Thursday 5 November 2015

NASA mission reveals speed of solar wind stripping Martian atmosphere

more »
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life to the cold, arid planet Mars is today.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Hubble uncovers the fading cinders of some of our galaxy's earliest homesteaders

more »
Using Hubble Space Telescope images, astronomers have conducted a "cosmic archeological dig" of our Milky Way's heart, uncovering the blueprints of our galaxy's early construction phase. The researchers uncovered for the first time a population of ancient white dwarfs -- smoldering remnants of once-vibrant stars that inhabited the Milky Way's core.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

Mars’ Atmosphere Stripped Away by Solar Storms, NASA Says

more »
New readings from NASA’s Maven mission indicate that the upper atmosphere on Mars is lost at a rate of 10 pounds a second during solar storms.










via New York Times

Supernova twins: Making standard candles more standard than ever

more »
Type Ia supernovae are bright 'standard candles' for measuring cosmic distances. Standard enough to discover dark energy, they're far from identical. Researchers at the international Nearby Supernova Factory have shown that supernova twins -- those with closely matching spectra -- can double the accuracy of distance measures.
via Science Daily
Zazzle Space Exploration market place

NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus

more »
NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus, it lies at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud. This striking close-up spans about two full moons on the sky or just over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333. It shows details of the dusty region along with hints of contrasting red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago.

Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Shining a light on the aurora of Mars

more »

ESA’s Mars Express has shed new light on the Red Planet’s rare ultraviolet aurora by combining for the first time remote observations with in situ measurements of electrons hitting the atmosphere.


via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Shining_a_light_on_the_aurora_of_Mars