http://www.mail.com/subjects/1932-astronomy.html Mail.com - the best personalized free web-based Email en en http://sec-s.uicdn.com/mail.com/2.28/img/mailcom_logo_rss.png http://www.mail.com/subjects/1932-astronomy.html http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2098776-curiosity-rover-drills-second-martian-rock.html PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — NASA's Curiosity rover drills again. The space agency said Monday that Curiosity has bored a hole in a second rock and will transfer a pinch of powder to its onboard laboratories later this week for analysis. Sunday's drill was the first major activity by Curiosity since it emerged from a monthlong hiatus. The latest drill site was... Mon, 20 May 2013 21:08:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2098776-curiosity-rover-drills-second-martian-rock.html 2013-05-20T21:08:00Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2088320-nasa-crafts-planet-hunting-days-numbered.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope is broken, potentially jeopardizing the search for other worlds where life could exist outside our solar system. If engineers can't find a fix, the failure could mean an end to the $600 million mission's search, although the space agency wasn't ready to call it quits Wednesday. The telescope has di... Thu, 16 May 2013 01:38:20 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2088320-nasa-crafts-planet-hunting-days-numbered.html 2013-05-16T01:38:20Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2087764-cyprus-moon-rock-40-years.html NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus may finally get its piece of the moon. Some 40 years ago, the Mediterranean island nation was supposed to receive a 1.1 gram piece of moon rock from the United States. The rock was one of 270 such lunar samples U.S. astronauts brought back from Apollo moon missions in 1969 and 1972 that the Nixon administration gave as gifts ... Wed, 15 May 2013 16:57:13 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2087764-cyprus-moon-rock-40-years.html 2013-05-15T16:57:13Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2082144-sun-unleashes-strongest-solar-flare-2013.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — The sun has fired off a massive flare, the strongest solar eruption this year. The powerful flare occurred Sunday and erupted on the side of the sun that was not facing Earth. While the planet was not hit with radiation, space weather forecasters say the solar blast briefly disrupted high-frequency radio signals. Sol... Mon, 13 May 2013 17:18:04 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2082144-sun-unleashes-strongest-solar-flare-2013.html 2013-05-13T17:18:04Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2080100-project-aims-to-track-big-city-carbon-footprints.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — Every time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward. Halfway around the globe, similar contraptions atop the Eiffel Tower and elsewhere around Paris keep a pulse on emissions from smokestacks and aut... Mon, 13 May 2013 08:38:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2080100-project-aims-to-track-big-city-carbon-footprints.html 2013-05-13T08:38:00Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2075780-ring-fire-eclipse-crosses-australia-pacific.html SYDNEY (AP) — The moon glided between the Earth and sun, blocking everything but a dazzling ring of light, for the few skygazers lucky enough to see Friday's "ring of fire" eclipse in northern Australia and the South Pacific. The celestial spectacle is the second solar eclipse visible from northern Australia in six months. In November, a total solar eclip... Fri, 10 May 2013 10:35:40 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2075780-ring-fire-eclipse-crosses-australia-pacific.html 2013-05-10T10:35:40Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2028902-nasa-sees-distant-planets-that-ideal-life.html WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA's planet-hunting telescope has discovered two planets that seem like ideal places for some sort of life to flourish. And they are just the right size and in just the right place. One is toasty, the other nippy. The distant duo are the best candidates for habitable planets that astronomers have found so far, said William Borucki, the... Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:30:15 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2028902-nasa-sees-distant-planets-that-ideal-life.html 2013-04-18T21:30:15Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2020258-israeli-high-tech-pioneer-efraim-arazi-dies.html JERUSALEM (AP) — Efraim "Efi" Arazi, a pioneer of Israel's powerful high-tech industry who helped develop technology that allowed for a video recording of the first moon landing, has died. He was 76. Arazi founded three groundbreaking high-tech firms, Scitex, Electronics for Imaging, and iMedia, each specializing in aspects of digital photography or video... Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:43:28 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2020258-israeli-high-tech-pioneer-efraim-arazi-dies.html 2013-04-15T11:43:28Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2017114-hawaii-land-board-approves-thirty-meter-telescope.html HONOLULU (AP) — A plan by California and Canadian universities to build the world's largest telescope at the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano won approval from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday. The decision clears the way for the group managing the Thirty Meter Telescope project to negotiate a sublease for land with the Universi... Sat, 13 Apr 2013 04:09:06 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2017114-hawaii-land-board-approves-thirty-meter-telescope.html 2013-04-13T04:09:06Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2014026-soviet-mars-spacecraft-spotted-photos.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — Space fans from Russia scanning NASA images have spotted what may be a Soviet spacecraft that landed on Mars in 1971 and then mysteriously stopped working. Photos taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter circling the red planet pointed to what may be the Mars 3 lander along with its parachute, heat shield and other hardware that it j... Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:00:24 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2014026-soviet-mars-spacecraft-spotted-photos.html 2013-04-11T21:00:24Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2009522-stephen-hawking-explore-space-humanitys-sake.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stephen Hawking, who spent his career decoding the universe and even experienced weightlessness, is urging the continuation of space exploration — for humanity's sake. The 71-year-old Hawking said he did not think humans would survive another 1,000 years "without escaping beyond our fragile planet." The British cosmologist made the rema... Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:29:17 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2009522-stephen-hawking-explore-space-humanitys-sake.html 2013-04-10T19:29:17Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2001406-senator-nasa-to-lasso-asteroid-bring-closer.html WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA is planning for a robotic spaceship to lasso a small asteroid and park it near the moon for astronauts to explore, a top senator said Friday. The ship would capture the 500-ton, 25-foot asteroid in 2019. Then using an Orion space capsule, a crew of about four astronauts would nuzzle up next to the rock in 2021 for spacewalking explo... Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:46:31 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/2001406-senator-nasa-to-lasso-asteroid-bring-closer.html 2013-04-05T22:46:31Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1997396-mars-missions-scaled-april-sun.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's the Martian version of spring break: Curiosity and Opportunity, along with their spacecraft friends circling overhead, will take it easy this month because of the sun's interference. For much of April, the sun blocks the line of sight between Earth and Mars. This celestial alignment — called a Mars solar conjunction — makes it diff... Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:30:26 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1997396-mars-missions-scaled-april-sun.html 2013-04-04T08:30:26Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1978828-mars-rover-action-computer-problems.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Mars rover Curiosity is humming again after being sidelined by back-to-back computer problems. The six-wheel rover fired up its onboard laboratories and analyzed a pinch of rock dust over the weekend. It had been unable to perform science experiments since late last month after experiencing a computer memory problem. ... Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:34:52 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1978828-mars-rover-action-computer-problems.html 2013-03-25T22:34:52Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1974702-nasa-flash-east-coast-sky-meteor.html NEW YORK (AP) — East Coast residents were buzzing on social media sites and elsewhere Friday night after a brief but bright flash of light streaked across the early-evening sky —in what experts say was almost certainly a meteor coming down. Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environmental Office said the flash appears to be "a single meteor event." He said it... Sat, 23 Mar 2013 06:02:13 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1974702-nasa-flash-east-coast-sky-meteor.html 2013-03-23T06:02:13Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1969524-scientists-find-universe-80-years-older.html PARIS (AP) — A new examination of what is essentially the universe's birth certificate allows astronomers to tweak the age, girth and speed of the cosmos, more secure in their knowledge of how it evolved, what it's made of and its ultimate fate. Sure, the universe suddenly seems to be showing its age, now calculated at 13.8 billion years — 80 million year... Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:26:52 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1969524-scientists-find-universe-80-years-older.html 2013-03-21T21:26:52Z http://www.mail.com/business/economy/1968128-amazon-ceo-recovers-apollo-engines-atlantic.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rusted pieces of two Apollo-era rocket engines that helped boost astronauts to the moon have been fished out of the murky depths of the Atlantic, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and NASA said Wednesday. A privately funded expedition led by Bezos raised the main engine parts during three weeks at sea and was headed back to Cape Canaveral, Fla.... Wed, 20 Mar 2013 23:45:32 GMT http://www.mail.com/business/economy/1968128-amazon-ceo-recovers-apollo-engines-atlantic.html 2013-03-20T23:45:32Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1965406-nasa-moon-craft-spots-ebb-flow-crash-sites.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — When NASA's twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow crashed into the moon last year, scientists did not count on seeing the aftermath. On Tuesday, the space agency released before-and-after pictures of the lunar north pole where Ebb and Flow came to rest. Months after the back-to-back, mission-ending dives, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter flew ov... Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:34:23 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1965406-nasa-moon-craft-spots-ebb-flow-crash-sites.html 2013-03-19T20:34:23Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1962792-mars-rover-curiosity-stands-problem.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — After recovering from a computer problem, the Mars rover Curiosity is sidelined again, further delaying the restart of science experiments. The latest complication occurred over the weekend when the six-wheel rover entered safe mode after experiencing a software file error. Curiosity remained in contact with ground controllers, but it c... Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:23:43 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1962792-mars-rover-curiosity-stands-problem.html 2013-03-19T02:23:43Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1948170-mars-rover-planet-supported-life.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — Drilling into a rock near its landing spot, the Curiosity rover has answered a key question about Mars: The red planet long ago harbored some of the ingredients needed for primitive life to thrive. Topping the list is evidence of water and basic elements that teeny organisms could feed on, scientists said Tuesday. "We have found a habit... Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:05:34 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1948170-mars-rover-planet-supported-life.html 2013-03-12T23:05:34Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1933072-comet-making-closest-approach-earth.html CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A recently discovered comet is closer than it's ever been to Earth, and stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere finally get to see it. Called Pan-STARRS, the comet passed within 100 million miles of Earth on Tuesday, its closest approach in its first-ever cruise through the inner solar system. The ice ball will get even nearer th... Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:28:05 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1933072-comet-making-closest-approach-earth.html 2013-03-05T19:28:05Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1926054-nasa-mars-rover-safe-mode-science-halted.html PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Science experiments by the NASA Mars rover Curiosity have been put on hold as engineers troubleshoot a problem with its computer. NASA says the car-size rover is in "safe mode." In this state, Curiosity suspends science activities but is still in contact with Earth. Engineers discovered a problem with Curiosity's flash memory earli... Fri, 01 Mar 2013 23:15:02 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1926054-nasa-mars-rover-safe-mode-science-halted.html 2013-03-01T23:15:02Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1919428-tycoon-wants-to-send-married-couple-mars-flyby.html WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a road trip that could test the best of marriages: Mars. A tycoon announced plans Wednesday to send a middle-aged couple on a privately built spaceship to slingshot around the red planet and come back home, hopefully with their bodies and marriage in one piece after 501 days of no-escape togetherness in a cramped capsule half the si... Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:08:13 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1919428-tycoon-wants-to-send-married-couple-mars-flyby.html 2013-02-27T23:08:13Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1919570-black-holes-galaxies-rotate-fast-study-finds.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — There's a new spin on supermassive black holes: They're incredibly fast, astronomers say. It's long been suspected that gigantic black holes lurking in the heart of galaxies rotate faster and grow larger as they feast on gas, dust, stars and matter. But there hasn't been a reliable measurement of the spin rate of a black hole until now.... Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:39:38 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1919570-black-holes-galaxies-rotate-fast-study-finds.html 2013-02-27T18:39:38Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1915266-house-votes-to-rename-flight-center-armstrong.html WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved a bill to rename a NASA flight center in California for the late astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. The measure, which passed on a 394-0 vote, would rename the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center. Armstrong, who died in 20... Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:13:29 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1915266-house-votes-to-rename-flight-center-armstrong.html 2013-02-26T00:13:29Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1915246-nasa-mars-rover-analyzing-powder-drilled-rock.html PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Mars rover Curiosity has successfully transferred a pinch of rock dust to its onboard laboratories for inspection, two weeks after drilling into its first rock. NASA said Monday it received confirmation of the deliveries over the weekend. Scientists will spend the next several weeks studying the rock's chemical and mineral make... Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:04:54 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1915246-nasa-mars-rover-analyzing-powder-drilled-rock.html 2013-02-26T00:04:54Z http://www.mail.com/entertainment/lifestyle/1914550-capt-kirks-vulcan-entry-wins-pluto-moons-contest.html CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — "Star Trek" fans, rejoice. An online vote to name Pluto's two newest, itty-bitty moons is over. And No. 1 is Vulcan, a name suggested by actor William Shatner, who played Capt. Kirk in the original "Star Trek" TV series. Vulcan snared nearly 200,000 votes among the more than 450,000 cast during the two-week contest, which ended... Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:28:44 GMT http://www.mail.com/entertainment/lifestyle/1914550-capt-kirks-vulcan-entry-wins-pluto-moons-contest.html 2013-02-25T22:28:44Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1904064-nasa-rover-preps-1st-test-drilled-mars-rock.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fresh off drilling into a rock for the first time, the Mars rover Curiosity is prepping for the next step: dissecting the pulverized rock to determine what it's made of. Images beamed back to Earth on Wednesday showed a tablespoon of gray powder in Curiosity's scoop, giving scientists their first glimpse of the sample collected during t... Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:08:32 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1904064-nasa-rover-preps-1st-test-drilled-mars-rock.html 2013-02-20T23:08:32Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1903620-smallest-planet-yet-solar-system.html LOS ANGELES (AP) — Astronomers searching for planets outside our solar system have discovered the tiniest one yet — one that's about the size of our moon. But hunters for life in the universe will need to poke elsewhere. The new world orbits too close to its sun-like star and is too sizzling to support life. Its surface temperature is an estimated 700 de... Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:38:53 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1903620-smallest-planet-yet-solar-system.html 2013-02-20T18:38:53Z http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1899192-russian-scientists-recover-meteor-fragments.html MOSCOW (AP) — Scientists have found more than 50 tiny fragments of a meteor that exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains, and preliminary tests are turning up information about its contents. However, local residents seem more interested in the black market value of the fragments. As they search for their own pieces of the meteor, sales offers already are fi... Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:01:12 GMT http://www.mail.com/scitech/news/1899192-russian-scientists-recover-meteor-fragments.html 2013-02-18T17:01:12Z