of Mars' volume is capable of sustaining life, Australian scientists have found—more than the 1% of Earth that contains living things. Researchers based their findings on a comparison between the two planets' temperature and pressure attributes, AFP...

Tomorrow's Full Lunar Eclipse Last for 3 Years

So if you want to see it, head to the Pacific

(Newser) - Set your alarm, because tomorrow's total lunar eclipse is one you don't want to miss—the next one won't happen for three years. If you're really serious about seeing the reddish moon, you'll also want to hightail it to North America's western coast, pronto....

Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Launches

Thousands converge to watch

(Newser) - The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer is on its way to Mars. NASA today launched the six-wheeled, one-armed robotic rover, nicknamed Curiosity. An unmanned rocket blasted off with the spacecraft from Cape Canaveral. The journey to Mars will take 8 1/2 months and cover 354 million miles. Thousands of NASA...

Scientists Rank Livable Worlds

Saturn moon, exoplanet top lists

(Newser) - Looking for extraterrestrials? You might want to start with Saturn’s moon Titan. Scientists have ranked it the alien world most capable of supporting life, according to a “Planetary Habitability Index,” the BBC reports. The index takes into account the planet or moon’s surface, the presence of...

NASA Preps Biggest-Ever Mars Rover

Can planet sustain life? Curiosity will search for clues

(Newser) - It’s “a Mars scientist's dream machine”: NASA is getting ready to launch its largest-ever Mars rover on Saturday. It’s not just big—it’s “the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet,” the agency’s Mars...

Scientists Search for Cities in Space

Astronomers looking for bright cities in Kuiper Belt

(Newser) - If there were civilizations on distant planets, how would we know? Sure, we could turn some of our massive telescopes toward those planets, but we're still at least "two or three generations of telescope away" from being able to detect the light of a large city in another...

As Asteroid Zooms Past, NASA Nabs Images

Scientists see mysteries in grainy images

(Newser) - An asteroid passed closer to the Earth than any before it last night—it was just 201,000 miles away, making it closer than the moon —but to your average telescope it was nothing but a brief glimmer in the sky. NASA, however, has some pretty above-average telescopes, like...

Asteroid Swings By Earth Tonight

Want to see it? Good luck...

(Newser) - At 6:28pm Eastern time tonight, an aircraft carrier-sized asteroid will swing by Earth at a distance of 201,000 miles, which is within the moon’s orbit. That’s the closest an asteroid has come to the planet since 1976, but don’t worry: NASA has determined the space...

Russian Craft's Quest: Grab Martian Moondust

Takes tiny creatures along for the ride

(Newser) - A Russian spacecraft will depart for a Martian moon as soon as tomorrow. Its mission: to land on Phobos and collect soil to bring home to Earth, Scientific American reports. Researchers aim to learn about the moon’s development and composition. And should they discover ice or hydrated rocks, the...

Beam Me Up: NASA Explores 'Tractor Beams'

Study will examine ways to move objects via laser light

(Newser) - "Tractor beams" could soon move from science fiction to science fact, thanks to a NASA-funded study. Ideas for tractor beams—"the ability to trap and move objects using laser light," explains NASA —have been published, but none has been put into practice. "Though a mainstay...

NASA: We've IDed Most Killer Asteroids Out There

911 of the 981 big ones have been found

(Newser) - You can sleep easy tonight. Or easy-ish. NASA today announced that it has identified more than 90% of the giant asteroids out there that could threaten Earth (think dinosaur-killing size). "We know now where most of them are and where most of them are going. That really has reduced...

See the Satellite That Could Fall on You

Amateur astronomer Thierry Legault took the images last Thursday

(Newser) - The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite won't hit Earth until tomorrow afternoon , but an amateur astronomer managed to capture images of it tumbling toward us last week. Thierry Legault used a camera attached to a 14-inch telescope to record UARS as it passed over northern France last Thursday, reports the...

Domino's Says It Plans Store on the Moon

... though opening date is a little fuzzy

(Newser) - It’s tough to get a decent pizza in space—so tough that astronauts at the International Space Station once received a delivery from an earthbound Pizza Hut. Now, Domino’s Japanese operation is going a step further in the publicity wars: The chain swears it plans to open a...

Moon Younger Than We Thought
 Moon Younger 
 Than We Thought 
STUDY SAYS
Aug 18, 2011 2:40 AM CDT

Moon Younger Than We Thought

Rock analysis shaves 200M years off moon's age

(Newser) - The moon may be a lot younger than previously believed, according to scientists using the latest technology to analyze rocks brought back by the Apollo 16 mission nearly 40 years ago. The researchers say the rocks—a kind believed to be the oldest that can be found on the moon—...

Thank Meteorites for Life on Earth?

Space rocks hold elements of DNA

(Newser) - The ingredients for DNA aren’t just here on Earth—they can develop in space, too, a study suggests. Scientists with NASA and the Carnegie Institution analyzed 12 meteorites and found that 11 of them contained nucleobases, the rings in the middle of DNA molecules. That means the space rocks...

NASA Photos Point to Flowing Water on Mars

Mud 'tendrils' flow downhill, suggesting 'briny water'

(Newser) - New NASA images show “tendrils” of what appears to be mud flowing down hillsides, researchers say. “It's hard to imagine they are formed by anything other than fluid seeping down slopes,” notes one scientist. The cold temperatures when the tendrils appear suggest they aren’t fresh...

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