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Curiosity's search for Martian life may come up dry

Life on Mars The sedimentary processes on Mars have generally been governed by wind, not water – but is this the case where the Curiosity rover is searching for life at the moment. If this is the case (and Curiosity will either confirm or infirm this when it reaches Mount Sharp next year), then odds […]

Scientists create a remix of the Big Bang sound

A decade ago, American physics professor John Cramer released an audio file which made history: the sound of the theorized Big Bang that formed the universe. Now, armed with new data and more observations, Cramer has released a remix – an improved version of the universe’s first one hit wonder. “In general, there are no sounds […]

Black-hole wakes up from slumber and feasts on super-Jupiter planet

In an unexpected discovery, astronomers have surprised a supermassive black hole that had been dormant for the past decades “waking up” and feasting upon an unsuspecting planet that had drifted too close to its event horizon.  The mass of the planet hints towards a giant Jupiter or a small brown dwarf. Also, a similar event […]

Astronomers find out why galaxies get spiral arms

I was always puzzled by the tentacle-like spiral arms some galaxies (including our own) develop; it just seems so counter intuitive and senseless, that most researchers agreed they are only transient features, which come and go in galactic history. But astronomers working at University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics claim that these […]

How to brush your teeth in space [VIDEO]

There are a number of daily chores, activities and trifles that require a distinct amount of care and attention when in space that are inversely proportional to the care the same activities require back on Earth. In a recently released video Chris Hadfield, the commander of the Expedition 35 crew now living aboard the International Space Station […]

NASA receives funding for Europa mission

Few destinations in our solar systems are as likely to hold life as Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Even though on the surface it’s a barren, frozen wasteland, there is every reason for it to host life beneath its surface. So it’s quite easy to understand why we’re so excited to see that on page […]

Amazing gigapixel panoramic view of Mars by Curiosity rover

Since Curiosity landed, it has more than made its money worth, especially considering the mission’s most recent official public briefing when NASA JPL lead scientists announced they found evidence Mars was once capable of supporting life. It’s not only about science though, it’s also about beauty, rugged adventure and seeing things for the first time that […]

Historic ISS rendzvous with manned spacecraft set for today [UPDATE]

This afternoon a Soyuz spacecraft carrying three astronauts (two Russian and one American) is set for launch out of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, destined for the International Space Station, at 4:43 p.m. The flight is set to be a historical one, as it will set a new milestone in space launches. Typically, all manned flights up […]

New type of supernova discovered. Hint: it's tiny and faint

Supernovae are highly energetic events caused by the explosion of stars that are at times so bright they can outshine whole galaxies. These are thought to occur in two varieties, but a recently published paper has a described a third type of supernova, one that’s fainter than the other two and distinguishes itself by the […]

Black hole ripping apart a red dwarf that's orbiting at records speeds

ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope has found a star and a black hole that orbit each other at the whopping rate of once every 2.4 hours. Basically, the star orbits the black hole at 2,000,000 km/hr. The black hole here is 3-4 times heavier than the Sun, while the red dwarf has a mass just 20% […]

Apollo 11 rocket engines may have been recovered from Atlantic Ocean floor

Jeff Bezos is an extraordinary individual whom I admire very much, not because of its almost ubiquitous success in every attempt he has endeavored, but rather because Bezos, much like SpaceX‘s Elon Musk, is a man of vision – a man that recognizes value both in man and nature, and strives for progress. The Amazon founder, […]

Map of the earliest recorded light paints broad picture of the ancient Universe

Using the incredible  Planck cosmology probe astronomers at the European Space Agency have assembled a map of the “oldest light” in the sky – the cosmic microwave background (CMB) that was thrown into space in all directions just a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang and which is still picked up here on Earth today. […]

After 34 years in space, Voyager has finally left the solar system

To boldly go where no man has gone before: a spacecraft launched from Earth, Voyager I has pushed into the great unknown, leaving behind our solar system. For years, astronomers have been discussing about when Voyager will finally leave the solar system – and it’s actually pretty hard to draw a line and say that […]

Early asteroids in our solar system may have been giant mudballs, not rocks

There are millions of asteroids in our solar system. Be them the size of France or a small bus, these space rocks can be found through out the solar system, and have recently become the subject of entrepreneurial discussions, since even a single medium-sized asteroid is thought to carry trillions of dollars worth of rare […]

Amazing photos of comet PAN-STARSS. Also, anonymous donation of $3 million helps keep observation program alive

This month the PAN-STARSS comet can be seen at its brightest, a truly rare event that can be witnessed in all its splendor in the skies around the world with simple magnifying tools such as binoculars. Some have reported they could see the comet with the naked eye, but if you plan on catching sight […]

Curiosity rover halted once more due to computer glitch. More signs of ancient Martian water found in the meantime

The Curiosity rover is in a bit of trouble and is currently facing it’s longest period of inactivity since its touchdown on Mars. At the beginning of March, the rover experience fatal memory errors in one of its two side computers, presumably due to radiation exposure, which forced scientists on Earth to put the rover into […]

Rare, spectacular views of solar eclipse as seen from space

NASA space observatory sends back a couple of mind blowing eye dazzling images of the Sun. I guess I’m exaggerating a little bit, but I’m really loving these pics. The people working at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) had another of their periodic “wow” moments when the latest transmissions from space turned up a couple […]

Super-dense celestial bodies may be new types of planet

Despite all the magnificent advancements in the field, we are still in the infancy of our research on extraterrestrial planets, so it shouldn’t really surprise anybody if a new type of planet is found. Mysterious dense bodies outside the Solar System which have puzzled astronomers for quite a while may in fact be remnants of […]

Extraterrestrial life found in meteorites? Uhm, probably not

Ok, so big news on the horizon: alien life forms have been found in a meteorite that recently crashed in Sri Lanka, on December 29, bringing along a new perspective on how we view the origin and movement of life. But… have they really? Well, sorry to burst your bubble ladies and gentlemen, but in […]

Rare and elusive triple quasar system discovered

This is only the second time ever that astronomers have managed to identify a triple quasar system – a highly elusive and very difficult to observe phenomenon. The international team of researchers identified and described the triple quasar system named QQQ J1519+0627 in a paper published in the Oxford University Press journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical […]

Astonishing news from NASA: evidence of hospitable environment for ancient Martian life found

I just finished watching NASA‘s latest and definitely most important Curiosity briefing to date. There the Curiosity team announced findings nothing short of spectacular: a slew of chemical elements, minerals and other chemicals have been found in the rover’s first drilled rock sample on Mars,  hinting that, at least in the vicinity of the sample […]

Watch NASA's latest Curiosity briefing live @ 1 P.M.

The space agency just recently tweeted that it will hold a public briefing centered around the rover Curiosity to inform the public on what’s going on with the mission. The conference will be streamed live today at 1 PM ET, or in less than an hour from the time of writing. You can also watch […]

SpaceX's Grasshoper makes record hop. One step closer to reusable rockets

SpaceX, a company that has made tremendous leaps forward in the past year alone, has recently completed yet another successful test of its reusable Grasshopper spacecraft. This isn’t the Grasshopper’s first test run, but this time around it bested it previous record after it hoped to an altitude nearly 24 stories high, hovered for 34 […]

Seas of molten and solidified rock on the Moon can be mistaken for pristine rocks

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) shows that molten rock created by lunar impacts has been around for much longer than previously believed. During its earliest days, the Moon was covered in an ocean of molten rock, pretty much like every planet out there. As that lunar magma ocean […]

Curiosity rover software glitch patched, set to recover

The beginning of the month was a troublesome one for humanity’s Magellan on Mars – the Curiosity rover – and its team of engineers behind it after a major malfunction forced one of its computers to enter into safe mode. Luckily, the NASA engineers have thought of almost every possible glitch and also had this […]

Closest star system found in a century

A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun – the closest astronomers have found a star system since 1916. The discovery was made by Kevin Luhman, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University. Both stars in the system are brown dwarfs – not exactly stars, […]

First remote reconnaissance of another solar systems reveals unlike "any other known object in our Universe"

Researchers have for the first time conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant planetary system with a new telescope imaging system. Peeking at other planets Project 1640 is a dedicated high contrast imaging program at Palomar Observatory with the goal of obtaining images and spectra of brown dwarfs and planetary mass companions to nearby stars. […]

Buried Mars river tells of recent megaflood

Our understanding and appreciation of Mars has greatly shifted in the past decade alone. If previously scientists used to thought the planet had been dead and bared geologically-wise for billions of years, recent evidence shows that Mars has been marked by a series of geological events. Using radar technology, scientists have now found water-carved channels buried […]

Russian researchers find "new bacteria" in Vostok Lake

A while ago, we were telling you about the very exciting environment that is lake Vostok. The lake has been sealed under ice for more than a million years; researchers believed that it still harbored life, possibly bacterian life that evolved on a parallel evolution line. Now, Russian researchers believe they confirmed that hunch, finding […]

Tasting the surface of Europa

If you were to lick the surface of Jupiter‘s icy moon Europa, you would actually be sampling a bit of the ocean beneath – at least that’s what a new paper by Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and Kevin Hand from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory concludes. Their […]

Astronomers calculate the distance to the neighboring galaxy

Researchers have, for the first time, calculated the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy neighboring the Milky Way. Care to take a guess? According to these calculations, it’s just 163.000 light-years away. For measurements inside our solar system, researchers use a technique called parallax. Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent […]

The 2018 manned mission to Mars will use poop as radiation shielding

Eccentric  millionaire Dennis Tito – better known for being the first tourist astronaut in space – announced late last month that he has set-up a manned mission to Mars called Inspiration Mars set to put the first man and woman into Martian orbit by 2018. As audacious as the plan might seem, Tito claims that […]

Cassini Spies Bright Venus From Saturn Orbit

I’m an absolute fan of the Cassini spacecraft – this is hands down my favorite mission. I mean, it’s been providing us incredibly valuable information for years now, in a very interesting area of our solar system, the Jupiter-Saturn area. This mission is one of the main reasons why we now believe places like Europa […]

SpaceX Dragon Capsule docks with ISS

After a great deal of excitement following a glitch in the Dragon Capsule’s thrusters, the SpaceX vessel docked with the International Space Station as commander Kevin Ford wielded the lab’s robot arm and secured the spacecraft for berthing. A day late, the Dragon made a near-perfect rendezvous with the ISS 253 miles above northern Ukraine, much to the […]

A tribute to the Apollo 14 [fantastic photos]

Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the United States Apollo program and the third to land on the Moon. Here, we present a stunning photo album with the shuttle, the crew, and the Moon.  

Curiosity suffers software glitch, gets put into safe mode

NASA’s Curiosity rover has been put into “safe mode” after some files which it relies on running have defected. Exactly what damaged the files on the robot’s flash memory is not known. “We’re still early on in the process,” said project manager Richard Cook.”We have probably several days, maybe a week of activities to get […]

SpaceX launches third flight to the ISS, Dragon capsule suffers engine glitch

Just a few hours ago, SpaceX launched its third flight to the International Space Station tasked with carrying precious cargo as part of its current contract with NASA. Shortly after the 10:10 AM EST launch of the Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, however, the Dragon Capsule experienced a glitch shortly after parting with its rocket. The […]

Taking a peak inside a planetary womb

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have obtained what is likely the first direct observation of a forming planet still embedded in a thick disc of gas and dust. If the finding is confirmed, it could significantly boost what we already know about forming planets. An international team led by Sascha Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) […]

NASA discovers surprise energy belt surrounding Earth

A ring of radiation that scientists knew nothing about fleetingly surrounded our planet last year, before being blown away by a powerful interplanetary shock, researchers say. Astronomic intuition Usually, whenever NASA launches a spacecraft, they wait weeks or even months to finely tune all its instruments. It’s a rite of passage that all shuttles (and […]

NASA releases global salinity map

NASA has, for the first time, released a global map of ocean salinity. The first thing that popped up for me was the pulse of freshwater gushing from the Amazon, but other major features are worth noticing. An invisible seam divides the salty Arabian Sea from the fresher waters of the Bay of Bengal and […]

Supermassive black hole spin measured for first time - nears the speed of light

Astronomers have made the first accurate measurement of a supermassive black hole’s spin, providing new insights that might help scientists probe the mysteries the surround them. Supermassive black holes have an incredibly huge gravitational pull that doesn’t let anything in its surroundings escape its hungry maw, be it dust, rock or even light. Some are […]

ESA announces asteroid set for spaceship crash

The European Space Agency just announced the asteroid they chose for an upcoming controlled crash landing of one of their spacecraft. The objective? Well, more or less, they just want to see what happens. The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission will intercept the asteroid, called Didymos, in 2022, when the asteroid gets within […]

Alien life hunters hold white dwarf stars as safest bet

Though hundreds of potentially life harboring exoplanets have been discovered thus far, until the James Webb Space Telescope becomes operational, sometime around 2018, scientists today lack the resources to peer into the guts of these planet and  determine a realistic chance of hosting life. Even when the JWT goes live, however, it will take hundreds […]

Origin of meteorite that shook Russia traced using amateur footage

Most of us likely own a phone  that has more computing power than that available for the entire Apollo mission which landed a man on the moon, still rather curiously we choose to dedicate most of it to browsing photos of cute cats on the web. Nevertheless, there comes a time when pedestrian technology can […]

Star in our galaxy is almost as old as the Universe

A metal poor star located in the Milky Way galaxy, “just” 190 light years away from our Sun is 14.46+-0.80 billion years old – nearly as much as the age of the Universe! All stars follow a stellar evolutionary path; by knowing some parameters about the star (such as mass, luminosity, and surface temperature), astronomers […]

Watery past challenges theory of moon's origin

According to a new study, the generally accepted theory on lunar formation may have to be reexamined. A relatively recent study has found water in the Moon’s original crust, which means that water found in those rocks didn’t come from an outside source, but was already there when the Moon was formed – something impossible, […]

Millionaire planes private trip to Mars within five years

Millionaire Dennis Tito, 72, is widely known as the first private citizen to fly into space in 2001. But being the entrepreneurial spirit he is, he wants to go even further  – he plans to send two astronauts to Mars in 2018. We’re still awaiting for the next week conference in which he will announce […]

Jupiter's moon Europa much more likely to host life - no mission planned yet

As the search for life on Mars intensifies, it’s good to remember that there are other places in our own solar system that are much more likely to host life. This may be a “captain obvious” moment for some, but may come as quite the surprise for others. Europa, despite its frozen surface, is thought […]

NASA radar observation shows asteroid 2012 DA14 flyby [VIDEO]

I realize we’re maybe bugging some of you with these constant asteroid/meteor pieces here on ZME Science, but for what’s it worth we found this recently released NASA video comprised of radar images during 2012 DA14’s recent flyby very interesting. The movie, which combines 73 radar-images  captured over the course of eight hours on the […]

NASA observers rapidly growing sun spot

What you see in this picture is two black spots on the sun, known as sunspots, which appeared quickly over the course of Feb. 19-20, 2013 and have grown quickly over the past couple of days. Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions; they are […]

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