This week I recommend to follow @NiteSkyGirl for news from an amateur astronomer who still observes the night sky with her backyard telescopes. For more Twitter follow suggestions see our astronomy list @TheAstroBlog/astronomy Weekly Stumbles: NASA’s Spitzer Sees the Light … Continue reading
A newly unveiled company with some high-profile backers — including filmmaker James Cameron and Google co-founder Larry Page — is set to announce plans to mine near-Earth asteroids for resources such as precious metals and water. Continue reading
Some space advocates argue that private property rights on the Moon and other bodies are essential to the future of space development. Is there a way to accept property claims under the current treaty regime? “There’s maybe a loophole here” for space property rights, Rand Simberg said. Continue reading
A group of European astronomers has discovered an ancient planetary system that is likely to be a survivor from one of the earliest cosmic eras, 13 billion years ago. The system consists of the star HIP 11952 and two planets, which have orbital periods of 290 and 7 days, respectively. Continue reading
Observations by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have come up with a new class of planet, a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere. It’s smaller than Uranus but larger than Earth. Continue reading
NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft successfully refined its flight path Feb. 1 with the mission’s first trajectory correction maneuver. The maneuver is the first of a dozen planned rocket firings that, over the next five years, will keep Juno on course for its rendezvous with Jupiter. Continue reading
Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission have discovered the three smallest planets yet detected orbiting a star beyond our sun. The planets orbit a single star, called KOI-961, and are 0.78, 0.73 and 0.57 times the radius of Earth. The smallest is about the size of Mars. Continue reading
No matter how exciting your plans are for New Year’s, two NASA spacecraft have you beat – they’ve got a date with the moon. After more than three months of spaceflight, NASA’s twin Grail probes are set to start orbiting the moon this weekend, with Grail-A arriving Saturday (Dec. 31) and Grail-B following on Sunday (Jan. 1). Continue reading
Astronomers on Tuesday (Dec. 20) announced the discovery of the first two Earth-size alien planets – a historic find for sure, but the newfound worlds didn’t exactly receive historic names. The two alien planets are officially known as Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, a nod to the instrument that detected them, NASA’s prolific Kepler space telescope. Continue reading
NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Continue reading