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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: deep space

deep space stories: 19 news summaries
Slideshow

 New Hubble Images Dazzle 

Refurbished telescope can see further, with more color

Sep 9, 09 1:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - NASA released the first shots from the recently upgraded Hubble Space Telescope today, and the results are spectacular. Thanks to the new imagers installed in May, Hubble can now see farther, with greater clarity and a wider color spectrum, reports NPR. Officially, NASA calls it a new beginning for the... More »

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NASA • Hubble • deep space • galaxy • outer space • Hubble Space Telescope

(Newser) - The 'Big Wave,' a new explanation for the universe's mysterious accelerating expansion, is sending ripples through the world of astronomy. According to the theory, the Big Bang set off a wave, or waves, that rippled outward through space-time, making distant galaxies appear to expand away from us. Mathematicians came... More »

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deep space • Big Bang • Milky Way • astrophysics • dark energy

 Hubble Gets New Camera 


May 14, 09 4:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Hubble space telescope got some improved vision today in the form of a new camera. Two Atlantis astronauts completed a seven-hour spacewalk to give the 19-year-old telescope a much-needed upgrade, Space.com reports. "Woo-hoo, it's moving out," said astronaut Andrew Feustel after the old camera refused to... More »

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NASA • telescope • Atlantis • astronauts • deep space • Atlantis Space Shuttle • Hubble Space Telescope • Jay-ZTV

 Scientists Pitch 
 Massive Mirror 
 Sun Shade 
 to Save Earth 

Mastermind convinced $350T project will get off ground in some 20 years

Feb 27, 09 5:17 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists are proposing a stunning rescue project right out of a science fiction movie to save the earth from global warming: a massive 100,000-square-mile mirrored "sun shade." Trillions of tiny mirrors would be blasted by a cannon into space a million miles above earth to deflect the... More »

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global warming • Earth • deep space • rescue • 2001: A Space Odyssey

 Massive Gamma Blast Spotted 

Explosion had force of 9,000 supernovas

Feb 20, 09 1:15 PM CST
(Newser) - The strongest-ever gamma ray blast—a burst more powerful than 9,000 exploding stars—has been detected 12.2 billion light years away in deep space, reports the Telegraph. The blast took place in September in the constellation Carina, and produced energy up to 5 billion times that of... More »

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space • deep space • Big Bang • explosion • astrophysics • cosmology • gamma rays

Scientists Say Black Hole
Lies at Center of Galaxy

Stars orbit around central nucleus 4M times heavier than sun

Dec 11, 08 5:22 PM CST
(Newser) - A giant black hole sits at the core of our galaxy, say astronomers who participated in a 16-year German study that monitored the movements of 28 stars circling the center of the Milky Way. “Beyond any reasonable doubt,” the stars orbit a core concentration of mass 4 million... More »

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astronomy • deep space • black hole • galaxy

 Missing Tool Bag 
 Spotted in Space 

Watchers with telescopes in NJ, Ontario spot gear lost during spacewalk

Nov 25, 08 4:42 PM CST
(Newser) - Look, in the sky: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's … the tool bag that floated away during a spacewalk last week. A few backyard astronomers have spotted the shiny bag that drifted away from an astronaut outside the International Space Station. The $100,000 toolkit will be visible... More »

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NASA • astronauts • deep space • International Space Station

 Hubble's Back in Action 


Oct 30, 08 7:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Hubble has perfect vision again. NASA today released the first photos taken by the space telescope since an instrumental glitch put it out of commission last month, Space.com reports. Engineers fixed the problem this week, then got photos of a pair of galaxies about 400 million light-years from... More »

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NASA • Hubble • deep space • Hubble Space Telescope

 Troubled Hubble Gets a Fix 

Tech issues shut down telescope for 3 weeks

Oct 24, 08 10:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - The malfunctioning Hubble Space Telescope could resume its space photography tomorrow, the Los Angeles Times reports. NASA scientists have reconfigured software that shut down the telescope last week. “There does not appear to be any permanent damage,” said a Hubble manager. “We're ready to resume recovery.”... More »

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NASA • deep space • Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Lander Confirms
Water on Mars

'We've now finally touched and tasted it'

Jul 31, 08 8:50 PM CDT
(AP) - The Phoenix spacecraft has tasted Martian water for the first time. By melting icy soil in one of its lab instruments, the robot confirmed the presence of frozen water lurking below the Martian permafrost. Until now, evidence of ice in Mars' north pole region has been largely circumstantial. Scientists popped... More »

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NASA • Mars • deep space

OPINION

 New Planets Yield 
 Hopes of Life 
 Beyond  

Rocky, Earth-like orbs appear to be out there; might we indeed have company?

Jun 24, 08 1:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - The discovery, announced last week, that rocky, Earth-sized planets appear to be circling sun-sized stars in our own galaxy should thrill the closet Star Trek geek in all of us, Natalie Angier writes in the New York Times. "If planets abound, scientists suspect that life abounds, too, at... More »

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astronomy • space exploration • planet • deep space • extraterrestrial life • Milky Way • galaxy • Kepler spacecraft

 New Telescope Joins Alien Hunt 

Low-frequency array checks for nearby ETs

Jun 11, 08 2:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - If ET is within a hop, skip, and a solar system, a shiny new European telescope might just turn him up, Space.com reports. Made up of up to 25,000 antennae scattered throughout Europe, the LOFAR, or Low Frequency Array, will be able to scan light signals overlooked by... More »

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telescope • deep space • extraterrestrial life • aliens

 An Other-Worldly Brew on Tap 

Japanese brewery to craft beer whose barley comes from space-traveling seeds

May 31, 08 11:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Want to try a heavenly lager? Come November, you might get a chance. Japan's Sapporo Breweries is harvesting barley this weekend from seeds that spent 5 months aboard the International Space Station, the AP reports. It then plans to brew 100 bottles of space beer, though it hasn't figured out... More »

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beer • deep space • International Space Station • Russian Space Agency • science experiment • seeds

 Houston, We Have 
 a (Potty) Problem 

The space station's toilet is broken

May 27, 08 7:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The three-member crew aboard the International Space Station has a delicate problem—the toilet's on the fritz. The station's liquid-waste collector—a tricky system involving fans and the lack of gravity—is kaput, the New York Times reports. (The solid-waste collector still works.) Astronauts are working on a backup... More »

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NASA • astronauts • deep space • International Space Station • toilet • Discovery space shuttle

Saturn Moon Rings Detected

Rhea could be be the first known moon with rings

Mar 7, 08 4:20 AM CST
(Newser) - Saturn’s second-largest moon, Rhea, could be the first known moon with rings. The spacecraft Cassini detected apparent evidence of rings when it spotted debris around Rhea as it flew by in 2005, reports space.com. The set of rings has not been directly seen, but scientists inferred that the... More »

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planet • Earth • deep space • Saturn • Cassini • moons • spacecraft • electron • space mission

Scheme to Plant Telescope
on Moon
Gathers Steam

MIT, Navy working on far-side plans

Feb 25, 08 5:16 AM CST
(Newser) - The moon may have to start earning its keep if NASA gets its way. With the far side of our lunar satellite a perfect environment for delicate, deep-space measurements, two research teams are furiously plotting ways to deploy astronomy equipment there. If astronauts return to the moon after 2019, they... More »

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NASA • MIT • deep space • moon • radio telescope • Naval Research Laboratory • far side of the moon • big bang

Navy Hits Errant Satellite

US says it needed to act before it crashed to Earth with toxic fuel

Feb 20, 08 9:55 PM CST
(Newser) - The Navy tonight struck an errant spy satellite with its first missile shot, the AP reports. A ship in the Pacific hit the satellite as it passed about 130 miles above the ocean. The military says it needed to destroy the satellite before it crashed to Earth because the toxic... More »

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military • Navy • deep space • satellite • spy satellite

Hidden Galaxies Come to Light

Scientists discover star systems obscured by quasars

Sep 24, 07 12:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers have added 14 “invisible galaxies” to their map of the heavens, thanks to an imaginative breakthrough and a massive telescope. Researchers realized that some galaxies might be hidden by the bright lights of quasars behind them, so they scanned quasar data for “dips” where those lights might... More »

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astronomy • space exploration • space • deep space • quasars • galaxy

NASA Shutters Ideas Factory  

Mar 22, 07 8:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a cost-cutting move, NASA is shutting down its futuristic think tank, source of way-ahead-of-the-curve ideas, many of them worthy of a Star Trek script. Closing the Institute for Advanced Concepts will save $4 million out of NASA’s $16 billion dollar budget. But former NASA scientist Keith Cowing describes... More »

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technology • NASA • space exploration • genetics • science • planet • space • think tank • Institute for Advanced Concepts • Keith Cowing • NIAC • deep space

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