Mud Volcanoes on Mars
If life does – or did – exist on Mars, signs of such life might well be found in a region in the northern plains called Acidalia Planitia, according to a new study.
The region appears to be dotted with what scientists believe are geological structures known as mud volcanoes, spewing out muddy sediments from underground. These sediments might contain organic materials that could be biosignatures of possible past and present life...
(Read the rest of http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/3586/mud-volcanoes-on-mars)
Galaxies' Glory Days Revealed
August 18, 2010
Astronomers have experienced the galactic equivalent of discovering pictures of a mild-mannered grandmother partying as a wild youth. New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal the early "wild" days of galaxy clusters -- a time when the galaxies were bursting with new stars...
(Read the rest of http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-271)
IBEX Spacecraft Finds Discoveries Close to Home
Imagine floating 35,000 miles above the sunny side of Earth. Our home planet gleams below, a majestic whorl of color and texture. All seems calm around you. With no satellites or space debris to dodge, you can just relax and enjoy the black emptiness of space...
(Read the rest of http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ibex/em-crash.html)
GRIP 'Shakedown' Flight Planned over Gulf Coast
The first flight of NASA's hurricane airborne research mission is scheduled to take off from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 17. NASA's DC-8 research aircraft will be making a planned five-hour flight along the Gulf Coast from western Florida to Louisiana primarily as a practice run for the many scientific instruments aboard...
(Read the rest of http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/missions/grip/news/shakedown-flight.html)
Fermi Detects 'Shocking' Surprise from Supernova's Little Cousin
Astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have detected gamma-rays from a nova for the first time, a finding that stunned observers and theorists alike. The discovery overturns the notion that novae explosions lack the power to emit such high-energy radiation...
(Read the rest of http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/shocking-nova.html)
Move Over Caravaggio: Cassini's Light and Dark Moons
August 16, 2010
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has returned Saturnian moon images from its flyby late last week, revealing light and dark contrasts worthy of chiaroscuro painters like Caravaggio.
The flyby on August 13 targeted the geyser moon Enceladus, but also brought Cassini close to two other moons--Tethys and Dione...
(Read the rest of http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-270)
IBEX Maps the Boundaries
Since its October 2008 launch, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has mapped the invisible interactions occurring at the edge of the solar system. The images reveal that the interactions between our home in the galaxy and interstellar space are surprisingly structured and intense...
(Read the rest of http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3589/ibex-maps-the-boundaries)
Japanese Spacecraft Approaches Venus
August 16, 2010: For the next few months, Venus will be softly resplendent in the evening sky, a treat for stargazers – but looks can be deceiving.
Consider this: The Venusian surface is hot enough to melt lead. The planet's 96% carbon dioxide atmosphere is thick and steamy with a corrosive mist of sulfuric acid floating through it. The terrain is forbidding, strewn with craters and volcanic calderas – and bone dry.
Takeshi Imamura can't wait to get there...
(Read the rest of http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/16aug_vco/)
Where in the World is Europa
Instead of flying to Europa without first testing what a mission there might experience, now a number of sites on Earth — and beyond — that mimic the Jovian moon are being uncovered that could help explorers conduct trial runs.
Missions to Mars such as the Mars Exploration Rovers were exhaustively field-tested in "Mars Yards" — areas whose terrain mimicked the red planet. In much the same way, researchers would like to rehearse missions to explore Europa using analogs of that moon on Earth...
(Read the rest of http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/3584/where-in-the-world-is-europa)
Cassini Bags Enceladus 'Tigers'
August 14, 2010
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has successfully completed its flyby over the "tiger stripes" in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus and has sent back images of its passage. The spacecraft also targeted the moon Tethys...
(Read the rest of http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-269)
NASA Releases New Image of Massive Greenland Iceberg
August 12, 2010
On Aug. 5, 2010, an enormous chunk of ice, about 251 square kilometers (97 square miles) in size, or roughly four times the size of Manhattan, broke off the Petermann Glacier along the northwestern coast of Greenland. The Petermann Glacier lost about one-quarter of its 70-kilometer-long (40-miles) floating ice shelf, according to researchers at the University of Delaware, Newark, Dela. The recently calved iceberg is the largest to form in the Arctic in 50 years...
(Read the rest of http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-268)
Cassini Hunting Enceladus 'Tigers' with Night Vision
August 12, 2010
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be hunting for heat signatures at the "tiger stripes" in the dim south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Friday, Aug. 13. The closest approach will bring the spacecraft to within about 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) of the surface of Enceladus...
(Read the rest of http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-267)
Raisin' Mountains on Saturn's Moon Titan
August 12, 2010
Saturn's moon Titan ripples with mountains, and scientists have been trying to figure out how they form. The best explanation, it turns out, is that Titan is shrinking as it cools, wrinkling up the moon's surface like a raisin.
A new model developed by scientists working with radar data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows that differing densities in the outermost layers of Titan can account for the unusual surface behavior. Titan is slowly cooling because it is releasing heat from its original formation and radioactive isotopes are decaying in the interior. As this happens, parts of Titan's subsurface ocean freeze over, the outermost ice crust thickens and folds, and the moon shrivels up. The model is described in an article now online in the Journal of Geophysical Research...
(Read the rest of http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-266)
Supernova’s Spin on Life
A mysterious bias in the way the building blocks of proteins twist could be due to supernovae, researchers now suggest.
If correct, this could be evidence that the molecules of life weren't created on Earth, but came from elsewhere in the cosmos.
Organic molecules are often chiral, meaning they come in two versions that are mirror images of each other, much as right and left hands appear identical but possess reversed features...
(Read the rest of http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/3582/supernova%E2%80%99s-spin-on-life)
NASA Video Shows Global Reach of Pollution from Fires
August 11, 2010
A series of large wildfires burning across western and central Russia, eastern Siberia and western Canada has created a noxious soup of air pollution that is affecting life far beyond national borders. Among the pollutants created by wildfires is carbon monoxide, a gas that can pose a variety of health risks at ground level. Carbon monoxide is also an ingredient in the production of ground-level ozone, which causes numerous respiratory problems. As the carbon monoxide from these wildfires is lofted into the atmosphere, it becomes caught in the lower bounds of the mid-latitude jet stream, which swiftly transports it around the globe...
(Readthe rest of http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-265)