Science@NASA Headline News
Sun Apr 24 04:36:23 EDT 2011
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Citizen Scientists Making Incredible Discoveries - People across the globe are working together to help scientists analyze data from NASA's Hubble, Kepler, and LRO instruments. And they're making surprising discoveries of their own!

Solar Activity Heats Up - No, it's not your imagination. Solar activity really is picking up, bringing an end to a century-class solar minimum.

Dawn Approaches Asteroid Vesta - NASA's Dawn spacecraft has entered the asteroid belt and it is closing in on giant asteroid Vesta.

Spring is Fireball Season - For reasons researchers do not understand, the rate of midnight fireballs increases during the weeks around the vernal equinox. It's a beautiful display, but where do they come from? NASA's growing network of fireball cameras is scanning the heavens for answers.

Vesta--Is it Really an Asteroid? - As NASA's Dawn spacecraft closes in on Vesta, researchers are wondering if the behemoth space rock is just an asteroid or something more?

Historic First: A Spacecraft Orbits Mercury - NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around Mercury at approximately 9 p.m. EDT on March 17th. This marks the first time a spacecraft has orbited the solar system's innermost planet.

Super Full Moon - On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.

Finally! NASA Prepares to Orbit Mercury - It's not easy to visit Mercury, but NASA is about to settle in for a long stay. The MESSENGER probe enters orbit around the innermost planet on March 17th.

See Mercury at Sunset - This week, sky watchers have a rare opportunity to see Mercury at its best as NASA's MESSENGER probe prepares to enter orbit around the innermost planet.

Researchers Crack the Mystery of … e Missing Sunspots - When solar activity recently plunged into a century-class minimum, many experts were puzzled. Now a group of researchers say they have cracked the mystery of the missing sunspots.

What's Hitting Earth? - Have you ever seen a fireball streak through the night sky and gone to bed wondering, "What was that?" NASA is deploying a network of smart cameras that could have an answer waiting for you when you wake up.

The Mysterious Rumble of Thundersnow - Last month, NASA scientists got a rare chance to study "thundersnow" first-hand when a freak winter storm rolled right over their research center.

SDO Sundog Mystery - Last year, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory amazed observers when it destroyed a sundog en route to orbit. A new analysis of the event is shedding light on the way rocket shock-waves interact with clouds.

NASA Spacecraft Closes in on Comet Tempel 1 - NASA is about to discover how solar heat devours a comet as the Stardust-NExT probe closes in for a Valentines Day encounter with Tempel 1.

First Ever STEREO Images of the Entire Sun - On Super Sun-day, NASA's STEREO spacecraft moved into position to photograph the entire sun--front and back. Researchers say this is a transforming moment in solar physics that could lead to big advances in space weather forecasting.

Watch Out for Solar Sail Flares - NASA's first Earth-orbiting solar sail, NanoSail-D, is circling our planet and attracting the attention of sky watchers. Occasionally, sunlight glinting from the sail's reflective fabric produces a flash of light in the night sky. These "solar sail flares" are expected to grow brighter as NanoSail-D descends in the weeks ahead.

Robonaut 2 Set to Launch in February - Robonaut 2, a dexterous humanoid robot explorer, is set to leave Earth in February for one of the greatest adventures in the history of robotics.

A Fizzy Ocean on Enceladus - Evidence is mounting that Saturn's moon Enceladus harbors a bubbly subterranean ocean where conditions might be friendly to life.

Solar Sail Stunner - In a stunning reversal of fortune, NASA's NanoSail-D spacecraft has unfurled a gleaming sheet of space-age fabric 650 km above Earth, becoming the first-ever solar sail to circle our planet.

Valentines Day Comet Encounter -

Sundiving Comet Storm - 2010 ended with an unprecedented flurry of small comets diving into the Sun. Researchers say this could herald a much larger comet still to come.

Thunderstorms Make Antimatter - At any given moment, about 1800 thunderstorms are in progress somewhere around the globe. New observations by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope show that many of these thunderstorms make antimatter.

Did Life Fall from the Skies? Lessons from Titan - In sci-fi movies, the first stirrings of life happen in a gooey pool of primordial ooze. But new research suggests the action might have started instead in the stormy skies above.

Asteroid Itokawa Sample Return - The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa spacecraft has brought home to Earth tiny pieces of near-Earth asteroid Itokawa. In today's story from Science@NASA, a NASA specialist on the Hayabusa science team describes the nail-biting sample return and hints at new results from the ongoing analysis.

Solstice Lunar Eclipse - Northern winter is beginning in a special way. On Dec. 21st, the winter solstice, a lunar eclipse will be visible across all of North America.