Archive for 2008
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Old Solar Cycle Returns
March 27, 2008
News and Features -
Barely three months after forecasters announced the beginning of new Solar Cycle 24, old Solar Cycle 23 has returned.
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Cassini Spacecraft to Dive Into Water Plume of Saturn Moon
March 11, 2008
News and Features -
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make an unprecedented "in your face" flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wed., March 12.
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The 'Planet' in Planetary Nebulae
March 11, 2008
News and Features -
Scientists have found that planets may be partly responsible for the breathtaking appearance of planetary nebula. The research is helping astrobiologists understand the environments in which extrasolar planets develop, and providing insight into the future of our own Solar System.
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Tropical Cyclone Jokwe
March 10, 2008
News and Features -
Tropical Cyclone Jokwe grazed along the southern coast of Madagascar on the morning of March 11, 2008, when it was observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.
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Watching Alpha Centauri
March 10, 2008
News and Features -
Scientists have determined that one of the Solar System's closest stellar neighbors, Alpha Centauri, should harbor Earth-like planets. Knowing where to look for rocky planets is the first step in searching for habitable worlds around distant stars.
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La Nina Floods South America
March 10, 2008
News and Features -
Persistent, heavier-than-normal rains throughout February and March 2008 triggered flooding across parts of northern and central South America. La Niña conditions in the Pacific may have caused the unusual rainfall. February falls in the middle of the rainy season, and flooding is not unusual, but the effects were enhanced by the cooler-than-normal ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific that are associated with La Niña.
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Dark Halos Discovered on Mercury
March 07, 2008
News and Features -
The surprises continue. Scientists studying the harvest of photos from the MESSENGER spacecraft's Jan. 14th flyby of Mercury have found several craters with strange dark halos and one crater with a spectacularly shiny bottom.
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Auroras in Broad Daylight
March 06, 2008
News and Features -
Imagine living on a planet where Northern Lights fill the heavens at all hours of the day. Around the clock, even in broad daylight, luminous curtains shimmer and ripple across the sky, mesmerizing anyone who bothers to look.
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Mars Flows Run Dry
March 04, 2008
News and Features -
New research casts doubt on the idea that images of bright spots in Martian gullies indicate recently flowing water on Mars. The spots could have been caused by an avalanche of dry sand and gravel.
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NASA'S SDO Mission to Improve Predictions of Violent Space Weather
March 03, 2008
News and Features -
About 93 million miles from us lies an immense nuclear furnace spanning 100 Earths. In just one second, it produces enough power to supply the entire United States for nine million years. It is the closest star, our sun
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NASA’s Wine Sniffer
March 03, 2008
News and Features -
A detector designed to search for signs of life on Mars may prove useful closer to home. It turns out the device also excels at identifying the components of red wine and other foods and beverages that can cause headaches, or in extreme cases, even lead to strokes.
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NASA Spacecraft Photographs Avalanches on Mars
March 03, 2008
News and Features -
A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has taken the first ever image of active avalanches near the Red Planet's north pole. The image shows tan clouds billowing away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have just cascaded down.
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Spitzer in the Sky, with Diamonds
March 01, 2008
News and Features -
Researchers have developed a strategy for finding diamonds in space that can be 25,000 times smaller than a grain of sand. These tiny particles could provide insight into the distribution of molecules in the Universe that are important for the origin of life.