Topic: Hubble Space Telescope

Venus to have its final day in the sun for the 21st century

The planet Venus is due to pass in front of the sun on June 5th and 6th. It won't do so again until 2117. 

Black hole emits humongous energy burst (+video)

An unusual brightness, documented by NASA's Chandra telescope appears to be coming from a black hole.

Space Shuttle Discovery arrives at its new home (+video)

In a public ceremony, NASA officially delivered the Space Shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Thursday.

Space Shuttle Discovery lands, for the last time, in Washington, D.C. (+video)

After saluting the nations capital from atop a modified jumbo jet, the Space Shuttle Discovery touched down at Dulles International Airport to be handed over to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Thousands of comets orbiting new star collide every day, create visible debris ring

Comets, perhaps over 80 trillion, circle a young star that houses one alien planet and maybe more. There are thousands of daily comet collisions in the star's orbit.

Photos of asteroid Vesta reveal bright, ancient rock and dark, melted stone

The new photos of Vesta from NASA's Dawn spacecraft highlight odd, shiny spots that are nearly twice as bright as other parts of the asteroid — suggesting it is original material left over from the space rock's birth 4 billion years ago, NASA officials said today.

Akira Yoshizawa: Why origami matters

Akira Yoshizawa, honored Wednesday with a Google doodle on his 101st birthday, helped introduce to the world an art form that has proven very useful in mathematics and engineering.

Oxygen atmosphere found on distant Saturn moon Dione (+video)

Dione's atmosphere was detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which spotted an ultra-thin layer of oxygen ions so sparse that it is equivalent to conditions 300 miles above Earth.

Supermassive black holes are cannibals, new research suggests

Astronomers have found black holes and supermassive black holes. But the discovery of a mid-size black hole could support the idea that supermassive black holes grow by eating others.

Obama's NASA budget: Mars takes a hit, but space science isn't dead

Two major Mars missions lost out to the James Web Space Telescope in Obama's proposed NASA budget, but there's still money for other ambitious space-science missions.

Obama's NASA budget favors a space telescope over Mars exploration

The proposed 2013 federal budget shifts funding away from missions to Mars and emphasizes manned spaceflight and astronomy.

Mars budget cuts 'irrational' says former NASA science chief

NASA faces deep budget cuts, forcing it to eliminate some missions to explore Mars. The cuts will allow the agency to continue its plans to build a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.  

Red Planet meets red ink: budget ax could chop two NASA Mars missions

The budget to be released by President Obama Monday is expected to include a one-third cut in NASA's Mars program, in part to pay for other cost overruns within the agency.

Mars missions cancelled? NASA budget could prompt deep cuts.

While exactly how much money is allocated to NASA is unknown, insiders expect a significant reduction in the portion slotted for robotic exploration of Mars and other solar system bodies.

Does the Milky Way galaxy have an evil twin?

The Hubble Space Telescope has detected a galaxy that is strikingly similar to our own Milky Way, but there's no reason to believe that it's evil.

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.

Do we need spaceflight for the perspective?

An astronaut's life-changing lesson from a moment in orbit.

Mysterious invisible galaxy may be composed of dark matter

Though telescopes can't spot the dwarf galaxy, scientists detected its presence through the tiny distortions its gravity causes to light that passes it by.

NASA able to observe a long time ago, in newly found galaxies far, far away

Researchers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to find five tiny but bright galaxies clustered together 13.1 billion light-years from Earth.

Russia hints foreign sabotage may be behind space program troubles

The head of Russia's space agency said it is 'suspicious' that most of the program's accidents occur in places that Russian radars can't reach.

NASA shuts down space shuttle Discovery for final time

Mystery of supernova birth points to white dwarfs

Scientists hit "rewind" to discover how white dwarfs play a role in the evolution of a supernova.

Discovery of biggest black holes ever may shed light on galaxy formation

Black holes 10 billion times the sun's mass have been found. The discovery could help write the history of galaxy formation and evolution over the universe's 13.7 billion-year history.

The mystery of the humongous Christmas space explosion

On Christmas Day 2010, NASA's Swift satellite detected a massive, sustained gamma-ray burst whose cause still leaves astronomers baffled.

Mars Curiosity rover waiting on launch pad. But will funding end?

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, which includes the car-sized Curiosity rover, arrived on its Cape Canaveral launchpad on Thursday. But some experts worry about the lack of funding for Mars missions beyond 2013.