http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet out to Mars in our solar system. Moreover, it has begun to pulse dramatically in and out, beating like a giant heart. New close-up photos of the surface of this distant star show its throbbing motions in unprecedented detail. http://www.physorg.com/news180098305.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:10:01 EST news180098305 NASA launched Monday a new breed of satellite called WISE on a mission to orbit Earth and map the skies to find elusive cosmic objects, including potentially dangerous asteroids. http://www.physorg.com/news180010326.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:52:57 EST news180010326 (PhysOrg.com) -- Launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is scheduled for Dec. 11. http://www.physorg.com/news179158042.html Space & Earth Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:20:01 EST news179158042 Super Earths are named for their size, but these planets - which range from about 2 to 10 Earth masses - could be superior to the Earth when it comes to sustaining life. They could also provide an answer to the ‘Fermi Paradox`: Why haven`t we been visited by aliens? http://www.physorg.com/news178821471.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:38:28 EST news178821471 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft re-entered our solar system's asteroid belt today, Nov. 13, and this time it will stay there. http://www.physorg.com/news177615422.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:30:02 EST news177615422 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have gained new insight into the makeup of ancient meteorites called Carbonaceous Chondrites, in research published in the October edition of the journal Earth Science and Planetary Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news177264804.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:14:14 EST news177264804 (PhysOrg.com) -- This spectacular image of our home planet was captured by the OSIRIS instrument on ESA's Rosetta comet chaser earlier today as the spacecraft approached Earth for the third and final swingby. Closest approach is due at 08:45 CET, 13 November 2009. http://www.physorg.com/news177262843.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:50:01 EST news177262843 Once upon a time - roughly four billion years ago - Mars was warm and wet, much like Earth. Liquid water flowed on the Martian surface in long rivers that emptied into shallow seas. A thick atmosphere blanketed the planet and kept it warm. Living microbes might have even arisen, some scientists believe, starting Mars down the path toward becoming a second life-filled planet next door to our own. http://www.physorg.com/news177179617.html Space & Earth Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:34:12 EST news177179617 (PhysOrg.com) -- An unusual meteorite with an interesting orbit has been tracked to the ground using a photographic observatory that records time-lapse images of fireballs traveling across the sky. http://www.physorg.com/news176657727.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:42:08 EST news176657727 Right now, the Moon is a ghost town. Nothing stirs. Here and there, an abandoned Apollo rover - or the dusty base of a lunar lander - linger as silent testimony to past human activity. But these days, only occasional asteroid impacts disrupt the decades-long spell of profound stillness. http://www.physorg.com/news175800054.html Space & Earth Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:21:47 EST news175800054 According to NASA scientist David Morrison, the widespread Internet rumor that the world will end in 2012 due to some astronomical event is a hoax. Dr. Morrison attributes the hype to 'cosmophobia' fueled by fake science websites and people trying to cash in on public lack of knowledge. http://www.physorg.com/news175236478.html Space & Earth Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:48:36 EST news175236478 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Galileo spacecraft began what would become a 14-year odyssey of exploration 20 years ago this Sunday, Oct. 18. Galileo was humanity's first emissary to orbit a planet in the outer solar system - Jupiter. http://www.physorg.com/news175199898.html Space & Earth Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:39:48 EST news175199898 (PhysOrg.com) -- Britney E. Schmidt, a UCLA doctoral student in the department of Earth and space sciences, wasn't sure what she'd glean from images of the asteroid Pallas taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. But she hoped to settle at least one burning question: Was Pallas, the second-largest asteroid, actually in that gray area between an asteroid and a small planet? http://www.physorg.com/news174554418.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:21:00 EST news174554418 (PhysOrg.com) -- 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. http://www.physorg.com/news174152261.html Space & Earth Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:50:01 EST news174152261 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are developing a new type of rocket propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminum" powder that is more environmentally friendly than conventional propellants and could be manufactured on the moon, Mars and other water-bearing bodies. http://www.physorg.com/news174146628.html Nanotechnology Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:04:23 EST news174146628 The asteroid impact that many researchers claim was the cause of the dinosaur die-off was bad news for marine life at the time as well. But new research shows that microalgae - one of the primary producers in the ocean - bounced back from the global extinction in about 100 years or less. http://www.physorg.com/news173713660.html Space & Earth Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:10:01 EST news173713660 Astronomers using the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have explored one of the most compact dust disks ever resolved around another star. If placed in our own solar system, the disk would span about four times Earth's distance from the sun, reaching nearly to Jupiter's orbit. The compact inner disk is accompanied by an outer disk that extends hundreds of times farther. http://www.physorg.com/news173028897.html Space & Earth Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:10:02 EST news173028897 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have witnessed odd behavior around a young star. Something, perhaps another star or a planet, appears to be pushing a clump of planet-forming material around. The observations, made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, offer a rare look into the early stages of planet formation. http://www.physorg.com/news172943482.html Space & Earth Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:52:09 EST news172943482 (PhysOrg.com) -- Toward the end of September, the sun will turn a spotlight on the asteroid Juno, giving that bulky lump of rock a rare featured cameo in the night sky. Those who get out to a dark, unpolluted sky will be able to spot the asteroid's silvery glint near the planet Uranus with a pair of binoculars. http://www.physorg.com/news172417127.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:39:21 EST news172417127 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered where in the Solar System it came from, in a very rare finding published today in the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news172415123.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:09:32 EST news172415123 Ninjas knew how to be stealthy: Be dark. Emit very little light. Move in the shadows between bright places. http://www.physorg.com/news172342922.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:40:13 EST news172342922 Crater patterns on Vesta and Ceres could help pinpoint when Jupiter began to form during the evolution of the early solar system. http://www.physorg.com/news172242235.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:20:01 EST news172242235 As the flames of the raging brush fire dubbed the Station Fire threatened the northern edge of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Saturday, Aug. 29, the managers of NASA's Deep Space Network prepared for the worst. http://www.physorg.com/news171820880.html Space & Earth Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:03:10 EST news171820880 (PhysOrg.com) -- British space engineers working for a space company in Stevenage in England, have designed a "gravity tractor" spacecraft to deflect any asteroids threatening to collide with Earth. The announcement comes only weeks after an asteroid collision scar around the size of Earth was detected on Jupiter. http://www.physorg.com/news171269917.html Space & Earth Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:00:13 EST news171269917 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has arrived at its last stop on Earth -- Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. http://www.physorg.com/news169752808.html Space & Earth Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:50:01 EST news169752808 (AP) -- NASA is charged with seeking out nearly all the asteroids that threaten Earth but doesn't have the money to do the job, a federal report says. http://www.physorg.com/news169304506.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:02:32 EST news169304506 (PhysOrg.com) -- Radar imaging at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar on June 12 and 14, 2009, revealed that near-Earth asteroid 1994 CC is a triple system. Asteroid 1994 CC encountered Earth within 2.52 million kilometers (1.56 million miles) on June 10. http://www.physorg.com/news168801668.html Space & Earth Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:00:01 EST news168801668 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is introducing a new Web site that will provide a centralized resource for information on near-Earth objects - those asteroids and comets that can approach Earth. The "Asteroid Watch" site also contains links for the interested public to sign up for NASA's new asteroid widget and Twitter account. http://www.physorg.com/news168191563.html Space & Earth Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:10:03 EST news168191563 A 17-member team has found what may be the smoking gun of a much-debated proposal that a cosmic impact about 12,900 years ago ripped through North America and drove multiple species into extinction. http://www.physorg.com/news167329938.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:20:01 EST news167329938 A persistent school of thought in recent years has held that so-called "chevrons," large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world's coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean. http://www.physorg.com/news160212894.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:35:13 EST news160212894