Halloween skies to include dead comet flyby

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The large space rock that will zip past Earth this Halloween is most likely a dead comet that, fittingly, bears an eerie resemblance to a skull. Scientists observing asteroid 2015 TB145 with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, have determined that the celestial object is more than likely a dead comet that has shed its volatiles after numerous passes around the sun.
via Science Daily
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NASA’s Cassini Zooms In on Enceladus

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The spacecraft flew within 30 miles of Saturn’s icy moon, collecting data on the contents of the watery plume it ejects into space.










via New York Times

NASA spots the 'Great Pumpkin': Halloween asteroid a treat for radar astronomers

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NASA scientists are tracking the upcoming Halloween flyby of asteroid 2015 TB145 with several optical observatories and the radar capabilities of the agency's Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California. The asteroid will fly past Earth at a safe distance slightly farther than the moon's orbit on Oct. 31 at 10:01 a.m. PDT (1:01 p.m. EDT). Scientists are treating the flyby of the estimated 1,300-foot-wide (400-meter) asteroid as a science target of opportunity, allowing instruments on "spacecraft Earth" to scan it during the close pass.
via Science Daily
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Saturn's geyser moon shines in close flyby views

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun transmitting its latest images of Saturn's icy, geologically active moon Enceladus, acquired during the dramatic Oct. 28 flyby in which the probe passed about 30 miles (49 kilometers) above the moon's south polar region. The spacecraft will continue transmitting its data from the encounter for the next several days.
via Science Daily
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Farming on Mars? The Martian raises questions about soil

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In the recent sci-fi hit, The Martian, the main character, astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon), manages to grow potatoes on the planet with a mix of ingenuity, science, and a bit of Hollywood make-believe. Could it work?
via Science Daily
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NASA Adds to Evidence of Mysterious Ancient Earthworks

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Satellite photographs from 430 miles above Kazakhstan reveal colossal geometric figures that remain puzzling and largely unknown.










via New York Times

AURA Appoints New STScI Director

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Dr. Kenneth R. Sembach has been appointed director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore.

via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/41/

The Witch Head Nebula

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Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble .... maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. A suggestively shaped reflection nebula, this cosmic crone is about 800 light-years away though. Its frightening visage seems to glare toward nearby bright star Rigel in Orion, just off the right edge of this frame. More formally known as IC 2118, the interstellar cloud of dust and gas is nearly 70 light-years across, its dust grains reflecting Rigel's starlight. In this composite portrait, the nebula's color is caused not only by the star's intense bluish light but because the dust grains scatter blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in planet Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen.

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WITCH hunt nearing end at CERN

New design points a path to the 'ultimate' battery

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Researchers have successfully demonstrated how several of the problems impeding the practical development of the so-called 'ultimate' battery could be overcome.
via Science Daily

Simulation of 3-D exotic clouds on an exoplanet

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A nearby exoplanet has an atmosphere that might be similar to Earth's before life evolved. Researchers have now simulated three-dimensional exotic clouds on another world.
via Science Daily
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Spirals in dust around young stars may betray presence of massive planets

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A team of astronomers is proposing that huge spiral patterns seen around some newborn stars, merely a few million years old (about one percent our sun's age), may be evidence for the presence of giant unseen planets.
via Science Daily
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