Universe Today

I wanted to know, so I decided to ask him. And thanks to “Team Coco” and Google Plus, I was able to — last night at 9:30 p.m. Central/7:30 p.m. Pacific, to be exact.

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Read the rest of What Does Conan O’Brien Think About Space Exploration? (355 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: comedy, Conan O'Brien, Google Plus, hangout, space, TV, video

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M55. Image credit: ESO

Globular clusters are my absolute favorite telescope targets. Okay, Saturn, and then globular clusters. And that’s why I’ve absolutely fallen in love with this amazing picture from the European Southern Observatory of the globular cluster M55, located in the constellation Sagittarius. In fact, it’s my new desktop wallpaper (it should be yours too, click here and download the screensize that fits your monitor)
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Read the rest of M55 — Or a Swarm of Angry Bees? (391 words)

© Fraser for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: Astronomy, globular clusters, M55, Observing

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The latest installment of the excellent Symphony of Science series is out, and like every one of them it’s a fun, inspirational and educational trip through the cosmos with voiceovers by leading astronomers and physicists. These are great, and if you haven’t seen the others be sure to check them out on creator John Boswell’s YouTube channel here.

Read more on the Symphony of Science website.

“We are part of this universe
We are in this universe
The universe is in us
Yes, the universe is in us”

– Neil deGrasse Tyson

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments |
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Folding Eclipse Glasses

There are two amazing events coming up that you’re going to want to watch: the May 20th Annular Eclipse, and the June 5/6 Venus Transit. If you want to watch these spectacles with your own eyes, you need to protect your vision from the burning ball of plasma in the sky – get a pair of Eclipse Glasses.
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Read the rest of Buy Some Eclipse Glasses for the Upcoming Annular Eclipse or Venus Transit (154 words)

© Fraser for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments |
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Our galaxy has exoplanets, organic compounds, liquid water -- even a nebula shaped like DNA -- but is there life? (Image credit: M. Morris/UCLA)

Are we too hopeful in our hunt for extraterrestrial life? Regardless of exoplanet counts, super-Earths and Goldilocks zones, the probability of life elsewhere in the Universe is still a moot point — to date, we still only know of one instance of it. But even if life does exist somehow, somewhere besides Earth, would it really be all that alien?

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Read the rest of Alien Life May Not Be So Alien – If It Exists At All (554 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 16 comments |
Post tags: alien, Astrobiology, evolution, exoplanets, Gerald Joyce, life, nebula

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The transition between Acidalia Planitia and Tempe Terra from the Mars Express High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). Credit ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

ESA’s Mars Express orbiter has sent back images revealing terrain that seems to have been sculpted by flowing water, lending further support to the hypothesis that Mars had liquid water on its surface at some point.

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Read the rest of More Evidence of Mars’ Watery Past (212 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments |
Post tags: esa, Mars, Mars Express, planet, Solar System, water

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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to detect a super Earth's direct light for the first time using its sensitive heat-seeking infrared vision. Super Earths are more massive than Earth but lighter than gas giants like Neptune. As this artist's concept shows, in visible light, a planet is lost in the glare of its star (top view). When viewed in infrared, the planet becomes brighter relative to its star. This is largely due to the fact that the planet's scorching heat blazes with infrared light. Even on our own bodies emanate more infrared light than visible due to our heat. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The star 55 Cancri has been a source of joy and firsts for planet hunters. Not only was it one of the first known stars to host an extrasolar planet, but now the light from one of its five known planets has been detected directly with the Spitzer Space Telescope, the first time a ‘smaller’ exoplanet’s light has been detected directly. Planet “e” is a super-Earth, about twice as big and eight times as massive as Earth. Scientists say that while the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

“Spitzer has amazed us yet again,” said Bill Danchi, Spitzer program scientist. “The spacecraft is pioneering the study of atmospheres of distant planets and paving the way for NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to apply a similar technique on potentially habitable planets.”

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Read the rest of Light From a ‘SuperEarth’ Detected for the First Time (577 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 27 comments |
Post tags: 55Cancri, Extrasolar Planets, Spitzer Space Telescope

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Earth Observation of sun-glinted ocean and clouds

As astronomers continue to discover more exoplanets, the focus has slowly shifted from what sizes such planets are, to what they’re made of. First attempts have been made at determining atmospheric composition but one of the most desirable finds wouldn’t be the gasses in the atmosphere, but the detection of liquid water which is a key ingredient for the formation of life as we know it. While this is a monumental challenge, various methods have been proposed, but a new study suggests that these methods may be overly optimistic.

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Read the rest of Searching for Exoplanet Oceans More Challenging Than First Thought (376 words)

© jvois for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments |
Post tags: Extrasolar Planets, habitable zone

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Many types of craters are captured in this panorama of recent Dawn images

Bright craters, dark craters… craters shaped like butterflies… they’re all represented here in a panorama made from images acquired by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, currently in orbit around the asteroid Vesta.

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Read the rest of The Bright and Dark Side of Vesta’s Craters (322 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 4 comments |
Post tags: asteroid, conference, craters, dawn, NASA, Solar System, surface, vesta

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April 30, 2012 static fire test of Falcon 9 rocket at Pad 40 in Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has announced that the upcoming launch of the firms Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft on the commercial COTS 2 mission has been postponed to a new target date of no earlier than May 19 with a backup launch date of May 22.

On May 19, the Falcon 9 rocket would lift off on its first night time launch at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT) from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Two launch opportunities had been available this week on May 7 and May 10, following the most recent slip from April 30. (...)
Read the rest of SpaceX Dragon Launch Slides to May 19 (489 words)

© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 12 comments |
Post tags: COTS, COTS 2, Dragon capsule, Falcon 9, International Space Station (ISS), ISS, Space Shuttle, Space X Dragon, SpaceX

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