Deflecting light from the Big Bang EU–(ENEWPSF)–1 October 2013.  Using a telescope in Antarctica and ESA’s Herschel space observatory, astronomers have made the first detection of a subtle twist in the relic radiation from the Big Bang, paving the way towards revealing the first moments of the Universe’s existence. The[Read More…]

The Cluster constellation EU–(ENEWSPF)–20 September 2013.  Since 2000, the four identical satellites of the Cluster quartet have been probing Earth’s magnetosphere in three dimensions. This week, two of them made their closest-ever approach, just 4 km, enabling valuable data to be acquired with unprecedented detail. In an orbital reconfiguration that[Read More…]

NASA-(ENEWSPF)- NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft captured these sounds of interstellar space. Voyager 1’s plasma wave instrument detected the vibrations of dense interstellar plasma, or ionized gas, from October to November 2012 and April to May 2013. The graphic shows the frequency of the waves, which indicate the density of the[Read More…]

MIT study finds that high-energy electrons in space may be to blame for some satellite failures CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(ENEWSPF)–September 17, 2013.  Is your cable television on the fritz? One explanation, scientists suspect, may be the weather — the weather in space, that is. MIT researchers are investigating the effects of space[Read More…]

Carbon dioxide levels 2002–12 EU–(ENEWSPF)–5 September 2013.  Ten years of satellite observations of greenhouse gases reveal that carbon dioxide in our atmosphere continues to increase despite international efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Satellites also show that recent methane increases are likely due to manmade emissions. Atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane[Read More…]

Becquerel Crater EU–(ENEWSPF)–5 September 2013.  Exceptional structures deposited and shaped by water and winds adorn these interlocking craters and sculpt radiating patterns in the sands of Mars. Becquerel crater in context This mosaic, which focuses on Becquerel crater in Arabia Terra, is composed of four images taken by the high-resolution[Read More…]

Antonov plane at Toulouse airport during Gaia loading EU–(ENEWSPF)–23 August 2013.  ESA’s billion-star surveyor, Gaia, departed yesterday evening from Toulouse and arrived early this morning in French Guiana. Gaia will be launched later this year from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou on a five-year mission to map the stars of the[Read More…]

Magnetic loop on magnetar SGR 0418 EU–(ENEWSPF)–15 August 2013.  Scientists using ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope have discovered that a curious dead star has been hiding one of the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe all along, despite earlier suggestions of an unusually low magnetic field. The object, known as SGR[Read More…]

Hubble Space Telescope Finds Source of Magellanic Stream – NASA Photo Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–August 8, 2013.  Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have solved a 40-year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream, a long ribbon of gas stretching nearly halfway around our Milky Way galaxy. The Large and Small[Read More…]