Topic: Greenbelt (Maryland)
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day 09/27
All Content
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What the transit of Venus tells us about alien planets (+video)
The transit of Venus will help astronomers on the hunt for planets outside of our solar system.
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Humongous solar flare erupts from sun
A spectacular solar flare erupted on the sun Monday, kicking up a massive amount of plasma.
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How did the moon get there? NASA videos explain.
Images captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been used to create an animated 4-billion-year history of the moon.
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Solar storm could become severe 'bell ringer' in next 24 hours (+video)
Solar storm forecasters say the particles disgorged in a massive solar flare could strike Earth in a particular way, which would make a currently moderate solar storm more severe.
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Ice, ice baby: Old arctic ice disappearing faster than younger thin ice
Typically the thicker, older ice survives through the summer melt season (hence, it's called multi-year ice), while the younger ice that forms over the winter melts as quickly as it formed.
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'Alien' matter from beyond solar system discovered by NASA
This so-called interstellar material was spotted by NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, a spacecraft that is studying the edge of the solar system from its orbit about 200,000 miles above Earth.
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Huge asteroid may be packed with water ice
The surface of Vesta — the second-largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — appears to be quite dry. But water ice may lurk underground over roughly half of the huge space rock's area, particularly near the poles, researchers said.
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Comet's fiery plunge may tell us how planets form
For the first time, scientists have caught a glimpse of a comet's final minutes before it was vaporized by the sun. The comet was flying at about 1.4 million miles an hour.
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Mystery of Comet Lovejoy: How'd it survive close encounter with the sun?
Comet Lovejoy defied expectations and survived its closest approach to the sun late Thursday, leaving scientists the rare opportunity to chronicle a comet's near-death experience.
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Mars explorer 'Curiosity' set for Saturday launch
NASA's Mars explorer Curiosity, the most capable robotic rover ever built for taking the measure of a planet, is to launch Saturday morning. Curiosity will analyze the layered terrain in Gale Crater to read in its rocks the history of the environment there.
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Mars science lab 'Curiosity' to launch 'extraterrestrial real-estate appraisal'
After a decade of "following the water," planetary scientists want to see if water co-existed with other critical environmental conditions that could have allowed simple forms of life to emerge.
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Prototype of next-generation weather satellite: Can it go to work fast enough?
After cost overruns and years of delay, the US is set to launch a prototype weather satellite before dawn Friday. Its data are badly needed as the number of Earth-observing satellites dwindle.
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How are planets born? LkCa 15 could give scientists first-ever peek.
A newly discovered planet-candidate circling star LkCa 15 could provide astronomers with a first-ever look at a gas-giant planet as it grows. It could help prove or debunk current theories.
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Lunar eclipse Wednesday to last 100 minutes – longest in 11 years
Skywatchers in North America will miss this lunar eclipse, but a second one this year will be visible in December, especially in western portions of the continent.
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Lunar eclipse, first of 2011, occurs Weds.
Lunar eclipse: The event is the first lunar eclipse of 2011 and one of two total lunar eclipses this year.
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Solar flare? Yes, but tonight's northern lights have a more spectacular cause.
A solar flare erupted from the sun's surface Tuesday, but the star of the solar storm was something much larger – a coronal mass ejection. It is distorting Earth's magnetic field and will produce the northern lights (and southern lights) tonight.
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Supermoon to make closest pass by Earth on Saturday
Supermoon: The moon will makes its closest approach to Earth on Saturday, appearing closer and larger to the naked eye. The last supermoon was eighteen years ago.
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'Milestone' in bid to sniff atmosphere of a 'super Earth' light-years away
Scientists seeking an astronomical first – discerning the atmospheric composition of a 'super Earth' exoplanet – have now learned enough to rule out one leading theory.
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NASA's next big space telescope in financial trouble
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will need $1.5 billion added to its $5 billion budget to live up to its scientific promise, a review panel estimates. But the prospects for Congress granting the money are dim.
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Meltwater from glaciers could be accelerating ice melt
Water that flows through crevasses in the Greenland ice sheet has a greater warming effect than scientists previously thought, causing warming on the order of decades instead of centuries.
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day 09/27
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At height of hurricane season, research teams take on storms
The research projects are aimed at giving forecasters more tools for improving storm forecasts. The peak of the hurricane season is between now and the end of October.
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Cool Astronomy
Huge asteroid on possible collision course with Earth (172 years from now)
The asteroid has a one-in-a-thousand chance of striking our planet in the year 2182, say NASA experts.
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Huge spacequakes shaking Earth's magnetic field
A new study has found that spacequakes – tremors in the Earth's magnetosphere caused by plasma ejected from the sun – tend to pack a punch.
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Scientists figure out why black holes 'light up' when galaxies collide
When galaxies merge, some black holes will suddenly emit 10 billion times the energy of the sun. Using data from NASA's Swift satellite, scientists now know why this happens.
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