http://www.physorg.com/space-news/ en-us PhysOrg Team PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on earth science, astronomy and space exploration. (PhysOrg.com) -- The European Space Agency has today released spectacular new observations from the Herschel Space Observatory, including the UK-led SPIRE instrument. Spectrometers on board all three Hershel instruments have been used to analyse the light from objects inside our galaxy and from other galaxies, producing some of the best measurements yet of atoms and molecules involved in the birth and death of stars. http://www.physorg.com/news178551842.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T13:45:21-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has made the first unambiguous detection of high-energy gamma-rays from an enigmatic binary system known as Cygnus X-3. The system pairs a hot, massive star with a compact object -- either a neutron star or a black hole -- that blasts twin radio-emitting jets of matter into space at more than half the speed of light. http://www.physorg.com/news178547547.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T12:34:14-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Alberta researcher has turned the site of a southern Alberta rockslide tragedy into the proving ground for new equipment meant to avert such a disaster in the future. http://www.physorg.com/news178547053.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T12:25:08-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ultraluminous infrared galaxies ((ULIRGs) are galaxies whose luminosity exceeds that of a trillion suns; for comparison, the Milky Way galaxy has a typical (and much more modest) luminosity of only about ten billion suns. ULIRGs were discovered by an all-sky infrared survey satellite in the 1980's, and since then the origin(s) of their huge infrared emission has been widely debated. Extreme infrared activity is known to be associated with interacting galaxies, and optical imaging indeed shows that many ULIRGs are in collision, but this fact does not answer the question of what physical mechanism powers the luminosity. Might the same process be underway at a low level in our galaxy? http://www.physorg.com/news178544948.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T11:55:01-07:00 (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned to Earth with a smooth touchdown Friday to end an 11-day flight that resupplied the International Space Station. http://www.physorg.com/news178530037.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T10:58:45-07:00 (AP) -- Gert Ignatiussen returns to this fjord-front Inuit town with the spoils of his hunting trip. Six seals, all killed with a single shot to the head. http://www.physorg.com/news178530519.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T08:30:01-07:00 (AP) -- Americans' day-to-day lives won't change noticeably if President Barack Obama achieves his newly announced goal of slashing carbon dioxide pollution by one-sixth in the next decade, experts say. http://www.physorg.com/news178530693.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T07:52:01-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first-ever Australian benchmark of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and options for adaptation is being released in Brisbane today. http://www.physorg.com/news178529108.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T07:50:01-07:00 China will launch its second moon orbiter next October, state media reported Friday, as it powers ahead with a space programme that has sparked concerns abroad. http://www.physorg.com/news178527266.html Space & Earth 2009-11-27T06:55:20-07:00 Intervals of regional warmth and cold in the past are linked to the El Niņo phenomenon and the so-called "North Atlantic Oscillation" in the Northern hemisphere's jet stream, according to a team of climate scientists. These linkages may be important in assessing the regional effects of future climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news178459644.html Space & Earth 2009-11-26T14:10:05-07:00 Deforestation has had a big influence on the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the past three centuries, but its impact is tapering off relatively. Nowadays, the burning of fossil fuels is a more crucial factor. This is the contention of Dutchh professor Rik Leemans of the Environmental Systems Analysis Group. http://www.physorg.com/news178460120.html Space & Earth 2009-11-26T12:21:21-07:00 (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts thought they were going to give thanks with pantry leftovers Thursday as their mission drew to a close, but found turkey dinners awaiting them. http://www.physorg.com/news178454727.html Space & Earth 2009-11-26T11:00:01-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a sample of the variety and complexity of processes that may occur on the walls of Martian craters, well after the impact crater formed. http://www.physorg.com/news178453746.html Space & Earth 2009-11-26T10:29:56-07:00 (AP) -- President Barack Obama will commit the United States to substantial cuts in greenhouse gas pollution over the next decade - despite resistance in Congress over higher costs - when he travels to a major climate conference in Copenhagen next month. http://www.physorg.com/news178441378.html Space & Earth 2009-11-26T07:50:02-07:00 (AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts will spend Thanksgiving checking their ship for the ride home. http://www.physorg.com/news178441030.html Space & Earth 2009-11-26T06:58:44-07:00 (AP) -- A top Russian space official says there is no space for tourists wishing to fly to the International Space Station. http://www.physorg.com/news178438842.html Space & Earth 2009-11-26T06:23:52-07:00 Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar tsunami." http://www.physorg.com/news178395416.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T18:17:45-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- The diminutive moon Prometheus whips gossamer ice particles out of Saturn's F ring in this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on Aug. 21, 2009. http://www.physorg.com/news178393307.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T18:10:01-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- On Sol 2095 (Tuesday, Nov. 24), Spirit performed a set of diagnostic actions related to a stall of the right-rear wheel on the previous drive, three days earlier. http://www.physorg.com/news178393606.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T18:00:03-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Reducing carbon dioxide to safe levels may require extracting carbon from the air, says Cornell climate researcher. http://www.physorg.com/news178392408.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T17:40:01-07:00 NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Cyclone Bongani today and provided some important data that have helped forecasters figure out where the storm is headed, and helped them see that it has changed course. http://www.physorg.com/news178381962.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T16:00:02-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's remotely piloted Predator B aircraft, named Ikhana, recently conducted post-burn assessments of two Southern California wildfire sites, the Piute Fire in Kern County and the Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest. Ikhana, an unmanned aircraft equipped with an infrared imaging sensor, completed a seven-hour imaging flight on Nov. 19, 2009 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. http://www.physorg.com/news178384574.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T15:17:30-07:00 Typhoon Nida is in a favorable environment that has enabled it to intensify faster and stronger than previously forecast, and has now exploded into a Super typhoon. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Nida and captured a visible image of the storm revealing a clear eye, which indicates a strong typhoon. http://www.physorg.com/news178381705.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T14:31:18-07:00 Imagine the Earth's crust as the planet's skin: Some areas are old and wrinkled while others have a fresher, more youthful sheen, as if they had been regularly lathered with lotion. http://www.physorg.com/news178381626.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T14:27:50-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Peering through the thick dust clouds of our galaxy's "bulge" (the myriads of stars surrounding its center), a team of astronomers has unveiled an unusual mix of stars in the stellar grouping known as Terzan 5. Never observed anywhere in the bulge before, this peculiar "cocktail" of stars suggests that Terzan 5 is in fact one of the bulge's primordial building blocks, most likely the relic of a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way during its very early days. http://www.physorg.com/news178377940.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T13:28:26-07:00 (AP) -- Ships are on alert and maritime authorities are monitoring the movements of hundreds of menacing icebergs drifting toward New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean, officials said. http://www.physorg.com/news178374623.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T12:33:50-07:00 Soil is the linchpin of the environment, where atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere meet. Despite that, many students see soil as "just dirt" - a place to grow plants, but nothing more. Soil science educators are challenged with the task of helping students and the public recognize the critical importance of soil in the environment. http://www.physorg.com/news178370886.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T11:28:38-07:00 Tackling climate change by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions will have major direct health benefits in addition to reducing the risk of climate change, especially in low-income countries, according to a series of six papers appearing today (Wed., Nov. 25) in the British journal The Lancet. http://www.physorg.com/news178370528.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T11:25:54-07:00 A team of Spanish scientists, studying recent, active deformations in the Baetic mountain range, have shown that the activity of smaller tectonic structures close to larger faults in the south east of the Iberian Peninsula partially offsets the risk of earthquakes. http://www.physorg.com/news178368974.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T10:57:11-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- The team operating NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plans to uplink protective files to the spacecraft next week as one step toward resuming the orbiter's research and relay activities. http://www.physorg.com/news178359134.html Space & Earth 2009-11-25T08:12:42-07:00