Space

Intimate brush with a naked alien landscape

THIS heavenly body’s beauty is incredible — in a stark, primordial kind of way. The eerie landscape of Comet 67P is unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Space

This NASA artist's concept obtained June 2, 2015 shows the test vehicle for NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator(LDSD), designed to test landing technologies for future Mars missions. After scrapping a planned June 2, 2015 launch from the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, because of unfavorable ocean conditions, the waves were too high to successfully retrieve the LDSD when it returns to Earth, NASA is planning to try around 1:30 pm ET on June 3, 2015. AFP PHOTO/NASA/JPL-CALTECH = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT:

Monster waves delay NASA parachute

HIGH waves have forced NASA to postpone the first test of the largest parachute ever deployed, during a flying saucer launch.

Space

Pluto’s ‘darn weird’ dysfunctional family

THINGS tend to get a little weird out on the fringes. It’s certainly so with Pluto: It can’t seem to control its wayward moons.

Natural Wonders

PIC FROM MERCURY PRESS/CATERS NEWS(PICTURED - WHAT IS BELIEVED TO BE A UFO WHICH WAS CATPURED BY HARRY PERTON)A nature blogger was stunned when he appeared to capture a UFO on camera. Harry Perton photographed the unusual object in Groningen, the Netherlands, after he ventured out in a storm to take pictures for his blog last week. But he was stunned when he checked his camera and spotted the jellyfish UFO - so called for its appearance - floating in the night sky emitting an eerie flash of green light. SEE MERCURY COPY

Is this a UFO or a jellyfish?

A NATURE blogger was stunned when he appeared to capture a UFO on camera.

Space

Freaky tubes floating above Earth

AN AUSSIE student has discovered that giant, invisible, moving plasma tubes fill the skies above Earth. So, what does this mean?

Space

Death star fires planet-killing beam

THIS death star is fully armed and operational: The Hubble telescope has just spotted its planet-killing beam in action. Is it really moving much faster than the speed of light?

Space

How this satellite came back from the dead

AFTER eight days in the dark, a privately funded solar sail satellite has rebooted itself and sent reassuring messages to Earth.

Space

Emirates’ bold space travel plans

THE United Arab Emirates has revealed plans for its own space agency in a bid ‘to confirm its status as a spacefaring nation’.

Space

Astronaut’s amazing footage from space

A NASA astronaut has given Earth-dwelling plebs a glimpse into the final frontier after posting amazing videos on Twitter.

Space

NASA finds brightest galaxy in the universe

The brightest galaxy in the universe

A GALAXY shining with the light of more than 300 trillion suns has located been discovered by astrophysicists from NASA.

Space

This June 2009 photo made available by the U.S. Air Force via NASA shows the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. On Wednesday, May 20, 2015, the Air Force launched its unmanned mini-shuttle from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Like the old shuttle, the X-37B launches vertically and lands horizontally, is reusable, and has lots of room for experiments. But no one flies on them; they are operated robotically. (U.S. Air Force via AP)

US launches secret space plane

THE US air force has launched its robotic space plane into orbit for a fourth flight aboard an Atlas 5 rocket.

Space

Staring through Medusa’s veils

BEWARE the gaze of Medusa: Her beauty may be extraordinary, but hidden behind the diaphanous veils is a story of dreadful destruction.

Space

Staring through Medusa’s veils

BEWARE the gaze of Medusa: Her beauty may be extraordinary, but hidden behind the diaphanous veils is a story of dreadful destruction.

Space

‘Alien lights’ captured on dwarf planet

NASA has released the most detailed pictures yet of the mysterious “alien lights” on dwarf planet Ceres which continue to mystify scientists.

Space

Solar Light Sail Picture: Josh Spradling / The Planetary Society

Sailing space ship powered by light

A SPACECRAFT with sails that relies just on sunlight for fuel is set for its first flight and its backers hope it could revolutionise interstellar travel.

Space

Messier 106 Image Credit & Copyright: R Jay Gabany Explanation: Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe -- a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with a bright central core, this colorful composite image highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms. It also shows off remarkable reddish jets of glowing hydrogen gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 (bottom right) background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106 (aka NGC 4258) is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, seen across the spectrum from radio to x-rays. Active galaxies are believed to be powered by matter falling into a massive central black hole.

The answer to why matter exists

EVERYTHING we see and touch is made of matter but for the longest time scientists had no idea why it existed. Now they may have found an answer.

Space

Sarah Brightman taking part in the astronaut training programme at Star City near Moscow.

Russian space officials left scrambling

RUSSIA’S space officials are rushing to find a replacement for British singer Sarah Brightman after she pulled out as the next space tourist four months before her planned trip.

Space

Sailing into space on a sunbeam

COULD travelling to nearby stars be as simple as hoisting a sail? An experimental spacecraft is about to find out.

Space

Cosmic ‘dinosaur egg’ about to hatch

ASTRONOMERS have stumbled across an incredible event in space. They say it ‘could have been plucked straight out of the early universe’.

Space

In this photo taken on Saturday, April 18, 2015, Florian Commans, crew biologist and greenhab officier, of Crew 153, studies a collection of rocks near the Mars Desert Research Station, in Hanksville, Utah. This isn’t Mars, but it’s resemblance to the red planet has made it a hot spot for teams of geologists, biologists and engineers from around the world who have been coming for more than a decade to simulate missions to the mysterious planet in hopes of providing critical research to for future trips to Mars. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Is $6,200 enough money for this?

THE plan to colonise Mars has one giant problem standing in the way. And now NASA is offering cash prizes to the public if they can find a solution.

Space

Satellite blast sparks Gravity fear

IN A scenario that eerily echoes the plot of ‘Gravity’, scientists claim the explosion of a satellite has left other spacecraft at risk from hurtling debris.

Space

Galaxy from the past found

WRAP your head around this. Scientists have looked back in time to discover a new bright blue galaxy that is the farthest thing away from us we’ve ever seen.

Space

A new study of 51 distant quasars using Chandra reveals a population of black holes that consume excessive amounts of matter. The artist's illustration shows how a thick, donut-shaped disk around the black hole blocks a substantial amount of the X-rays that would otherwise escape the system. The important implication of these

NASA uncovers hungry black holes

SCIENTISTS believe thick, doughnut-shaped discs of gas and dust are hiding gigantic black holes in space that are growing at an extraordinarily rapid rate.

Space

This visualisation of the three-dimensional structure of the Pillars of Creation within the star formation region Messier 16 (also called the Eagle Nebula) is based on new observations of the object using the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The pillars actually consist of several distinct pieces on either side of the star cluster NGC 6611. In this illustration, the relative distance between the pillars along the line of sight is not to scale.

Pillars of Creation ‘dying in starbirth’

SCIENTISTS have dissected one of astronomy’s most famous images and discovered a tragic side to the story of the evolution of stars.

Space

Watch a spacecraft in its death-dive

AN out-of-control Russian spacecraft is likely to be visible over Australia’s major cities before its anticipated crash-down later this week.

Space

Coffee machine conquers space station

TO boldly brew where no one has brewed before: An Italian astronaut has completed her one-year mission — to drink fresh coffee aboard the International Space Station.

Science

Satellite competition winner Bailey Brooks on her cattle station at Lilla Creek, 400km south of Alice Springs

‘Sky muster’ gathers more in NBN’s orbit in Outback

SOUTH Australia’s most geographically isolated students will soon get an internet service that’s out of this world when the National Broadband Network launches the first of two satellites.

Science