Summaries | Headlines

Origin Of Darkest Galaxies In The Universe Elucidated (February 17, 2007) -- Stelios Kazantzidis, a researcher at Stanford University's Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), and collaborators have developed an elegant explanation for how galaxies ... > full story

Rosetta Correctly Lined Up For Critical Mars Swingby (February 16, 2007) -- ESA mission controllers have confirmed Rosetta is on track for a critical 250-km Mars swingby on 25 February. Engineers have started final preparations for the delicate operation, which includes an ... > full story

Chandra Peers Into the Pillars of Creation (February 16, 2007) -- A new look at the famous "Pillars of Creation" with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has allowed astronomers to peer inside the dark columns of gas and dust. This penetrating view of the central ... > full story

Mars Orbiter Sees Effects Of Ancient Underground Fluids (February 16, 2007) -- Liquid or gas flowed through cracks penetrating underground rock on Mars, according to a report based on some of the first observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These fluids may have ... > full story

Spacecraft Reaches Milestone, Reports Technical Glitches (February 15, 2007) -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft this month is set to surpass the record for the most science data returned by any Mars spacecraft. While the mission continues to produce data at record ... > full story

Saturn's Moon Enceladus Is A 'Cosmic Graffiti Artist,' Astronomers Discover (February 14, 2007) -- Astronomers from the University of Virginia and other institutions have found that Enceladus, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn, is a "cosmic graffiti artist," pelting the surfaces of at least 11 ... > full story

Scientists Find High Energy Systems Hidden In 'Gas Cocoon' (February 13, 2007) -- Astronomers have found a new class of objects in space: a neutron star orbiting inside a cocoon of cold gas and/or dust that hides a bloated supergiant star. In a strange twist of fate, these objects ... > full story

Students Set To Fly Fire Balls In Space (February 13, 2007) -- Fires don't break out very often on board orbiting spacecraft, but when they do, standard fire extinguishers aren't necessarily the best way to put them out. Oddly enough -- after decades of ... > full story

First Hiking Maps Of Mars (February 13, 2007) -- Scientists using data from the HRSC experiment onboard ESA's Mars Express spacecraft have produced the first "hiker's maps" of Mars. Giving detailed height contours and names of geological features ... > full story

Colorful Demise Of A Sun-like Star (February 13, 2007) -- A brand new image taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 shows the planetary nebula NGC 2440 -- the chaotic structure of the demise of a ... > full story

Cluster: New Insights Into The Electric Circuits Of Polar Lights (February 12, 2007) -- Giant electrical circuits power the magical open-air light show of the auroras, forming arcs in high-latitude regions like Scandinavia. New results obtained thanks to ESA's Cluster satellites provide ... > full story

Introducing The 'Coolest' Spacecraft In The Universe (February 12, 2007) -- The European Space Agency's Planck mission, which will study the conditions present in our universe shortly after the Big Bang, is reaching an important milestone with the integration of instruments ... > full story

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Solstice -- The summer solstice is an astronomical term regarding the position of the sun in relation to the celestial equator. The summer solstice is the day of the year with the longest daylight period and ... > full article

Star Trek -- Star Trek is an American science fiction franchise. In addition to six television programs including the original 1966 Star Trek, the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry is the ... > full article

Edwin Hubble -- Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 - September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer, noted for his discovery of galaxies beyond the Milky Way and the cosmological redshift. Edwin Hubble was one ... > full article

Outer space -- Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and ... > full article

Solar radiation -- Solar radiation is radiant energy emitted by the sun, particularly electromagnetic energy. About half of the radiation is in the visible short-wave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The other ... > full article

Solar wind -- A solar wind is a stream of charged particles (i.e., a plasma) which are ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. When originating from stars other than the Earth's Sun, it is sometimes called a ... > full article

Quantum number -- A quantum number describes the energies of electrons in atoms. Each quantum number specifies the value of a conserved quantity in the dynamics of the quantum system. Since any quantum system can have ... > full article

Quantum mechanics -- Quantum mechanics is a fundamental branch of theoretical physics that replaces Newtonian mechanics and classical electromagnetism at the atomic and subatomic levels. It is the underlying framework of ... > full article

Introduction to quantum mechanics -- Quantum mechanics is a physical science dealing with the behaviour of matter and waves on the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It also forms the basis for the contemporary understanding of how ... > full article

Subatomic particle -- A subatomic particle is a particle smaller than an atom: it may be elementary or composite. Particle physics and nuclear physics concern themselves with the study of these particles, their ... > full article

Particle accelerator -- A particle accelerator is a device that uses electric fields to propel electrically charged particles to high speeds and magnetic fields to contain them. An ordinary CRT televison set is a simple ... > full article

Atom -- In chemistry and physics, an atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element that retains its chemical properties. Protons and neutrons make up a dense, massive atomic nucleus, and are ... > full article

Electron -- The Electron is a fundamental subatomic particle that carries an electric charge. It is a spin-half lepton that participates in electromagnetic interactions, and its mass is less than one thousandth ... > full article

Quark -- Quarks are one of the two basic constituents of matter in the Standard Model of particle physics. (The others are leptons.) Antiparticles of quarks are called antiquarks. Quarks and antiquarks are ... > full article

Phase (matter) -- A phase is a set of states of a macroscopic physical system that have relatively uniform chemical composition and physical properties (i.e. density, crystal structure, index of refraction, and so ... > full article

X-ray -- X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.1 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 to 3000 PHz. X-rays are primarily used for ... > full article

Astrobiology -- Astrobiology is the study of life in space, combining aspects of astronomy, biology and geology. It is focused primarily on the study of the origin, distribution and evolution of ... > full article

Rocket -- The traditional definition of a rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving fluid from within a rocket engine. There are many ... > full article

Volcano -- A volcano is an opening (or rupture) in the Earth's surface or crust, which allows hot, molten rock, ash, and gases to escape from deep below the surface. Volcanic activity involving the extrusion of ... > full article

Titan (moon) -- Titan, or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest moon in the solar system, after Jupiter's moon Ganymede. It is roughly 50% larger than Earth's moon by diameter, and is ... > full article