NASA announced today that its two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) Spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow, are running out of fuel and will be control crashed into a lunar mountain on December 17, 2012 at approximately 5:28 PM EST (Flow will crash 20 seconds after Ebb). The impact area is at latitude 75.62° N,…
Category: Astronomy and Space
Earth buzzed by not one, but two asteroids today
A newly discovered asteroid, 2012 XE54, and an old-timer, 4179 Toutatis, are buzzing Earth today. Asteroid 2012 XE54 was only discovered a few days ago (December 9) and passed between the Earth and Moon at a distance of 141,000 miles. In a rare event, it was also eclipsed by Earth’s shadow as it passed. The…
U.S. Air Force secret X-37B space plane set to launch from Cape Canaveral
The U.S. Air Force is set to launch its so-called secret X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle space plane from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Tuesday for the third test flight of the prototype space craft. The Air Force’s third Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-3) mission is scheduled for lift off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force…
NASA announces new evidence for water ice at Mercury’s poles
Scientist have long speculated that ice existed on the planet Mercury. Radio waves bounced off the planet decades ago indicated many bright spots on the planet’s surface. Scientist were reluctant to conclude that the white areas were ice though. The white reflection could have been silicate, sulfur, or other highly-reflective substances. Today, a new analysis…
Researchers discover clue as to why a black hole’s mass is lighter than expected
If you have ever wondered why, against conventional logic, black holes are so “light”, researchers at Virginia Tech may be about to quench your thirst for an answer. Computer models of the early universe fall fairly close to home except for one thing – the ratio of the mass of black holes in the center…
SpaceX founder solidifying plans to start civilian colony of 80,000 people on Mars
Not content with simply blasting civilians into the stratosphere, Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, is now aiming his sights towards starting a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people. Once the infrastructure is in place, Musk intends to ferry people to Mars at a cost of $500,000 per…
Scientists discover planet 13 times larger than Jupiter – may be bridge between planet and star
Kappa Andromedae b (or ‘Kappa And b,’ for short) is 170 light-years away and orbits its sun, which is a mere 30 million years old (compared to Earth’s 5 billion year old sun), about 1.8 times farther than Neptune’s orbit. It glows red due to radiation from the heat that’s left over from its formation.…
Leonid meteor shower will have an unusual two separate peaks this week – November 17 and November 20
The annual Leonid meteor shower, one of the best annual meteor showers, will be reaching its peak this week although the showing is not expected to be spectacular with only 10-15 meteors per hour projected. This year the shower is a bit unusual with two peaks expected – one on Saturday morning (11/17/2012) and the…
Computer generated simulation provides stunning visualization of the half million pieces of “space junk” orbiting Earth
95% of the objects in this computer generated simulation of low-Earth orbit objects is “orbital debris”, not satellites. “Space junk” consist of everything from spent rocket stages, lost equipment and defunct satellites to erosion, explosion and collision fragments. NASA estimates there are more than 500,000 pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth (“tens of millions”…
Is NASA planning to deploy a robotic “miner” on the moon supported by a floating space station?
Rumors are spreading that NASA intends to deploy a robotic payload in 2017 for the purpose of finding water sources on the Moon. The payload would be mounted on a robotic rover that moved about the moon searching for water sources and other useful materials, saving NASA the expense of transporting these heavy materials from…








