Oct 07, 2009 - Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid.

The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth in 2036.

The Apophis asteroid is approximately the size of two-and-a-half football fields.

The new data were documented by near-Earth object scientists Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Oct 07, 2009 - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn -- by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings.

The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane.

The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles).

One of Saturn's farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material.

Oct 06, 2009 - Imagine the thrill of floating out of the International Space Station and into the emptiness of space and what it would be like to work on the orbiting science laboratory.

NASA has developed a new video game, Station Spacewalk, to give young people an "out of this world" virtual opportunity to experience the thrill of working on a mission to the International Space Station from their computers.

This new video game is based on actual work astronauts performed during the course of several NASA missions.
The game is part of NASA's broader educational outreach effort to engage and inspire students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Oct 06, 2009 - A new composite image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope shows two black holes merging together within galaxy NGC 6240.

Initially discovered in 2002, the two black holes are a mere 3,000 light years apart. Scientists think these black holes are in such close proximity because they are in the midst of spiraling toward each other -- a process that began about 30 million years ago.

It's estimated that the two black holes will eventually drift together and merge into a larger black hole some tens or hundreds of millions of years from now.

Oct 02, 2009 - Quite a few distant galaxies turn out to be cosmic delivery rooms.

Large numbers of massive stars are born in the hearts of these starburst galaxies, and later explode as supernovae.

In the remnants they leave behind, particles are accelerated to very high energies.

Astrophysicists have now used the H.E.S.S. telescopes to make detailed measurements of the gamma rays from the NGC 253 galaxy.

Oct 02, 2009 - Herschel has delivered spectacular vistas of cold gas clouds lying near the plane of the Milky Way, revealing intense, unexpected activity.

The dark, cool region is dotted with stellar factories, like pearls on a cosmic string.
 
On 3 September, Herschel aimed its telescope at a reservoir of cold gas in the constellation of the Southern Cross near the Galactic Plane.

As the telescope scanned the sky, the spacecraft’s Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver, SPIRE, and Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer, PACS instruments snapped the pictures.

Oct 01, 2009 -The most ambitious attempt yet to trace the history of the universe has seen "first light."
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), took its first astronomical data on the night of Sept. 14-15 at the Sloan Foundation telescope in New Mexico.

The goal of the six-year project is to measure the spectra of 1.4 million galaxies and 160,000 quasars, extremely distant objects that shine more brightly than entire galaxies.

The previous sky survey (SDSS-II) determined the two-dimensional position of these objects in the sky.

Sep 30, 2009 - Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) allows astronomers to study an interesting and important phenomenon called ram pressure stripping that is so powerful, it is capable of mangling galaxies and even halting their star formation.

The image shows NGC 4402 and highlights some telltale signs of ram pressure stripping such as the curved, or convex, appearance of the disc of gas and dust, a result of the forces exerted by the heated gas. Light being emitted by the disc backlights the swirling dust that is being swept out by the gas. Studying ram pressure stripping helps astronomers better understand the mechanisms that drive the evolution of galaxies, and how the rate of star formation is suppressed in very dense regions of the Universe like clusters.

Sep 29, 2009 - NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission (LCROSS) based on new analysis of available lunar data, has shifted the target crater from Cabeus A to Cabeus (proper).

The decision was based on continued evaluation of all available data and consultation/input from members of the LCROSS Science Team and the scientific community, including impact experts, ground and space based observers, and observations from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Prospector (LP), Chandrayaan-1 and JAXA's Kaguya spacecraft.