Several snowmobiles navigated speedily over arctic ice and snow in Alaska's outback in late June.This scene might seem ordinary except that the recently unveiled snowmobiles are unmanned,autonomous,toy-size robots called SnoMotes,the first prototype netwo
The Pinwheel galaxy is gussied up in infrared light in a new picture from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.The fluffy-looking galaxy,(Messier 101),is dominated by a mishmash of spiral arms.In Spitzer's new view,infrared light is color coded,the galaxy sport
The site of the ancient hippodrome course in Olympia,where the emperor Nero competed for Olympian laurels,has been discovered.The hippodrome had only been known from written sources.Archaeologists had failed to locate its actual site.Pausanias,a travel>>
Scientists and engineers are preparing the European Space Agency's Mars Express for several close flybys of the martian moon Phobos.Passing within 100 kilometers of the surface,Mars Express will conduct some of the most detailed investigations of the moon
Archaeoastronomy's goal is to understand how skywatchers of the past fashioned and refined systems for regulating their primitive calendars and for memorializing celestial events,both cyclical and unique.Often they relied on sunlight and shadow plays>>>
Astronomers have uncovered an extreme stellar machine,a galaxy in the very remote universe pumping out stars at a surprising rate of up to 4,000 per yr.Milky Way galaxy turns out an average of just 10 stars per yr.According to the Hierarchical Model,galax
Arecibo Observatory,the world's largest radio telescope and the source for the SETI@home data that your computer analyzes,faces massive budget cuts that will end its ability to continue the search for life beyond Earth.The decision to ensure full funding
Scientists have argued about the origins of Mercury's smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field for more than 30 yrs.Now,analyses of data from the Jan. 2008 flyby of the planet by MESSENGER Spacecraft have shown that volcanoes were involved in>>
Scientists are using the giant Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to go prospecting in a rich molecular cloud in our Milky Way Galaxy.They seek to discover new,complex molecules in interstellar space that may be precursors to life.As molecules rota
2 University of Iowa space physicists report that the Voyager 2 spacecraft,which has been traveling outward from the Sun for 31 years,has made the first direct observations of the solar wind termination shock.At the termination shock the solar wind,which
Astronomers recently announced that they have found a novel explanation for a rare type of super-luminous stellar explosion that may have produced a new type of object known as a quark star.A quark star is a hypothetical type of star composed of ultra den
Engineering teams are conducting final checkouts of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite,known as LCROSS, that will take a significant step forward in the search for water on the moon.The mission's main objective is to confirm the presence>>
Imagine a plane that has wings made out of glass.Thanks to a major breakthrough in understanding the nature of glass by scientists at the University of Bristol,this has just become a possibility.Despite its solid appearance,glass is actually a 'jammed'>>
An archaeological excavation at a site located near Pulborough,West Sussex,has thrown new light on the life of northern Europe's last Neanderthals,It provides a snapshot of a thriving,developing population-rather than communities of the verge of extinctio
