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2009

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  • Spirit Faces Uncertain Future as New Year Dawns

    Dec. 31, 2009

    NASA's Mars rover Spirit is about to mark six years of Red Planet exploration. However, the upcoming Martian winter could end the roving career of the beloved, scrappy robot.

  • Blue Moon on New Year's Eve

    Dec. 29, 2009

    Party planners take note. For the first time in almost twenty years, there's going to be a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve.

  • Voyager Makes an Interstellar Discovery

    Dec. 23, 2009

    The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that Physicssays should not exist. In the Dec. 24th issue of Nature, a team of scientists reveal how NASA's Voyager spacecraft have solved the mystery.

  • A Flash of Light from Titan

    Dec. 18, 2009

    NASA's Cassini Spacecraft has captured the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan, confirming the presence of liquid on the part of The Moondotted with many large, lake-shaped basins.

  • Colliding Auroras Produce Explosions of Light

    Dec. 17, 2009

    A continent-wide network of all-sky cameras has photographed a never-before-seen phenomenon: colliding auroras that produce explosions of light. The must-see images have solved a long-standing mystery of Northern Lights.

  • Climate One Stop Web Site Unveiled in Copenhagen

    Dec. 11, 2009

    This week, researchers attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen unveiled a unique web site that gathers and organizes climate data for decision makers, professional scientists and lay people.

  • The 2009 Geminid Meteor Shower

    Dec. 8, 2009

    The Geminid meteor shower has been intensifying in recent years, and researchers say 2009 could be the best year yet. This year's display peaks on Dec. 13th and 14th.

  • Sandtrapped Mars Rover Makes Big Discovery

    Dec. 2, 2009

    While stuck in a sandtrap, Mars rover Spirit has made a discovery one researcher calls "supremely interesting."

  • Monster Waves on the Sun are Real

    Nov. 24, 2009

    Data from NASA's STEREO spacecraft have confirmed the stunning reality of monster waves on the sun known as "solar tsunamis."

  • SOFIA Seeks Secrets of Planetary Birth

    Nov. 19, 2009

    Imagine cutting retractable doors in the side of a 747 airliner, installing a 17-ton telescope, and flying to the stratosphere to solve one of astronomy's greatest puzzles. That's what NASA and the German Aerospace Center plan to do with a cutting-edge airborne observatory named SOFIA.