Road trip on tap for NASA's Mars rover in new year

PASADENA, California Since captivating the world with its acrobatic landing, the Mars rover Curiosity has fallen into a rhythm: Drive, snap pictures, zap at boulders, scoop up dirt. Repeat. Topping its to-do list in the new year: Set off toward a Martian mountain — a trek that will take up a good chunk of the year. Continue reading

Mars Rover Curiosity Spends Holidays at 'Grandma's House'

NASA’s Curiosity rover worked through the holiday season on Mars by taking a close look at an intriguing bit of Martian terrain, a region scientists have lovingly nicknamed “Grandma’s House.” The Curiosity rover is currently parked inside Yellowknife Bay, a shallow depression of odd terrain nestled inside the rover’s vast Gale crater landing site. Continue reading

Astronomers Spot Sudden Black Hole Flare Up – Video




05-10-2012 18:39 Astronomers using NASA’s Swift satellite recently detected a rise in high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, came from a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole. Continue reading

NASA's Curiosity rover to explore bizarre Martian mountain

The three-mile-tall Mount Sharp is an inviting target for investigation by NASA’s one-ton Mars rover, which is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet on Aug. 5. The towering mountain that NASA’s next Mars rover will explore after landing on the Red Planet next month remains mysterious to scientists, who say there’s nothing quite like it here on Earth Continue reading

Soyuz docks with space station, boosts crew back to six

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut, and a Japanese engineer — all space veterans — docked with the International Space Station early Tuesday after a flawless rendezvous. A Russian Soyuz ferry craft glided to a computer-orchestrated docking with the International Space Station early Tuesday, bringing a Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and a Japanese engineer to the lab complex two days after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft as seen from the space station early Tuesday during the final phases of a two-day rendezvous. Continue reading

NASA | Big Sunspot 1520 Releases X1.4 Class Flare – Video




13-07-2012 10:53 An X1.4 class flare erupted from the center of the sun, peaking on July 12, 2012 at 12:52 PM EDT. It erupted from Active Region 1520 which rotated into view on July 6. This video uses SDO AIA footage in 131(teal), 171(gold) and 335 (blue) angstrom wavelengths Continue reading