A team of scientists has been combing through the payload of NASA's Stardust spacecraft since it returned to Earth in 2006. They found seven rare, microscopic interstellar dust particles, that most likely came from outside of our solar system. If
This video is a compilation of Perseid meteors seen by the NASA All Sky Fireball Network on the night of August 12-13, 2014. Even if you missed the peak show last night there is still time, just head out when it gets dark and enjoy. The rates are sharply
It's a known fact that planets have atmospheres, but the same can't be said for comets. The atmosphere of a comet, called its "coma," is made of gas and dust that spew out of the sun-warmed nucleus and it's typically wider than Jupiter.La
Observations made using Keck and Gemini observatories, Hawaii, revealed three massive volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's moon Io within a two-week period in August 2013, leading astronomers to speculate that these presumed rare "outbursts" migh
As hurricanes threaten the Aloha State, astronomers working at W. M. Keck Observatory on the island of Hawaii were surprised by the appearance of gigantic swirling storm systems on the distant planet Uranus.During the Voyager encounter with Uranus in 1986, only a scant
NASA's All Sky Cameras detected a bright fireball that broke apart in a brilliant flash of light above the Alabama town of Henagar, US, around 03:20 UTC on August 3, 2014 (22:20 EDT on August 2). Based on the meteor's speed, final altitude, and weak doppler rada
On August 6, 2014, after a decade-long journey through space, ESA’s comet chaser "Rosetta" will become the first spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet. Rosetta will also be the first mission in history to escort a comet as it or
ESA’s comet chaser Rosetta has made its first temperature measurements of its target comet, 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, and found that it is too hot to be covered in ice and must instead have a dark, dusty crust.The observations of the comet we
Late July and early August can be one of the best times of the year to observe meteors, weather permitted. This is because there are several minor meteor showers emanating from the adjacent constellations of Capricornus and Aquarius. However, the closest and the largest
A decades-old puzzle about a fog of low-energy X-rays observed over the entire sky was recently resolved. Thanks to refurbished detectors first flown on a NASA sounding rocket in the 1970s, astronomers have now confirmed the long-held suspicion that much of this glow st
