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A newly discovered comet glows in the morning sky
Grab your telescope and take a peek at Comet C/2010 V1 (Ikeya-Murakami) as it hangs low in the predawn sky near Saturn
The first week of November is turning out to be a banner time for comet lovers. Comet 103P/Hartley currently glows around 6th magnitude — bright enough to see through binoculars or a telescope — near the bright star Procyon in Canis Minor. This region rises near midnight and climbs high in the south before dawn. This comet also stars in the latest images from NASA’s EPOXI mission, which flew past the comet’s nucleus November 4.
Lunar impact mission scooped up more than water
Astronauts exploring the moon's south pole should bring a shovel.
NASA's robotic mission to plunge an empty rocket stage into a lunar crater last year confirmed the presence of large quantities of water ice and hydrogen, but it also found traces of silver and mercury, scientists said.
The findings are encouraging to advocates for further lunar exploration, be it with humans or robots.
"Once you make a discovery of a potential resource, the next thing you want to do is go prospecting," said Michael Wargo, the chief lunar scientist in NASA's exploration division.
New Cometary Phenomenon Greets Approaching Spacecraft
Recent observations of comet Hartley 2 have scientists scratching their heads, while they anticipate a flyby of the small, icy world on Nov. 4.
A phenomenon was recorded by imagers aboard NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft from Sept. 9 to 17 during pre-planned scientific observations of the comet. These observations, when coupled with expected images during the closest encounter with Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, will become the most detailed look yet at a comet's activity during its pass through the inner-solar system.
Space Radar Provides a Taste of Comet Hartley 2
Exactly one week before the world gets a new look at comet Hartley 2 via NASA's EPOXI mission, observations of the comet by the Arecibo Planetary Radar in Puerto Rico have offered scientists a tantalizing preview.
"It kind of looks like a cross between a bowling pin and a pickle," said EPOXI project manager Tim Larson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Only it's about 14-thousand-times larger and hurtling through space at 23 miles per second." A new image is online at http://www.naic.edu/~pradar/103P.
NASA Mission 'E-Minus' One Month to Comet Flyby
Fans of space exploration are familiar with the term T-minus, which NASA uses as a countdown to a rocket launch. But what of those noteworthy mission events where you already have a spacecraft in space, as with the upcoming flyby of a comet?
"We use 'E-minus' to help with our mission planning," said Tim Larson, EPOXI mission project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The 'E' stands for encounter, and that is exactly what is going to happen one month from today, when our spacecraft has a close encounter with comet Hartley 2."
NASA's EPOXI Flyby Reveals New Insights Into Comet Features
NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft successfully flew past comet Hartley 2 at 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT) Thursday, Nov. 4. Scientists say initial images from the flyby provide new information about the comet's volume and material spewing from its surface.
"Early observations of the comet show that, for the first time, we may be able to connect activity to individual features on the nucleus," said EPOXI Principal Investigator Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park. "We certainly have our hands full. The images are full of great cometary data, and that's what we hoped for."
Primordial Dry Ice Fuels Comet Jets
One of the biggest comet findings coming out of the amazing images and data taken by the University of Maryland-led EPOXI mission as it zipped past comet Hartley 2 last week is that dry ice is the 'jet' fuel for this comet and perhaps many others.
Killing the dinosaurs with 2 hits..
A new study into the death of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago has suggested that 2 impacts from space caused their extinction, not the single impact event that has been previously widely accepted.
Read the full BBC news article: Double space strike 'caused dinosaur extinction'.
Did asteroid impacts kill the mammoths?
Scientists have discounted the theory that asteroid impacts may have killed off mammoths from the fossil record. Read the full story here:
Meteorite mineral made in the lab
By slamming materials together, scientists have made a mineral that is found naturally only in meteorites and the deep layers of Earth's mantle. Read the full article at :
