News Headlines for January 2001

Did life begin in deep space? See also: Making a deep-space recipe for life and Life from Space? In a simulated deep-space environment, researchers have created small structures that look like the cell walls in living organisms and show early signs of the ability to convert sunlight into chemical energy. The work, announced Monday, adds to growing evidence suggesting that interstellar clouds of gas and dust provide the ultimate in Betty Crocker mixes: Just dump the enclosed ingredients into a hospitable planet, add water and stir. Life on Mars? The answer might just be in Arkansas Biology professor Tim Kral won't argue with anyone if they call his fascination with Mars an obsession. Students make First Contact with the ISS Last month a group of Chicago students talked to astronauts on the International Space Station via amateur radio. Nelson: We need to push for human mission to Mars Florida's newest senator called on NASA to commit to manned missions to Mars, but finding political backing for the effort could be tough. Without Jupiter, Home Alone The giant planet Jupiter swallows up asteroids and comets, or flings them into space. Without Jupiter, comet and asteroid impacts might have wiped out any life on Earth. Jupiter's magnetosphere revealed See also: Image Caption Text , Cassini "Sees" Invisible Gas Doughnut Around Jupiter and Cassini "Sees" Invisible Gas Doughnut Around Jupiter This recent image taken by the ion and neutral mass spectrometer instrument on NASA's Cassini spacecraft makes the huge magnetosphere surrounding Jupiter visible in a way no instrument on any previous spacecraft has been able to do. The magnetosphere is a bubble of charged particles trapped within the magnetic environment of the planet. It’s feast or famine for black holes Black holes eat like pigs. Put food in front of them - any form of matter will do - and they stuff their faces so voraciously that the friction generated around their cosmic lips triggers a tremendous outpouring of energy, everything from radio waves to high-powered X-rays. Courage pays off as Cluster completes cusp crossing in Arctic blizzard Space scientists are a hard-working, dedicated group, and few have worked harder than those involved in getting the four Cluster spacecraft up and running. With this in mind, two members of the Cluster ground-based community recently displayed courage and dedication beyond the call of duty to support Cluster observations. Nose-to-Nose with an Asteroid The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft made history once again on Jan. 28 when it brushed over the "toe" end of Eros, less than two miles (2.74 kilometers) from its surface, at 5:41 a.m. EST (ground receive time). The daring pass-the closest any spacecraft has come to an asteroid-marked the conclusion of a 4-day series of low-altitude flyovers that is returning extraordinarily detailed images of the asteroid's surface. Images still tell the story of Challenger See also: Challenger's 15th anniversary: A photo retrospective and Challenger memories focus on life Fifteen years after Challenger severed America's fairy-tale bonds to its space shuttle program with a blinding failure that buried seven astronauts, only the images remain. Mir cargo vessel abandoned Russian ground controllers have discarded a cargo vessel from the Mir space station, sending it burning into the Earth's atmosphere. Planetary Scientists Looking Forward To Saturn's Splendor With Cassini now past Jupiter and on the final leg of its epic journey to Saturn, here's a review of Cassini's science program, along with a few hints of the possible eye candy Cassini will return from what many regard as Sol's most beautiful work of the spheres. Remembering fallen crew of Apollo 1 It's 34 years since the fateful day, on Friday, Jan. 27, 1967, that the crew of Apollo 1 were killed in a fire during a launch rehearsal. Mars Ocean Hypothesis Hits the Shore Photographs of the Martian surface find no sign of a sea cliff along a possible ancient shoreline. Study Suggests Venus Could Have Been Wet Planet Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, studying hydrous mineral decomposition rates at extreme temperatures, have concluded that hot and dry Venus may have been a wet planet in the past, like Earth and ancient Mars. Space tourism plan under debate The United States and Russia are on the verge of entering uncharted diplomatic territory - opening up formal discussions about the possibility of flying 'space tourists' to the International Space Station. California millionaire to go on $20 million ride to space station The California millionaire who paid $20 million for a ticket to ride to the Russian space station Mir may be getting much more than he bargained for: a week-long visit to the gleaming, new International Space Station at the end of April. "Astronomy and Astrophysics" focuses on XMM-Newton The first issue this year of the European scientific journal "Astronomy and Astrophysics" has just been published. It is a 352-page bumper edition devoted entirely to ESA's XMM-Newton mission with no less than 56 papers describing the spacecraft, its instruments and particularly the scientific results that have been obtained since the X-ray observatory was launched just over a year ago. Ulysses witnesses the Sun's magnetic struggle During solar maximum, when the Sun's activity is at a peak in its 11 year cycle, the polarity of its magnetic field changes: the north pole takes on the polarity of the south pole and vice versa. Now, for the first time ever, a spacecraft has witnessed this process from a front-row seat high above the Sun's south pole. Cosmic Paintbursh Revealed: Force That Shapes Nebulae Uncovered By Astronomers The cosmic 'paintbrush' that creates some of the most dazzling images in the night sky may have been found by researchers at the University of Rochester, a paper in the January 25 issue of Nature suggests. NGC 3603 is a bustling region of star birth Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have observed a multitude of new stars approximately 20,000 light-years from Earth. The stars - located in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy - were born in a burst of star formation about two million years ago. Looking For Life Among The Stellar Garbage If you want to find extraterrestrial intelligence, you're going to have to look in the right place. In the past few years, though, researchers have begun to wonder if they've been neglecting a whole class of likely targets: red dwarfs. Greening of the Red Planet A hardy microbe from Earth may one day transform the barren ground of Mars into arable soil. Pluto dismissed as lump of ice A leading science museum in the United States has decided that Pluto should not be referred to as a planet. Mars Ocean Hypothesis Hits the Shore Photographs of the Martian surface find no sign of a sea cliff along a possible ancient shoreline. Pioneer 10 Fading Away The latest attempt to acquire a downlink connection with Pioneer 10 now ten and half light hours out from Sol has been unsuccessful Mir re-entry is unprecedented See also: Beginning of the end for Mir Bringing Mir back to Earth on 6 March will be an operation fraught with difficulty. Ground controllers have never returned a 130-tonne hunk of metal from space before. Are desktop black holes on the horizon? Two teams of scientists recently announced they can bring light to a halt, and that finding may speed up little-known efforts to create a desktop black hole. Seeking the signs of other Earths Was the formation of our lovably habitable Earth a freak accident or commonplace occurrence throughout the universe? Certainly there are planets out there - more than 50 have been discovered in recent years - but most of the ones we know about so far are huge monsters ridiculously close to their suns, hardly ideal conditions for life. Japanese Team Finds 3,554 Meteorites in Antarctica Japanese scientists have found 3,554 meteorites in Antarctica during a three-week search, a collection that could yield clues about the rest of our solar system. Telescope in alien laser hunt See also: Telescope with eye only for aliens A telescope designed to search for laser signals from alien intelligences is to start scanning the skies next year. Cassini snaps pics of Jupiter lightning, elusive moon A NASA probe passing by Jupiter has beamed back impressive new images of the gas giant, including a nighttime lightning storm, the satellite Io and another more elusive moon named Himalia. ISO detects benzene in space Life as we know it is based on the ability of the carbon atom to form ring-shaped molecules. But rings of carbon are not exclusive to Earth, as experts in space chemistry now know. A Spanish team of astronomers that observed with ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) report this week the first detection in interstellar space of benzene, the ring molecule par excellence. Cassini scientists see no sign of lightning on Venus A search for lighting on Venus in 1998 and 1999 using NASA's Cassini spacecraft failed to detect high-frequency radio waves commonly associated with lighting, says physicist Donald Gurnett of the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Live webcast to present sights and sounds of Jupiter During a live webcast on Monday, Jan. 22, scientists from California, Iowa and Colorado will discuss some of the Jupiter images and other information they have received recently from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Earthlike planets found? Wait and see A recent news report in The Sunday Times of London — claiming that astronomers had found strong evidence of another solar system with Earthlike planets — was reported prematurely and is inaccurate, said the planet-hunting astronomer reported to have made the discovery. Earth Songs If humans had radio antennas instead of ears, we would hear a remarkable symphony of strange noises coming from our own planet. New Orion close-up brings scrutiny A new and stunning close-up look at a nebula in the constellation Orion calls into question a previous finding of extrasolar planets there, an astronomer said. Orion contains one of the nearest and most active stellar nurseries in our Milky Way galaxy. The Orion Nebula is a complex of gas and dust illuminated by several massive and hot stars at its core, known as the Trapezium. Noisy end for meteor Belgian scientists have detected ultra-low frequency sound waves - infrasound - from a meteor that exploded over Germany in November 1999. Stardust shoots the moon with improved camera eye See also: Stardust Spacecraft Swoops Past Earth and Stardust camera captures the Moon A comet-hunting spacecraft trained its fogged camera lens on Earth's moon before heading into deep space. While dim, the lunar image convinced NASA scientists that Stardust's vision has improved enough to complete its main mission objective. Classy Antarctic Balloon Captures Earliest Light Of The Universe If you think penguins in Antarctica look classy in their tuxedos, you should see our scientific balloon wearing a top hat. Winter snowfall turns an emerald white Lush green gives way to dazzling white in these two images of Ireland from NASA's Multi-angle SpectroRadiometer. The summer view shows the verdant landscape for which Ireland is famous, while the other, taken after a record-breaking winter storm, reveals the Emerald Isle with an unusual coating of snow. Leonids rose to the occasion - despite bad weather During the nights of 16-17 and 17-18 November, Joe Zender and Detlef Koschny of ESA's Space Science Department at ESTEC attempted to obtain 'stereo' observations of the Leonid meteors with image intensified video cameras. These cameras are equipped with wide-angle lenses and can record meteors that are too faint to be seen with the naked eye. Mir mission due next week The mission to destroy the ailing Mir space station will be launched on Wednesday, despite continuing technical problems aboard the Russian orbiter. Space animals make safe return See also: Monkey, dog, rabbit were aboard Chinese space capsule China's Shenzhou II spacecraft carried a monkey, a dog, a rabbit and snails into space, an industry source has told the Reuters news agency. Ice, not floods, could have shaped channels on Mars See also: Ice may have shaped Martian surface , Martian Ice Streams, Not Floods, May Have Shaped Channels and Martian Ice Puts Arizona Scientist In The Groove Streams of ice rather than heavy flooding could have shaped long channels that riddle the surface of Mars, according to a new NASA-funded report. Still no sense in signal Astronomers scrutinise a region of space from where a mysterious burst of radio waves was detected in 1977. The Dance of the Giant Planets A team of planet hunters January 9th announced a discovery that will help researchers better understand planet migration and how planets' gravitational pulls influence each other. The discovery was announced at the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego. Science Lab Module to Blast Off for Space A $1.4 billion state-of-the-art science lab is set to blast off for the international space station next month. It promises elaborate space research as well as a spare room for the cramped residents on the station. China's unmanned spacecraft returns See also: Did Shenzhou-2 Go Splat China's unmanned Shenzhou II spacecraft returned safely to Earth on Tuesday. Bright idea to detect space blasts The largest solar furnace ever built is to be modified to become one of the most unusual telescopes ever pointed at the heavens. Moon hoax spurs astronomy crusade The myth about equinox eggs got him started, misinformation about meteors bugged him, but when he learned that some people think the Apollo Moon landings never happened, Philip Plait knew the time had come for his crusade against bad astronomy. March 6: Mir’s date with doom Russia’s space agency and the Mir space station’s operator have agreed on March 6 as the official day for the Mir’s deorbiting — its date with death. Star Nurseries: Not Much to Drink and Hard to Breathe After more than two years in space, NASA's Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite has provided radio astronomers with one definite conclusion about the clouds of gas and dust that make up the bulk of the mass in our galaxy, the Milky Way: water vapor and oxygen are scarce. Ballooning for Cosmic Rays Astronomers have long thought that supernovas are the source of cosmic rays, but there's a troubling discrepancy between theory and measurements. An ongoing balloon flight over Antarctica could shed new light on the mystery. Unusual duo detected Astronomers have found what they think is a pulsar that has a black hole as a companion. Big bang balloon brought back See also: Balloon probe breaks down A balloon launched from Sweden to learn more about the birth of the universe has unexpectedly landed in the wastes of northern Finland. Comet probe regains eyesight before Earth flyby See also: Comet probe swinging past Earth and Stardust can see clearly now A comet-chasing probe experienced a marked improvement in its vision this week, shortly before it was scheduled to swing around Earth. 'Bizarre' planetary systems discovered See also: Planet-hunters find two bizarre systems Astronomers have found two planetary systems they say are puzzling and that will raise new questions about how planets form. Pulsar linked to ancient star explosion recorded by Chinese See also: Chandra Links Pulsar to Historic Supernova Images from an orbiting telescope show that a rapidly spinning star called a pulsar was formed when a massive star exploded in the year 386, an event that was witnessed and recorded by Chinese astronomers. Fill ’er up - with a cup of antimatter With antimatter in the tank, taking the family rocket out for a spin to the nearest M-class planet would be a relative breeze. Miniaturized antimatter fuel might consist of a thumb-sized canister with an energy source no bigger than an aspirin and no need of replenishment for hundreds of light-years - or, locally, tens of millions of intra-solar-system miles. Hubble's Ultraviolet Views of Nearby Galaxies Yield Clues to Early Universe Astronomers are using these three Hubble telescope images of nearby galaxies to help tackle the question of why their distant relatives have such odd shapes, appearing markedly different from the typical "ellipticals" and "spirals" seen in the nearby universe. Total eclipse of the Moon See also: The Full Moon and UK Satellite Captures Lunar Eclipse Millions of skywatchers have seen the first total eclipse of the Moon of the 21st Century. Cat's Eye spy Astronomers have found a glowing bubble of hot gas and an unexpected X-ray-bright star within the planetary nebula known as the Cat's Eye. They say it could help them understand how stars like our Sun end their lives. 'Death Spiral' Around a Black Hole Yields Tantalizing Evidence of an Event Horizon See also: New Evidence for Black Holes , Matter 'seen' disappearing into black holes for first time , Astronomers Find New Evidence for Black Holes and A black hole’s point of no return The Hubble telescope may have, for the first time, provided direct evidence for the existence of black holes by observing how matter disappears when it falls beyond the "event horizon," the boundary between a black hole and the outside universe. ESO Telescopes Provide Most Detailed View Ever Into a Dark Cloud How do stars like our Sun come into being? Which fundamental processes are responsible for transforming a dark and diffuse interstellar cloud of gas and dust into a much denser, shining object? Astronomers have just taken an important step towards answering this fundamental question. Based on the most detailed study ever made of the internal structure of a small interstellar cloud, three scientists from ESO and the USA have found that it is apparently on the verge of becoming unstable - and thus in the stage immediately preceding a dramatic collapse into a dense and hot, low-mass star. Intergalactic 'Pipeline' Funnels Matter Between Colliding Galaxies See also: Hubble spots 'pipeline' between rowdy galactic neighbors This visible-light picture, taken by the Hubble telescope, reveals an intergalactic "pipeline" of material flowing between two battered galaxies that bumped into each other about 100 million years ago. Astronomers Find Evidence Of An Extreme Warp In The Stellar Disk Of The Andromeda Galaxy Astronomers have obtained new evidence of an extreme warp in the stellar disk of the Andromeda Galaxy (also known as M31), our nearest galactic neighbor. NEAR Shoemaker Primed for Final Weeks in Orbit The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft – the first to orbit an asteroid – embarks on a series of low-altitude passes over 433 Eros this month in a prelude to its daring February descent to the surface of the rotating, 21-mile-long space rock. Huge galaxy grouping detected Astronomers have identified a supercluster of galaxies that could be the biggest structure anywhere in the observable Universe. Simultaneous Stellar Explosions Create Swiss-Cheese Structure in Distant Galaxy In a galaxy seven billion light-years from Earth, at a time when our Sun was just being born, several thousand stars died in massive explosions that blasted giant "superbubbles" into the surrounding clouds of gas and dust. Nasa seeks crater raters Nasa is looking for space enthusiasts to help it find and classify craters on Mars. Drilling for Martians Engineers have developed a new tool to help them hunt for signs of life on Mars. Their metre-long, white-hot spear can melt its way through soil and rocks to depths where evidence of past life may be lurking. Astronomers Discover New Jupiter Moons University of Hawaii astronomers have found 11 new moons around Jupiter. Astronomers Discover More Than 150 Rapidly Moving Stars in the Milky Way Astronomers have found 154 rapidly moving stars towards the center of our galaxy and our brightest neighboring galaxy. Yale Astronomers Discover Remains of Ancient Galaxies in the Milky Way Two Yale astronomers have discovered that, contrary to previous beliefs, the area around the Milky Way contains the remains of small galaxies that were torn apart by the Milky Way's gravity. Hubble Space Telescope Observations Provide Strong Support For the Existence of Baryonic Galactic Dark Matter Through a Hubble Space Telescope analysis of stars that have undergone gravitational microlensing, astronomers have collected strong evidence that microlensing events are caused by compact dark matter in the halo of the Milky Way. Eclipse will paint the moon red When Earth passes between the sun and the moon Tuesday, you’d figure that the moon would disappear, right? Wrong. Even seasoned lunar eclipse watchers might be surprised to learn how bright the moon is supposed to be. Most Distant Spacecraft May Soon Get A Shock A NASA spacecraft headed out of the solar system at a speed that would streak from New York to Los Angeles in less than four minutes could reach the first main feature of the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space within three years. Second Shenzhou Spacecraft Launch Imminent The second test launch of China's future manned spacecraft is expected to take place before the end of January. Exotic Element Could Fuel Nuclear Fission For Spacecraft Scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have shown that an unusual nuclear fuel could speed space vehicles from Earth to Mars in as little as two weeks. Standard chemical propulsion used in existing spacecraft currently takes from between eight to ten months to make the same trip. Galileo and Cassini probe Jupiter and its many moons Far away in the solar system, there's a synchronized ballet being performed with such grace and precision that it's taking our breath away. Space station looks forward to lab International Space Station Alpha is due to enter a new phase this month when the space shuttle Atlantis attaches the orbital complex’s first science lab, and the crews of Alpha and Atlantis both say they can hardly wait. Galaxies may have darker doubles See also: Do ‘dark galaxies’ haunt the cosmos? The Universe could have a mysterious dark side in the form of hidden "shadow galaxies" which contain no stars. NASA selects finalists for next Discovery mission See also: Three space missions get their shot NASA has narrowed the choices for an upcoming Discovery space exploration mission to three proposals: a space telescope that would search for terrestrial planets, a probe that could look inside the gas-shrouded depths of Jupiter and a spacecraft that would orbit two giant asteroids. Russia signs Mir 'death warrant' See also: Russian premier signs decree to authorize Mir's descent Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has signed a decree ordering the destruction of the Mir space station after a 15-year mission that has lately been dogged by problems. The Case of the Missing Mars Water Plenty of clues suggest that liquid water once flowed on Mars --raising hopes that life could have arisen there - but the evidence remains inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. NASA to attempt asteroid landing in February A deep space robot ship will conclude its scientific mission by deliberately crash-landing on an asteroid next month, according to NASA. ISO finds the 'missing ingredient' to make Jupiter-like planets Astronomers have so far detected about 50 planets orbiting other stars. They are all giant, Jupiter-like planets, made mostly of gas, and their formation process is still unclear. ESA's Infrared Space Observatory, ISO, now sheds some light on this problem. Observing with ISO, a Dutch-US team of astronomers has detected a key ingredient for planet making in the faint disks of matter that surround three nearby stars: the gas molecular hydrogen. The discovery, published in the January 4th issue of Nature, is relevant because current theories about the formation of giant planets were built on the assumption that the gas was 'not' present in the kind of disks observed by ISO. These models will now have to be reviewed. They said, for instance, that Jupiter-like planets had to form in just a few million years, but the ISO result implies that the process can take up to 20 million years. 'X' marks star-forming spot in Hubble image See also: Hubble sees huge stellar nursery and " Marks the Spot: Hubble Sees the Glow of Star Formation in a Neighbor Galaxy A glowing "X" reveals the location of intense star formation in a nearby galaxy. Stellar 'baby boom' in early Universe The earliest stars in the Universe may be much older than previously thought following the discovery of what could be an entirely new kind of galaxy billions of light-years from Earth. NASA braces for busy year NASA operators are limbering up for an active launch year, with space station Alpha providing a lot of the business. But the ambitious launch plan will test the venerable shuttle fleet. 2001: Then and now See also: Space Travel: Barely Reaching Orbit The year 2001 is upon us, but has Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking movie stood the test of time? Spacecraft gets close to Jupiter See also: Spacecraft flyby paints new picture of Jupiter , Happy New Year from Jupiter! , Cassini visualizes the invisible, tracks giant storms , Bizarre new sights and sounds of Jupiter from NASA and Saturn Space Probe Makes Jupiter Flyby A Nasa spacecraft has made its closest approach to the planet Jupiter, capturing dramatic pictures of the massive storms that rage across its surface. Top honour for Patrick Moore Patrick Moore, the man who has done more than any other to raise the profile of astronomy among the British general public, is to get a knighthood from the Queen. JPL's shining stars of 2000 Scientists and engineers at JPL contributed to many of NASA's accomplishments in the year 2000. JPL is NASA's main center for robotic exploration of space. JPL also studies Earth's climate and topography. Before boldly going into 2001, we want to remember a few of our shining stars in 2000. Station has a certain magnetic pull Physicist Samuel C.C. Ting is leading an international search for significant chunks of the cosmos that are considered missing, including something he calls “the anti-matter universe.” It may sound like fiction, but a 200-person team, spread from Outer Mongolia to Massachusetts, is taking it very seriously. Solar Weather Makes Ice Storms Seem Unimportant The ice storms that paralyzed the southern Plains states Wednesday left half a million people without power, but they're nothing compared to the surge of weather from the sun. 2000’s oddities, 2001’s odysseys What a difference a year makes: As the year 2000 dawned, NASA was struggling through twin setbacks in its Mars exploration program, plus months of delays in staffing its next-generation orbital outpost. Today, chilly Mars is hotter than ever and Space Station Alpha is brighter than ever, in what has to rank as one of the year’s biggest twin turnaround stories. But will the upturn continue? Cast your vote for the top tales and trends beyond Earth. Rosetta's Christmas present to Mars Express On 25 December 2003, ESA's Mars Express orbiter will arrive in orbit around the Red Planet after releasing a small lander named Beagle 2 onto its rust-coloured, dusty deserts. This wonderful Christmas present for planetary scientists would not have been possible without major contributions from another ESA project - the Rosetta comet chaser.

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