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First flowers to bloom on the International Space Station

For the first time, we are about to grow flowers above the atmosphere.

New Horizons images suggest Pluto is geologically active

NASA released a stunningly colorful new image of the dwarf planet Pluto, the latest in a series of images that steadily trickle down from the New Horizons probe since it left the solar system this July. And it's not only eye candy either; the features this picture reveals has left the smart guys at the agency scratching their heads.

NASA reveals the suits astronauts will use on Mars

If everything goes according to plan, we'll be going to Mars in the mid 2030s - using these suits.

Martian Moon is falling apart

Attraction to someone can tear you apart, metaphorically, but if you're the Martian moon Phobos, attraction can tear you apart - literally.

New most distant body in the Solar system identified

A new dwarf planet, designated V774104 has been identified and now takes the crown of most distant object in our solar system, being three times farther away than Pluto. The dwarf planet is estimated to be between 500 and 1000 kilometers across. Astronomers don't yet have enough data to estimate its orbit and estimate that about an year of observations is needed to gather enough data for a precise answer.

What makes a planet? Finally a simple formula that includes exoplanets as well

There is only one clear set of official criteria by which we class or not a cosmic body as a planet. These criteria introduced in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union saw Pluto demoted to the status of dwarf planet. Oddly enough, though, these rules were made for classing planets only in our solar system, meaning the 5,000 exoplanets (what should be planets outside our solar system) identified so far are now in a "definitional limbo," according to planetary astronomer Jean-Luc Margot at UCLA. Luckily, Margot has come up with a solution which seems to work marvelously.

Astronaut food: what astronauts eat in space

Many of you reading this hope to one day be able to explore outer space; the thrill of discovery, entwined with the peace and solitude that only the silent void can provide. It's awesome stuff, I'm completely on board. But as it usually goes, great adventures come with great sacrifices.

Scientists see something shooting out of a black hole for the first time

Just like predicted, astronomers observed a flare ejected out of a black hole... but they don't know exactly why.

NASA announcement: Martian atmosphere was stripped by solar wind

NASA figured out how Mars transformed from a lush environment to a red desert.

Want to become an astronaut? Maybe even go to Mars? Now you can apply

From Dec. 14, NASA is opening applications for its new astronaut crew. The minimal requirements aren't that strict, but as you might imagine to make the cut you'll have to prove you're better than a stellar class of applicants.

NASA to make major announcement about Mars

NASA just loves to hype up its announcements, but so far, they've never disappointed.

Earth From Space: 15 Amazing Things in 15 Years from the ISS

NASA recently celebrated 15 years of continuous habitation on the International Space Station. During this time, the ISS and other satellites brought us an inestimable trove of information, pushing forth our understanding of the planet by a wide margin. Let’s have a look at some of these accomplishments. Detecting the ozone hole Monitoring the ozone hole […]

The ISS: in space for 15 years

It's a remarkable landmark for the International Space Station (ISS) - it's been successfully orbiting the Earth for 15 years.

Scientists find hydrocarbon dunes on Saturn's moon Titan

Saturn's moon Titan has some odd similarities to Earth: it has clouds, lakes and rain, except they're made of methane and ethane.

Science sexism at its finest: Russian astronauts asked how they will manage without make-up and men

It was exciting at first when Russia announced that six female astronauts would live in a spacecraft in Moscow for eight days, but it went downhill fast.

Jupiter may have ousted a fifth gas giant out of the solar system 4 billion year ago

Our solar system likely had a fifth gas giant in its initial configuration, but the planet was ejected by Jupiter a new study suggests.

Russia wants to fight gender inequality by hilariously planning an all-female mission to the moon

Russia is locking up six women together to simulate a trip to the moon and back. But no one is taking this too seriously, it seems.

Big Surprise: Rosetta finds primordial oxygen on a comet

For the first time, astronomers have detected primordial oxygen gassing out from a comet

Wall-Less Hall drives poised to unlock space colonization

French scientist working on the Hall thrusters -- an advanced type of engine that harnesses a stream of plasma to generate forward momentum -- have recently figured out a way to optimize them, allowing them to run on (wait for it) a staggering 100 million times less fuel than conventional chemical rockets. The research has been published in Applied Physics Letters.

Is the ISS filthy? Dangerous bacteria could threaten astronauts

There's no getting rid of our microscopic friends - where there are people there are bacteria, even in outer space.

NASA prepares for historic Cassini flyby

NASA is preparing for a historical approach to Enceladus, plunging its Cassini spacecraft deep through the icy spray coming from the ocean on Enceladus.

Geopicture of the Week: Brilliant new high-resolution maps of the Moon released

If you’ve ever wanted to plan a hiking trip on the Moon, now you have the perfect opportunity: a gorgeous pair of new lunar maps – the Image Mosaic and Topographic Maps of the Moon – is now available online for everyone to see and download. To me, it’s mind blowing that we have so high quality maps […]

Scientists find alcoholic comet, that keeps spewing alcohol

True to its name, comet Lovejoy is having a stellar party, releasing large amounts of ethanol, the same type of alcohol found in terrestrial alcoholic beverages.

Scientists find two stars touching - and the consequences are... explosive!

About 160,000 light-years away, two stars are overlapping in what could be poetically described as an explosive catastrophic kiss.

Biggest space picture ever: a 46 billion megapixel view of the Milky Way

After five years of painstakingly stitching together pictures of the Milky Way, astronomers from Ruhr University Bochum have finally completed their masterpiece: the largest ever space photo. It has a whooping 46 billion megapixel and 194 GB in file size. It's so large, in fact, that the astronomers had to cut it in 268 sections for it be manageable.

Astronomers witness an exploding star devouring a dwarf planet

It's something no human has ever seen before: as a star reaches its terminal phase, it blows up the system around it.

Many Earth-Like Planets Haven't Formed Yet

Where are all the Earth-like planets? Well, they haven't formed yet!

"Fingers" of Plasma Invade Saturn's Magnetic Field

NASA's Cassini probe recently observed mysterious, huge amounts of plasma on the fringes of Saturn's magnetic field; surprisingly, they were shooting hundreds of thousands of kilometers inward.

ESA and Russia join forces to put man back on the moon

The last time humans set foot on the moon was 1972. Feeling confident it had clearly showed its superiority over Russia, the US felt no more reason to prove itself and immediately shut down subsequent missions. Once with funding gone - and its budget has been thinning since - NASA had to settle for less ambitious goals, and it's not like we can blame them. Building on outpost on the moon, versus say the International Space Station, is not only a lot more expensive, but also impractical. Recent findings, however, suggest there's a lot to gain from having an outpost on the moon, of some sorts at least. That's because the interest has shifted from prestige, or at least not only, to the potentially bountiful economic activities. Minerals, helium-3 (fuel) or precious metals can all be mined from the moon, trillions worth. But before you can shuttle minerals back from the moon, you at least need a footing of some sort. Understanding this, the European Space Agency and Roscosmos banded together to send a robotic probe to an unexplored region of the moon. The ultimate goal, they say, is to prepare the ground for humans.

NASA awards the best designs for a 3-D printed Mars habitat

With today's propulsion tech, it takes at least 1.5 years for a manned crew to reach Mars, and at least as much to get back - provided there's a return mission. There's only so much that can fit in a spacecraft, and besides the supplies astronauts need for the long trip, there's precious cargo that's required to sustain the mission on site like construction materials, lab equipment, food and so on. Remember the last time you went camping? Well, this time we're headed to another planet and forgetting about toiler paper is the least of your worries. But when NASA handles logistics, you know things are tight to the last bolt. Sometimes, outside help and fresh minds are more than welcome, which is why the space agency held a very interesting competition called the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge Design Competition which awards the most innovative, but practical designs of habitats on Mars.

Astronaut Scott Kelly Breaks Record for Days in Space, and It's Important

United States Astronaut Scott Kelly has just beaten the record for the most cumulative days in space, and this is significant for several reasons.

NASA's three stage plan for going to Mars

After the glorious Apollo missions that led humans to the Moon for the first time, it's time for a new Golden Age of space exploration - and NASA has a solid plan for that.

Something is blocking light from a distant star, and one of the possibilities is an alien structure

It's likely not aliens, but it could be - and it's really, really strange.

Earth's gravity pull is opening cracks and faults on the Moon

Just as the Moon is causing waters on Earth to go up and down (tides), so too does the Earth affect the Moon. Recently, researchers have found that our planet's gravitational pull is having a deep effect on our satellite, opening new cracks and faults on its surface.

SpaceX has something major in the works, and we're really excited

Normally, when people say they're working on "the coolest thing ever", we raise our eyebrows in skepticism; but when SpaceX says that... we give them the benefit of a doubt. I mean, they're doing some pretty monumental things as it is, and when they are excited about something, we are excited about something.

When Earth's solid inner core formed: 1 to 1.5 billion years ago

Our planet's magnetic field is the first and ultimate shield that guards life from the elements of space, particularly radiation. It's enough to look at Mars, which also had a magnetic field but only for 500 million years, to see what could happen were it absent: what was once a "blue planet", filled with vasts oceans of liquid water, maybe even vegetation and other life forms, is now a barred red rock. This invisible, protective shield likely existed shortly after the planet formed 4.5 billion years ago, when it was still a big blob of molten rock. It was only after the super hot iron liquid core lost enough heat to freeze (more properly said, it solidified) did the field become strong enough to allow life to foster. Previous studies estimated this happened sometime between 500 million and 2 billion years ago. A more refined analysis by University of Liverpool places the timeline between 1 billion and 1.5 billion years ago.

NASA believes those spots on Ceres are actually salt

A few days ago, we were telling you about some spectacular features on Ceres, the dwarf planet / largest object in the asteroid belt. NASA's astronomers were puzzled by some white patches on Ceres' surface, which they initially presumed to be ice. Now, they believe those patches are actually salt.

How to weigh a star: a new mathematical method

A novel mathematical model can weigh the mass of a pulsar - a rapidly rotating magnetized neutran star - using principles of nuclear physics, rather than gravity. Up until now, the mass of a star could only be determined in relation with other bodies, based on the gravitational pull these exerted. Now, using the new model scientists will be able to study pulsars in isolation, allowing for more precise measurements than ever before.

Pluto's Charon reveals colorful and violent past

NASA's New Horizons shuttle wasn't only taking mind blowing photos of Pluto, it was also peeking at Pluto's moons, especially Charon - the largest one. The latest set of images analyzed by NASA researchers revealed quite a busy past, filled with violence and geologic activity.

Hurricane Joaquin will rage on, experience eyewall replacement

Hurricane Joaquin is an active tropical cyclone that severely impacted large parts of the Bahamas and is currently threatening Bermuda, although its extremities will also pass through other areas in the Atlantic, including Britain. Now, according to NASA data, the hurricane will be experiencing a phenomenon called eyewall replacement.

NASA releases all 8,400 photos from the Apollo Moon Mission

It’s a great day to be a space fan: NASA has just released all the photos taken by Apollo astronauts on lunar missions; digitized and grouped by the roll of film they were shot on, that’s over 8,400 images, featuring the blurry moon, the missed shots, and above all, the great features from a great […]

NASA continues to reveal insights about Ceres

At the European Planetary Science Conference in Nantes, France, NASA presented some spectacular maps and observations about Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, and the largest of the minor planets within the orbit of Neptune. Astronomers analyzed data coming from the Dawn spacecraft, which entered orbit around Ceres on 6 March 2015.

Why NASA's rovers can't investigate the Martian water

Two days ago, NASA made a spectacular announcement: they found liquid water on Mars, confirming suspicions and clues from years ago. But while they make a compelling case for the water, it would still be better to examine it on the spot, except there's a slight problem with that: NASA can't immediately investigate the water on-site, using the Curiosity rover or anything else, because it's bound by international treaties.

Yes, there's liquid water flowing on the surface of Mars!

During an extraordinary conference hosted by NASA, a team of researchers report that flowing briny water is flowing out of Martian mountain slopes. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, time to pull yourself together and check out some more details.

India launches its own 'Hubble' telescope in space, along with six other satelites

Another boost for India's low-cost, but extremely promising, space program took place this morning after the country launched its first space observatory in space. Blasting from the spaceport of Sriharikota, close to Chennai, the Astrosat telescope was deployed without any difficulties in Earth's orbit, some 650 km above. Along with it, some six satellites piggybacked, four belong to the US, one to Canada and the last to Indonesia.

A rose in its own right: Nebula blossoms in deep space photo

A rosy, star-forming nebula thousands of light years away from Earth is "blossoming" in a dazzling cosmic spectacle. Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula, the Swan Nebula and the Horseshoe Nebula was shot in some remarkable photos revealed by the European Space Agency.

Mother Earth: photo-documented from space by astronaut Scott Kelly

Veteran astronaut Scott Kelly launched in March, 2015 aboard a Soyuz rocket for a record breaking one-year stay at the ISS. Instead of three to six months, Kelly along with his Russian colleague, Mikhail Korniyenko, will spend 12 months so scientists can assess how his body responds to the stress. For instance, we know that living in microgravity atrophies muscles and deteriorates vision. Kelly isn't too worried, though. When not busy operating the International Space Station, Kelly is engaged in one of the most pleasing hobbies (for those of us living back on Earth, that is): space photography. Here are just a couple of his most amazing shots shared by Kelly on his facebook or twitter account. He updates these very frequently, even a couple of times a day, so be sure to tune in for some more gems.

Two supermassive black holes set for a collision that will shake the cosmos itself

That's what I call fatal attraction: two supermassive black holes are "dancing", drawn together by each other's humongous gravitational attraction, set for a collision that will likely send ripples through the very fabric of space-time.

Is landing SpaceX's Falcon 9 reusable rocket easy? Play this video game first

This may be the most annoying video game in history.

Even more awesome images of Pluto released!

I know, I know, we've spoiled you with awesome photos of Pluto already, this couldn't possibly surprise you, could it? Well, I dare say NASA has done it again - this new batch of New Horizons images is absolutely breathtaking.
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