Comet Halley, the originator of the Orionids meteor shower that lit up our skies last month – as they do every October – is seen here up close by ESA’s Giotto probe as it flew past the famous comet on 13–14 March 1986.
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Comet Halley as seen by ESA’s Giotto spacecraft in 1986, the last time the comet visited the …
Deep in the heart of the spiral Milky Way galaxy, a hot vortex of matter swirls around a black hole more than a million times as massive as the sun. Many galaxies, perhaps all, contain such a “monster in the middle.” These supermassive black holes sustain themselves by swallowing stars, planets, asteroids, comets and clouds of gas that wander by … Read the rest of this article
Have you taken an interesting astronomical photo this year? From planets and moons to the Sun, stars and galaxies, we’d like you to send us your images to feature as our Space Science Image of the Week on 31 December.
Transit of Venus as seen from Canberra, Australia, 2012. Credits: Manuel Castillo-Fraile and Miguel Sánchez-Portal
The ESA Space Science team’s … Read the rest of this article
Astronomers have found evidence for a dying Sun-like star coming briefly back to life after casting its gassy shells out into space, mimicking the possible fate our own Solar System faces in a few billion years.
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The intricate pattern of planetary nebula Abell 30 is revealed in these images that combine optical Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images with XMM-Newton and …
NASA is marking two milestones in the search for planets like Earth; the successful completion of the Kepler Space Telescope’s three-and-a-half-year prime mission and the beginning of an extended mission that could last as long as four years.
This artist’s concept shows the Kepler spacecraft.
Scientists have used Kepler data to identify more than 2,300 planet candidates and confirm more … Read the rest of this article
ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 satellite experienced three partial solar eclipses last night while lucky observers watching from northern Australia were treated to a total solar eclipse.
During a total solar eclipse, the Moon moves in front of the Sun as seen from Earth, their alignment and separation such that the much closer Moon appears large enough to block out the light … Read the rest of this article
NASA will hosted a media teleconference on Nov. 15, 2012 to provide an update about the Curiosity rover’s mission to Mars’ Gale Crater.
The Mars Science Laboratory Project and its Curiosity rover are three months into a two-year prime mission to investigate whether conditions may have been favorable for microbial life.
Images from the video are available here.
Next week, the future course of Europe’s space sector will be set as ministers of the European Space Agency’s 20 Member States come together in Italy. Find out why the issues on the table are vitally important to all Europeans.
Ministers in charge of space activities within the 20 ESA Member States and Canada will meet in Naples on 20–21 … Read the rest of this article
The aftershock of a stellar explosion rippling through space is captured in this new view of supernova remnant W44, which combines far-infrared and X-ray data from ESA’s Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories.
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Supernova remnant W44 is the focus of this new image created by combining data from ESA’s Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories. W44 is the vast purple sphere that …
People from around the world are converging on the coast of northeast Australia. The attraction isn’t the Great Barrier Reef, just offshore, or the surrounding rain forests full of wildlife and exotic plants. They’re going to see a total eclipse of the sun.
Solar eclipses aren’t only pretty, they’re also scientifically valuable.
On the morning of Nov. 14th (Australia time), … Read the rest of this article
The Sun Now (Visible light)
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The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
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Aurora Oval
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Aurora Oval
(Southern Hemisphere) |
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