Explore Astronomy

Titan's atmosphere posed problems for Huygens

The Huygens spacecraft, which landed on Titan in 2005, encountered some unexpected turbulence as it fell through the moon’s thick, planet-like atmosphere. Buffeted by winds and possible methane rain, Huygens descent provides scientists with clues about how to plan for future missions to the intriguing world.

• Space.com on Titan's turbulence.
• Solarviews' general information on Titan.
• Home page of the Cassini-Huygens mission.

Tiny galaxies in the early universe.

Tiny galaxies, hundreds to thousands of times smaller than many of the galaxies we see today, existed in the early universe, according to data from the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The tiny “building block” galaxies have distorted shapes that could mean they are merging together to form larger galaxies.

• HubbleSite news release on the "lego-block" galaxies.
• Spitzer Space Telescope news release on the galaxies.

Astronomers now know that that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, as though it were being pushed by kind of strange anti-gravity. Ten years after the discovery, scientists are still trying to find out what this mysterious force, called “dark energy,” might be.

The more scientists study the tiny galaxy I Zwicky 18, the older it looks. The galaxy has an odd combination of young and old stars, leaving astronomers puzzled about its late star formation.

• I Zwicky 18

Meteorites are space rocks that survive the trip to Earth. Most burn up in the atmosphere. Credit: NASA

News of a meteorite landing in a remote section of Peru included accounts of hundreds of people getting sick from its noxious fumes. A prudent look at the case though suggests something a bit less otherworldly.

• Space.com on the meterorite frenzy.
• Space.com on the confirmed meteorite crash.

Robots like this may one day explore the lunar surface.

A duo of robots recently surveyed a desolate part of Devon Island in northern Canada, in preparation for one day doing similar survey work on the surface of the Moon. This NASA program tested the ability of human and robotic teams working together to get best results when surveying rugged, unforgiving sites.

• NASA discusses testing the robots.
• NASA's Intelligent Robotic Program Web site.

The Milky Way and Andromeda will first sweep by one another in 2 billion years.

The nearby Andromeda Galaxy may one day capture our Sun and planets. Now more than two million light years distant, Andromeda and our own Milky Way galaxy are approaching each other. In the far distant future, the two galaxies will collide with drastic results.

• Space.com on the Milky Way and Andromeda collision.
• HubbleSite's Cosmic Collison

The Veil Nebula

When a star explodes, it leaves behind a glowing cloud of heated gas called a supernova remnant. Hubble recently took pictures of one of these remnants — the Veil Nebula, 1,400 light years away. The nebula’s star would have exploded thousands of years ago, leaving behind an expanding bubble of gas. Scientists are fascinated by supernovae because the explosions create and scatter certain vital elements around the universe.

• HubbleSite news release on the Veil Nebula

SOHO glimpsed oscillations on the Sun's surface. Credit: SOHO

It’s a puzzle – the outer atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona, is actually much hotter than the Sun itself. Now scientists using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory think they may have found one of the reasons why: waves that run along the Sun’s magnetic field and reach far into space. The ripples of plasma may transfer energy to the corona.

• Solar and Heliospheric Observatory release on the ripples.
• NASA release on the ripples.
• Space.com on the ripple effect.