see latest Review additions here | Notes about this list | - Headline links open new windows
- You may find broken links the farther down this list you go as some sites de-archive |
DATE | HEADLINES | NOTES |
March 31 | New Tool for Life Detection? distinguishing biological stromatolites from non-biological look-alikes |  |
March 28  | SETI@home Users Get More Signals to Analyze | "latest signals gathered at Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory"
[NB check for recent SETI security patch] |
March 28, April 1 | NASA Shape of Universe seen during adolescent years
Space.com Better Picture of the Universe in Adolescence | "observation...Lockman Hole in the constellation Ursa Major...Chandra saw a rich density of active galaxies, seven times denser than what has been detected in previous optical and radio surveys at similar distances." |
March 27 | Stargazers Get Special Week to Enjoy Sky: National Dark-Sky Week, set for April 1-8 | Light pollution item, See also March 21 |
March 27 | BBC Is the Earth preparing to flip? | About Earth but with possible implications for other planets.
This subject not a brand new story; earlier item in Review archives (date?)
Also, see March 6 items re Mars core |
March 27 | Part 3 of a 3-part series How Can Humanity Decode Alien Transmissions | Recent SETI items March 25 and 11 |
March 26 | The give and take of black holes Black Holes Blow Matter into Space with Tremendous Wind, Study Finds | "winds of particles blowing away from black holes in the centres of galaxies... Might also help seed interstellar space with the elements necessary for life"
See also March 19 |
March 26 | Spunky Satellite Unveils Cosmic Explosions | High-Energy Transient Explorer (HETE-2)
Other GRB stories below and Mar19, Mar11 |
March 26 | Stunning Hubble images of mysterious erupting star
also Hubble Chronicles Mysterious Outburst with 'Eye-Popping' Pictures | "V838 Monocerotis...roughly as bright as an ordinary nova, but its behavior was very different" |
March 26 | Mars Beating Up on Itself | "Clusters of craters on Mars may be created by rocks launched from the planet's own surface" |
March 25 | Scientists conclude session at radio telescope searching for life in space | See also March 11 item |
March 25 | More Evidence that Middleweight Black Holes Exist | |
March 21 | Disappearing Stars: How 2,500 Points of Light have Dwindled to 15 | Light pollution item, see also March 27 |
March 20 | Why Too Few Lunar Meteorites? | The number of Mars vs Lunar Meteorites |
March 20 | Sun's Output Increasing in Possible Trend Fueling Global Warming | also SEE April 8 item |
March 20 | Most distant black hole weighed | 'one quadrillion times that of the Earth...not unusual for a black hole but what is surprising is that it formed so early' |
March 19, 24 | Subaru Telescope Detects the Most Distant Galaxy Yet and Expects Many More
also spaceref.com story | 'first time multiple galaxies at such a great distance observed, and without gravitational lensing'
Subaru Deep Field Observation April - June, 2002 R.A. 13h 24.4m, Dec. 27d 29m in Coma Berenices |
March 19, 24 | Birth of a Black Hole is Messy, New Observations Suggest
also Gamma-ray burst, supernova connection confirmed | 'most most detailed observations of a GRB'
See also March 26 |
March 19 | Radiation Dangers for Mars Astronauts Downgraded | See also March 13 Mars item |
March 17 | Detailed Measures Taken of Closest Star System, Alpha Centauri | |
March 14 | Jupiter & Saturn are Easy, Enjoyable Targets into April | "April 7...Saturn's ring system will be open at their widest to Earth...Such extremes generally come at approximately 15-year intervals" |
March 14 | Odyssey Spacecraft Generates New Mars Mysteries | |
March 13 | BBC Water 'flows' on Mars | "dark streaks are being formed at the present time" |
March 13 | Mars Odyssey Shows Intense, But Managable Radiation Risk for Astronauts | See also March 19 Mars item |
March 13 | Dark Spot on Jupiter Bigger than Famed Great Red Spot | 'invisible to the eye...only seen in UV' |
March 12 | How the Earths core was formed | [about Earth but implicaions for other planet formation?] "Researchers...used electrical conductivity measurements to show that the Earth may have formed from rocky bodies that had already separated into mantle and core" |
March 12 | New structure seen in the Crab pulsar | |
March 12 | Virtual observatory demo produces surprise discovery | "newly found L-type brown dwarf" |
March 12 | Lumicon Returning | |
March 12 | Incredible Shrinking Planet May Become Liquid Lava World Planet Going Up in Smoke. | "the 'hot Jupiter' crossing the face of the star HD 209458 is blowing off vast clouds of hydrogen"
153 light-years from Earth in Pegasus near 51 Pegasi |
March 12 | The QWIP Infrared Detector: A Cheaper Way to See in the Dark | new infrared detector - Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector array (QWIP) |
March 12 | Nano-pulses reveal the power of pulsars | 'smallest structures ever detected outside the Solar System... analysis of radio emissions from the Crab Pulsar'
Trivia: what prescient being kept telling us,"nano-nanu"? |
March 11 | SETI to target most tantalising radio transmissions | 'total of 24 hours on the Arecibo radio telescope starting March 18'
See also March 25 item |
March 11 | Twin gamma-ray bursts provide several firsts | GRB 020405, GRB 021004
SEE also March 5 item |
March 10 | Physicist John Moffat Hopes To Rewrite The History Of The Universe Feb. 24 UofT Relatively speaking: Physicist John Moffat hopes to rewrite the history of the universe | The speed of light is not an absolute constant, physicist says.
Earlier UofT Oct25'99 Challenging Einstein |
March 10 | Royal Astronomical Society Pushing back the frontiers of the Universe to the era of the first stars | 'cosmic conundrum: it looks as if there were fewer galaxies forming stars at early stage in the history of the Universe than in the more recent past' |
March 9 and 11 | Final Great Observatory arrives at launch site Son of Hubble: Last 'Great Observatory' Set for Launch | Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) |
March 7 | New target for comet-chasing mission [Rosetta] identified | '67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenk ... rendezvous would take place in about 2014...near orbit of Jupiter to ensure the icy comet's surface is sufficiently inactive for a landing to take place
SEE earlier item Jan 14 |
March 6 | Europe opens its deep space link | new Australian antenna 150 kilometres north of Perth |
March 6 and 7 | Scientists report Mars has liquid iron core Mars May Still Have Liquid Iron Core | See March 27 item re Earth's magnetic field |
March 6 and 10 | New moons for Jupiter Jupiter's Moon Count Soars to 52 with Four New Discoveries | |
March 6 | Sky and Tel Sir Patrick Moore at 80 | |
March 6 and 7 | SpcCom New Views of Jupiter Force Rethink of Cloudy Theories
BBC: New views of Jupiter | |
March 5 | SpcCom: Powerful Space Bursts Reflect Two Ways to Make Black Holes | See also Mar 11 |
March 5 | Sky and Tel Lunar Flash Doesn't Pan Out | Old story at Dec. 20,2002 |
March 5 | Astronomers Peg Brightness of History's Brightest Star | May 1, 1006 A.D., a spectacularly bright star appeared suddenly in the southern sky in the constellation Lupus (the wolf), to the south of Scorpio... it has not been clear until now just how bright. |
March 4 | Impact debate - Part 4: Action & Reaction | SpaceCom series on asteroid threat discussions |
March 3 | Map reveals strange cosmos | 'best map yet of CMB...clumpier in some directions than others' |
March 3 and 6 | Phantom menace' may rip up cosmos The Big Rip: New Theory Ends Universe by Shredding Everything | |
March 3 | Map reveals strange cosmos | "best map yet of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Radiation...CMB is clumpier in some directions than others" |
March 3 | China plans three-phase Moon exploration | "It could begin by 2005, say officials, who also hint that the motivation for the missions is to mine the Moon's resources" |
March 2 | Honolulu Advertiser Mauna Kea telescope gets world's biggest camera | "Megacam, part of a larger instrument called Megaprime, that can take images with 350 million pixels." CFHT site MegaPrime Home Page
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Feb 28 | Cocoon surrounds 'black widow' star chandra site B1957+20 (Black Widow Pulsar): A Cocoon Found Inside the Black Widow's Web [and see more links near bottom of that page] | "travelling through the galaxy at almost a million kilometres per hour, creating a shockwave in the surrounding gas that is visible in optical telescopes"
Neutron Stars/X-ray Binaries Coords (J2000) RA 19h 59m 36.80s | Dec +20º 48' 15.10" Sagitta 5,000 light years |
Feb 27, 28 | Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab Researchers Discover Massive Gas Cloud Around Jupiter Giant gas ring found encircling Jupiter | |
Feb 27, 28 | Key Bits of Stardust Found in Earth's Atmosphere Dust found from other stars Scientists Get First Close Look At Stardust | "For the first time, scientists have identified and analysed single grains of silicate dust formed in ancient stars from before our Solar System was created." older b.g site of participant Messenger |
Feb 27 | Controversial Proposal Would Boost Solar System's Planet Tally to 12 | |
Feb 27 | Jupiter probe winds down | "Galileo will coast for the next seven months before transmitting a few hours of science data before its 21 September plunge into the gas giant's atmosphere... prevent any contamination of Jupiter's moons"
[yes, but what about contaminating Jupiter itself
:-\ |
Feb 26 | Alexander Kemurdjian, Chief Designer of the Lunakhod, Dies | noted on RASCals by Boschat |
Feb 26 | Deep space probe says farewell NASA says last goodbye to Pioneer 10 | "Pioneer 10, the first of only four spacecraft to leave our Solar System, has sent its last signal." "travelled 12 billion kilometres from Earth in 30 years" |
Feb 26 | Gravity test confines string theory dimensions
also Strings Attached: New Study Puts Limits on Physics of Extra Dimensions | 'Gravity tested over shorter distance than ever before' |
Feb 25 | Pluto Mission a Go! Initial Funding Secured | Probe launch 2006, arrive Pluto +/- 2015 then search for Kuiper Belt Objects
See also Feb 24 Pluto item |
Feb 24 | Johns Hopkins More Moons Over Pluto? | "New Horizons team on the lookout for additional moons in the Pluto-Charon system"
See also Feb 25 Pluto item |
Feb 23,24 | article Breaking Down Time
also Distant Galaxy Shreds Fabric Of Space And Time | quantized time and Airy disks |
Feb 21 | 'Shocking' discovery boosts chance of life on Europa | 'simulating meteorite impacts on frozen oceans' |
Feb 20 | The coolest place in space
also Hubble Photographs 'Coolest' Place in the Universe | Boomerang Nebula 'expelled gas even colder than cosmic background radiation'
Planetary nebula in Centaurus 5kLY |
Feb 20 | Short and long gamma-ray bursts different to the core | 'two major varieties appear to arise from different types of events'
Noted on RASCals by Fetter
[Prof Ploessel last year however theorized GRBs point to the universe being a giant quantum computer doing a calculation.Hmmm... |
Feb 19, 24, 25 | Superwind sculpts features in spiral galaxy Superwind Sculpts Filamentary Features Duo study stellar violence | Chandra image combined with Hubble image
NGC 3079 Coords (J2000) RA 10h 01m 57.80s | Dec +55º 40' 47.10" in Ursa Major 55 million LY |
Feb 19 | Space Station Crew Photographs Mysterious Clouds that Shine at Night | noctilucent clouds |
Feb 19 | Extra Dimensions Showing Hints Of Scientific Revolution | 'concept of extra dimensions may soon help solve seemingly unrelated problems in particle physics, cosmology and gravitational physics, according to panel at American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Denver' |
Feb 19 | Trickle Down Theory of Melting Snow May Support Life on Mars
also Snow Gullies on Mars | "melting snowpacks"
See also Feb 16 Mars items |
Feb 18 | Sungrazing Comet Possibly Hit by Solar Eruption | SOHO NEAT images |
Feb 18 | Gravity wave detector all set | Ligo re exploding stars and black holes |
Feb 18 | Fifth closest star discovered | |
Feb 17 | The big and the bizarre | "The clearest view yet is obtained of the stars that hurtle around our galaxy's supermassive black hole at 9,000 kilometres per second" |
Feb 17 | Greenhouse effects also on other planets* | "valuable clues out in space. ESA's missions to Venus, Mars, and Saturn's moon Titan will soon provide useful information to understand how our own planet's climate is regulated."
* N.B. A link to this story on the main page of Spaceflightnow has been wrong for a while. For now use the link here |
Feb 16 | Ankle-deep on Mars [ If hidden ice melted] | " researchers [...] complete their first global map of where hydrogen (a signature for water) is hidden just below the planet's surface"
See also Feb 19 Mars items |
Feb 14 | Sun's close companion found | "Astronomers have found the first object, other than the planets Mercury and Venus, whose orbit about the Sun is completely inside the Earth's orbit." |
Feb 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal | Spatially Resolved Millimeter Interferometry of SMM J02399-0136: AVery Massive Galaxy at z = 2.8 |  abstracts
[for next time you look at a large galaxy, some fun technical stuff to think about:-)]
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Feb 13 | Mars Ice is Mostly Water: Good for Biologists, Bad for Terraformers | |
Feb 12 | MARTIAN METEORITE NWA 1460 FOUND IN MOROCCO | with photos and electron images |
Feb 12 | Gully Search Supports Liquid Water on Mars | |
Feb 12 | space,com article Missing Matter Found, Partially Squaring Cosmic Accounting Sheets | 'work builds on and confirms preliminary results that were announced last summer... hot gas surrounds our own galaxy and appears to weave through about three dozen others that make up the Local Group of galaxies' |
Feb 12 | Long distance quantum teleportation draws closer | "Until now, verifying the transmission of information required the quantum link itself to be destroyed, preventing any further use"
[Maybe not astronomically useful yet, but someday...?] |
Feb 11 | newScientist Sharp new portrait of the infant Universe
NASA New Image of Infant Universe Reveals Era of First Stars, Age of Cosmos, and More [several graphics]
Space.com 'Astounding' Findings Pin Down Age of Universe, Birth of First Stars | "results, billed by astronomers as the biggest scientific breakthrough of the year, turn cosmology into precision science for the first time" |
Feb 11 | First Image from Revolutionary [Teraherz wave] Camera; Sees through Fog, Clothing and into Deep Space | "A future T-ray observatory might study the tails of comets, experts say, and the frequency could also shed new light on the early universe and how the first galaxies formed."
[Trivia: which episode of JAG cameoed this technology?] |
Feb 11 | Life Zone on Venus Possible | ! [Carl Sagan- are you watching?]
Nov2002 Astrobiolgy item, Cloud Colonies on Venus has refs. to Sagan
[Trivia: what location on another planet he studied, Mars, is named after him?] |
Feb 11 | photos Mars rovers on display | several clean-room construction photos, also artist's conception of Rover on Mars
'Nasa sending to Mars this year on quest for signs of water and life' |
Feb 11 | Universe to expand for ever: at an ever-increasing rate | new data from MAP (Microwave Anisotropy Probe) satellite at L2 Lagrange point |
Feb 10 | image release Hubble Dazzles: Striking New Close-up of Dumbbell Nebula | Planetary nebula M27 1200 LY; Hubble Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 |
Feb 10 | End Nears For Orbiting Galileo Probe | |
Feb 7 | Titan's "Great Lakes" | |
Feb 7 | Beneath the Spiral | 'hidden under Messier 83, X-ray glowing gas and stars' |
Feb 6 | Blacker is the new black
also Mini craters key to 'blackest ever black' | "British scientists say they have produced the 'blackest ever' surface developed so far." |
Feb 4 | Astronomers get ultrasharp images with large telescope in Arizona | |
Feb 4 | How Asteroids [May] Trigger Volcanos | |
Feb 4 | NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids | |
Feb 4 | Space Nuclear Power Viewed as 'Must Have' Technology | See also Feb 3, Jan 28 items |
Feb 3 | NASA Proposes Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter Mission | |
Feb 3 | Visionary Goals Energized by Nuclear Power at Space Tech Gathering | See also Feb 4, Jan 28 items |
February 1, 2003 | bbc Seven die in shuttle disaster
Please check various web
news sites for most recent coverage.
Also see regional stories, etc.
at FloridaToday
|
 NASA
NASA sts107 photogallery has
various nice photos of the
sts 107 crew/ individuals
|
Feb 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal | Gravitational Lensing Magnification and Time Delay Statistics for Distant Supernovae
Carbon Monoxide Entrapment in Interstellar Ice Analogs
High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Rho Cas | various abstracts
see also Jan 20 other abstracts re gravitational lensing
SEE also Jan 10 re Rho Cassiopeiae |
Jan 31 | Promising New Comet Called NEAT Graces Evening Sky | |
Jan 30 | Clues to origins of Universe:The Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (Amanda) | |
Jan 30 | Sky and Tel Microquasar in Motion: Do Globular Clusters Spit Out X-Ray Stars?
also Microquasar's path traced back in time
press release | X-Ray Binary Scorpius X-1 (V818 Sco) beta Sco nearby Coordinates (some sites' coords vary but following seems typical) 16h 19m 55s -15o 38' 24" ( J2000.0 )
mag varies 12-13 (or wider range)
Background: NASA intro to X-Ray astronomy |
Jan 29 | California Businessman Wins Night of Planet Hunting at Keck Observatory | also Jan 14 story |
Jab 28 | European Virtual Observatory One Step Nearer | related sites AVO IVOA |
Jan 28 | The New History of Black Holes: 'Co-evolution' Dramatically Alters Dark Reputation | "...role in the evolution of the universe. Interviews with more than a half dozen experts... reveals black holes as galactic sculptors." |
Jan 28 | article Nuclear Space Race Between America And China? | See also Feb 3, Feb 4 items |
Jan 26 | MARS LANDING SITES GET SCIENCE OKAY | |
Jan 25 | NASA's SORCE Spacecraft Rides Into Orbit Atop Winged Pegasus | NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment |
Jan 23? | X-rays reveal nature of spiral galaxy's boisterous activity | |
Jan 23 and 27
| Giant Planet Found Orbiting Huge Star
also Doomed planet orbits giant star | "HD 47536, is more than 23 times the diameter of our Sun. It is the largest star ever found to harbor a planet" |
Jan 23 | US building highway to the South Pole | and neutrino research way down there, See jan 30 |
Jan 23 | Shock waves may explain water in meteorites | |
Jan 23 | Dark Matter [Quasar] Halos Found? | |
Jan 22 | X-rays reveal nature of spiral galaxy's boisterous activity | M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy in Hydra 13h37m -29deg 54 mag 7.6 15000 ly
"numerous point-like neutron star and black hole X-ray sources scattered throughout the disk" |
Jan 22 | First Milky Ways found at edge of Universe
also Mystery Matter Helped Build First Galaxies, Study Suggests | 'large galaxies formed early' from study of high-redshift quasars
|
Jan 22 | Help Pours In for Australian Observatory | "world scientific community and everyday Australians are rallying to help rebuild the Stromlo observatory"
See also Jan 21 |
Jan 22 | bbc Looking up from Down Under | "Emus, kangaroos and sharks are among the 'constellations' viewed by Australian Aborigines" |
Jan 22 includ | article Life on Earth: How Jupiter Helped and Hurt | |
Jan 21 | Rare Telescope Becomes Focal Point in West Virginia | |
Jan 21 | article Orbital Oddities: Why Mars will be So Close to Earth in August | |
Jan 21 | Senate Recommends $200 Million Cut To NASA’s 2003 Budget | "NASA would be looking at a roughly $14.7 billion budget, about $200 million less than it got for 2002 and about $300 million less than the White House requested."
See also Jan 17 |
Jan 21, 22 | Australian bush fires closed Deep Space Network
also JPL Workers at Australian site save space antennas from wildfire
also Mount Stromlo observatory to rise from ashes | "facility offline for four hours"
See also Jan 20, Jan 22 stories |
Jan 21 | 'Oldest star chart' found | "carving made more than 30,000 years ago may be the oldest image of a star pattern yet discovered, claims a German scientist"
[well maybe...but some of my charts are pretty old too] |
Jan 20 | Black Hole Appears, Disappears, and May Return Again
also Researchers seek 'heart' of black hole mystery | [doess globular cluster M15 have a black hole or not] [re Sept 2002 item] |
Jan 20 | Celestial Archive Fades
see notes at right | 'race on to save photographic records taken between 1910 and 1985...plan to create 'virtual' spectroscopic observatory using the old plates"
NatPost article not archived:-p instead see Spectroscopic Virtual Observatory |
Jan 20 | Magnetic 'slinky effect' may power aurora | |
Jan 20 | Historic Australian observatory gutted
also Firestorms destroy Australian observatory | "Devastating bushfires kill four people in Canberra, and demolish one of the southern hemisphere's oldest astronomical sites"
See also Jan 21, 22 stories |
Jan 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal
one re | Various abstracts see notes at right
Gravitational Lens Time Delays in Cold Dark Matter
The Multiband Magnification Bias for Gravitational Lenses
Flux-Tube Dynamics and a Model for the Origin of the Local Fluff
The Interaction of Supernova Remnants with Interstellar Clouds: Experiments on the Nova Laser
Wind Accretion and State Transitions in Cygnus X-11
Dynamical Habitability of Known Extrasolar Planetary Systems
Calcium Abundance in the Solar Wind | Various abstracts re Gravitational Lenses, the Local Fluff (quite readable and interesting abstract re our local area, also effects on vicinity of supernovae), more re supernovae, Cygnus X-11 , habitability of extrasolar Planets , and of course Calcium Abundance in the Solar Wind
see also Feb 1 abstract re gravitational lensing |
Jan 18  | Student program out of this world: Nellie McClung students meet astronaut Dr. Kathryn Sullivan at the Calgary Science Centre | "first North American woman to walk in space...Sullivan came to Calgary... to provide ideas on how the science centre can grow" |
Jan 17 | RASClist: Crater on Venus named for Canadian astronomer Allie Vibert-Douglas
(members see info via list archives Jan 17) | (news noted on RASCals, Bonnie Bird)
[IAU data; Search page for Vibert-Douglas |
Jan 17 | NASA SOLCON on STS107 monitoring sun's brightness | "Researchers say it's crucial data for studies of climate change" |
Jan 17, 20 and 22 | space.com White House Go-Ahead On NASA Nuclear Prometheus Project
new scientist NASA boosts nuclear propulsion plans
bbc Nasa to go nuclear | See also Jan 21 separate item above |
Jan 17 | Meteorite dazzles Calgary witnesses | Fireball Hladiuk video and Hildebrand contact here |
Jan 16 | [Detecting] Vital signs of life on distant worlds | ESA's Darwin mission |
Jan 16 and 17
 | Speed of Gravity Results 'Incorrect,' Physicist Says
also Critics weigh in over speed of gravity | See Jan 7, 8 stories and Albert's previous comment |
Jan 16 | ESO release Isolated Star-Forming Cloud Discovered in Intracluster Space | |
Jan 15 | Arecibo's Internet2 Connection Gives Researchers Greater Access | "155 megabit per second" |
Jan 15
related? | Stellar cocoons found in harsh environment | see Jan8 story "Scorched..." |
Jan 15 | 'Failed star' found nearby | 'brown dwarf less than 12 light-years from the Sun nearest so far discovered' |
Earlier 2003 and 2002 Headlines
[lots more, even back to 2001]
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