ScienceDaily: Space & Time News

A smiling lens: 'Happy face' galaxy cluster reveals arcs caused by strong gravitational lensing Posted: 10 Feb 2015 01:30 PM PST An image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows what appears to be a smiling galaxy cluster SDSS J1038+4849. In the case of this "happy face," the two eyes are very bright galaxies and the misleading smile lines are actually arcs caused by an effect known as strong gravitational lensing.

Mars orbiter spies Curiosity rover at work Posted: 03 Feb 2015 08:11 AM PST A Dec. 13, 2014, image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera orbiting Mars shows NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on the rover's walkabout examination of the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop. The outrcrop forms part of the basal layer of Mount Sharp inside Mars' Gale Crater.

Dawn gets closer views of Ceres Posted: 05 Feb 2015 08:11 AM PST NASA's Dawn spacecraft, on approach to dwarf planet Ceres, has acquired its latest and closest-yet snapshot of this mysterious world.

Planck Mission Explores the History of Our Universe Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:55 AM PST Hot gas, dust and magnetic fields mingle in a colorful swirl in this new map of our Milky Way galaxy. The image is part of a new and improved data set from Planck, a European Space Agency mission in which NASA played a key role.

NASA's Curiosity analyzing sample of Martian mountain Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:54 AM PST The second bite of a Martian mountain taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover hints at long-ago effects of water that was more acidic than any evidenced in the rover's first taste of Mount Sharp, a layered rock record of ancient Martian environments.

NASA spacecraft completes 40,000 Mars orbits Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:52 AM PST NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passed a mission milestone of 40,000 orbits on Feb. 7, 2015, in its ninth year of returning information about the atmosphere, surface and subsurface of Mars, from equatorial to polar latitudes.

Mars rover nearing marathon achievement Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:50 AM PST NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is nearing a location on Mars at which its driving distance will surpass the length of a marathon race. A drive on Feb. 8, 2015, put the rover within 220 yards (200 meters) of this marathon accomplishment. An Olympic marathon is 26.219 miles (42.195 kilometers).

Eruptions evicted: Anti-geyser testing completed for Space Launch System liquid oxygen tank Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:29 AM PST Goodbye, geysers! NASA engineers have successfully finished anti-geyser testing for the liquid oxygen tank that will help fuel the agency's new rocket, the Space Launch System, on the journey to Mars.

How conditions of spaceflight affect living organisms: New research headed to space station Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:27 AM PST New research will be heading to the International Space Station to help NASA understand how the conditions of spaceflight affect living organisms. This work is helping the agency develop the resources and measures necessary to ensure astronauts remain healthy as we venture beyond low-Earth orbit and head out to study an asteroid and eventually Mars.

NASA's LRO discovers lunar hydrogen more abundant on moon's pole-facing slopes Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:19 AM PST The recent discovery of hydrogen-bearing molecules, possibly including water, on the moon has explorers excited because these deposits could be mined if they are sufficiently abundant, sparing the considerable expense of bringing water from Earth. Recent observations by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft indicate these deposits may be slightly more abundant on crater slopes in the southern hemisphere that face the lunar South Pole.

Construction of the world's biggest solar telescope Posted: 10 Feb 2015 02:08 AM PST With a four-meter diameter primary mirror, the telescope will be able to pick up unprecedented detail on the surface of the Sun -- the equivalent of being able to examine a coin from 100 kms away. It will address fundamental questions at the core of contemporary solar physics. It will do this via high-speed (sub-second timescales) spectroscopic and magnetic measurements of the solar photosphere, chromosphere and corona.