ScienceDaily: Space & Time News

Cassini catches Saturn's moon Titan naked in the solar wind Posted: 28 Jan 2015 03:53 PM PST Researchers studying data from NASA's Cassini mission have observed that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, behaves much like Venus, Mars or a comet when exposed to the raw power of the solar wind. The observations suggest that unmagnetized bodies like Titan might interact with the solar wind in the same basic ways, regardless of their nature or distance from the sun.

Some potentially habitable planets began as gaseous, Neptune-like worlds Posted: 28 Jan 2015 01:05 PM PST Two phenomena known to inhibit the potential habitability of planets -- tidal forces and vigorous stellar activity -- might instead help chances for life on certain planets orbiting low-mass stars, astronomers have found.

Engineer advances new daytime star tracker Posted: 28 Jan 2015 01:05 PM PST NASA is developing a precision attitude sensor or star tracker that would be able to locate points of reference, or in other words, stars, during daylight hours.

Gully patterns document Martian climate cycles Posted: 28 Jan 2015 12:22 PM PST Gullies carved into impact craters on Mars provide a window into climate change on the Red Planet. A new analysis suggests Mars has undergone several ice ages in the last several million years. The driver of these climate swings is likely the Red Planet's wobbly axis tilt.

Quantum computer as detector shows space is not squeezed Posted: 28 Jan 2015 11:16 AM PST Ever since Einstein proposed his special theory of relativity in 1905, physics and cosmology have been based on the assumption that space looks the same in all directions -- that it's not squeezed in one direction relative to another. A new experiment by physicists used partially entangled atoms -- identical to the qubits in a quantum computer -- to demonstrate more precisely than ever before that this is true: to one part in a billion billion.

The two faces of Mars: Moon-sized celestial object crashed into south pole Posted: 28 Jan 2015 09:54 AM PST The two hemispheres of Mars are more different from any other planet in our solar system. Non-volcanic, flat lowlands characterize the northern hemisphere, while highlands punctuated by countless volcanoes extend across the southern hemisphere. Although theories and assumptions about the origin of this so-called and often-discussed Mars dichotomy abound, there are very few definitive answers. Geophysicists are now providing a new explanation.

New instrument to study the extreme universe -- the X-Ray polarimeter X-Calibur Posted: 28 Jan 2015 07:06 AM PST X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as black hole systems, the bright and active centers of galaxies, compact neutron stars, and gamma-ray bursts. The instrument will measure the polarization of 20-80keV X-rays. The detector is completed, tested, and fully calibrated and ready to be flown on a high-altitude balloon.

Ballooning offers platform for performing research in a space-like environment Posted: 28 Jan 2015 06:35 AM PST A high-altitude (>20 km) balloon platform is nearly ideal for carrying out scientific observations in a space-like environment, flight qualifying instrumentation, and transporting humans to the edge of space. This platform is regularly utilized by a wide range of disciplines, including astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary and Earth science. The increasing interest has driven the development of improved capabilities for payloads to fly at high altitudes for longer durations (> 100 days).

The mouth of the beast: VLT images cometary globule CG4 Posted: 28 Jan 2015 05:22 AM PST Like the gaping mouth of a gigantic celestial creature, the cometary globule CG4 glows menacingly in this new image from ESO's Very Large Telescope. Although it appears to be big and bright in this picture, this is actually a faint nebula, which makes it very hard for amateur astronomers to spot. The exact nature of CG4 remains a mystery.

'Knobby terrain' a sign of Mars's explosive past Posted: 27 Jan 2015 11:08 AM PST The Red Planet's upper crust is brittle and weak. Planetary geologists often attribute this to effusive eruption -- lava pouring out of a volcano onto the ground -- early in Mars's history with later modifications. However, some have suggested that the friable materials were created by widespread ash-laden explosive volcanoes that were eroded by geologic processes over the course of Martian history.