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DATE | HEADLINES | NOTES |
Jan 14 | Supernova Hunting: The Search for Exploding Stars Heats Up |  |
Jan 14 | Night of Observing with World's Leading Planet Hunter Being Auctioned on eBay | Bidding for a night of observing at Keck Observatory with Geoff Marcy
and SEE Jan 29 story |
Jan 14 | bbc Rosetta comet chaser on hold
new scientist Comet landing mission called off | "Europe's pioneering mission to land a probe on comet Wirtanen is abandoned after launcher problems - a new target will now be sought"
SEE March 7, 2003 update |
Jan 13 re Dec11 2002 event | Early afterglow of gamma-ray burst caught | |
Jan 13, 14 | New Moons of Neptune are First Discovered Since 1989
also New moons for Neptune | |
Jan 12 | Boeing Launches Pair of Science Research Satellites for NASA | [one of them is the] "suitcase-size sized CHIPSat ...designed to provide information into the origin, physical processes and properties of the hot gas contained in the interstellar medium. Studying these hot gases can provide important clues about the formation and evolution of galaxies" |
Jan 12 | Coronal activity may be buried alive in red giants | |
Jan 11 | New type of star identified | EF Eridanus "low mass component in a very compact binary star system...a new variety of stellar end-product" 300 LY orbit 81 min |
Jan 10 | A Star Prepares to Blow Its Top
also Space.com story
also AAVSO chart
also diagram | "4th-magnitude Rho Cassiopeiae - a yellow-white hypergiant star probably about to undergo a new episode of eruption, fading, and mass ejection"
rho 7 near Cassiopeia at 23 54 23.05 + 57 29
(stories and chart noted on RASCals, Macnaughton, Pulley and Gaherty)
SEE also Feb 1 abstract |
Jan 10 | Close-up on a quasar: most detailed view yet of a feeding black hole in centre of remote quasar | QSO I Zw 1 in Pisces; about 800 million LY |
Jan 10 | India and China face off in space | "China's latest successful mission means it will put a man in space soon, and India says it wants to put a man on the Moon. [BBC] editor assesses the start of a new space race."
See also Jan 4 and 6 |
Jan 9 | Dancing with Neptune: Trojan object | See Jan 8 story with orbit chart |
Jan 9 | image release Scientists Find Faint Objects with Hubble that May Have Ended the Universe's 'Dark Ages' | Galaxies at Redshift z = 6 in Virgo RA 12h 43m 32s Dec +11° 40' 32" |
Jan 8  | bright reflections from an enigmatic exploding star | 'ACS on HST imaged reflections between April and October 2002 Stellar explosion in Monoceros discovered January 2002, by Australian amateur astronomer Nicholas J. Brown. Unprecedented light curve' |
Jan 8 | article Sky and Tel Did Pluto Take a Punch? | |
Jan 8 | James Webb Space Telescope: Diving Deep into the Universe | "now-projected liftoff of 2010 for the super-telescope" |
Jan 8 | First Neptune Trojan Discovered | [includes chart showing loopy orbit]
also See Jan 9 story |
Jan 8 | RASC updates to Observer's Handbook | "Several small corrections to the 2003 edition are listed, and also the list of websites mentioned in the Handbook has been updated" editor, R Gupta notes |
Jan 8  related? | space.com Scorched! Planetary Seeds Fried by Superhot Stars | protoplanetary disks despite photoevaporation effect of massive stars in the Carina Nebula; compared with Orion Nebula where a massive star 'can blow a dust disk away in about 100,000 years'
See also Jan 15 story "Stellar Cocoons.." |
Jan 8 | image release Giant Radio Jet Coming from Wrong Kind of Galaxy | 0313-192 Radio Galaxy in Eridanus RA 03h 15m 52.10s Dec. -19° 06' 44.00"900 million LY |
Jan7 and 8
 | AAS mtg presentation
First speed of gravity measurement revealed
also Einstein proved right on gravity | "result will help constrain the number of possible dimensions in the Universe" Fomalont and Kopeikin measure apparent change in quasar position as gravitational field of Jupiter bent the passing radio waves in Sept 2002 See Jan 16 story also |
Jan 7 | image release Abell 1689 Galaxy Cluster, Gravitational Lens also New Hubble Pic Poses Question: Where are All the Farthest Galaxies? | Virgo RA 13h 11m 34.20s Dec. -01° 21' 56.0" 2.2billion LY
story noted on RASCALs (Petriew) |
Jan 7 | Carbon Dioxide Cutting Gullies on Mars? | |
Jan 7 | Looking for HEROs in the Early Universe | ' "hyper-extremely red objects" that may be the building blocks of the earliest galaxies' |
Jan 7 | Coldest Star Ever | '19 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus least-hot star ever observed, Jupiter-size brown dwarf 2MASS 0415-0935' |
Jan 7 | X-ray flares light up the center of the Milky Way almost once a day: Chandra Images the Center of the Milky Way | ' nearly constant flares [not yet detected] in other galaxies...be common in the centers of galaxies' |
Jan 7 | Astronomers poised to apply novel way to look for comets beyond Neptune | |
Jan 6 
| UofT Extrasolar meteors hint at distant planet formation | "Radar telecopes could trace dust grains back to neighbouring solar systems [...] University of Toronto astronomers say that detecting microscopic meteors from other solar systems could provide clues about the formation of planets like Earth." |
Jan 6 and 7 | space.com Way-Out World: New Technique Finds Most Distant Planet Ever
bbc Most distant planet founde direction as the centre of our galaxy. | 'planetary transit of Ogle-TR-56b seen (5,000 LY), using the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (Ogle) telescope in Chile monitoring starfield in direction of centre of galaxy'
OGLE site |
Jan 6 | image release Hubble Reveals Complex Circumstellar Disk | HD 141569A Libra RA 15h 49m 57.75s Dec. -03° 55' 16.4" 320 light-years
[with Pluto orbit comparison] |
Jan 6 | NewScientist Ring of stars circling the Milky Way
BBC Milky Way's star 'doughnut' | "A gigantic ring of stars may surround our galaxy, suggest astronomers" |
Jan 6 | New lower limit for age of universe claimed | |
Jan 4, and 6th | TimesOfIndia India Plans Mission to Moon by 2015
also, Jan6 BBC India plans Moon landing | [noted from RASClist]
Maybe also of interest, the
Indian Space Research Organisation site
See also Jan 10 |
Jan 4 | The Sun Does the Wave | "why large features called supergranules move across the Sun's surface faster than the Sun rotates" |
Jan 3 | Evolution of Galaxy-Spanning Magnetic Fields Explained | "how giant magnetic fields up to a billion, billion miles across, such as the one that envelopes our galaxy, are able to take shape despite a mystery that suggested they should collapse almost before they'd begun to form." |
Jan 3 | New Scientist Habitable planets may be common | 'much higher [possibility of other Earths] than anyone expected, say astrophysicists' |
Jan 3 | CNN Cat-and-mouse asteroid nears Earth | Asteroid 2002 AA29 [earlier story may be in news-review archives] |
Jan 1 | Preview of 2003 schedule for space station assembly | [Although this astronomy news list primarily focuses on solar system and deep-space stories rather than local Earth-orbit/Earth-observing stories, I thought this ISS overview from SpaceflightNow might be handy. BTW, if you would like ISS and other local-space headlines regularly in this list, please let me know and I'll see what I can work in. BF] |
January 1, 2003 | Johns Hopkins Univ Salt Spewing Volcanoes; Discovery Explains 1970s Observation Of Sodium Above Io | |
December 2002
top |
Dec 31 | Mysteries of Mercury: New Search for Heat and Ice | European Space Agency BepiColombo mission |
Dec 31 | Sky&Tel Astronomy Stories Dominate Prestigious List | |
Dec 31 | Pluto mission adds student science instrument | |
Dec 30 | Arianespace Delays Time-Critical Rosetta Cometary Probe Launch | |
Dec 30? | New scientist 2002: The year in space and astronomy | |
Dec 27 | Giant X-ray disk sheds light on elliptical galaxies | 'Chandra X-ray Observatory and NGC 1700, about 160 million light years distant. Astronomers discover the largest disk of hot, X-ray emitting gas ever observed in the universe: at 90,000 light years in diameter'
Coord's 4 56 56.3 -4 51 54.0;
Eridanus; mag?11-12 |
Dec 27 | Sky and Tel Making Moons Slowly | 'Jupiter's largest moons formed 100 times slower than previously believed' |
Dec 27 | Countdown for voyage to comet | Rosetta to orbit and land on Comet Wirtanen
SEE March 7, 2003 update |
Dec 26 | space.com Top 10 Space Mysteries for 2003 | |
Dec 25 | Canadian cosmologists spend Christmas in Antarctica | |
Dec 23 | Grote Reber, Radio Astronomy Pioneer, Dies | |
Dec 22 | Elusive young stars can't hide from Mid-Infrared Echelle Spectrograph 'Michelle' | |
Dec 21 | Hoaxers vs. Rocket Scientists: Even NASA Unsure How to Counter Claims of Faked Moon Missions | see also Nov 7,8 and earlier in headline archives |
Dec 20 | NASA Testing K9 Rover In New 'Marscape' For Future Missions | |
Dec 20 | Search for CONTOUR Spacecraft Abandoned | |
Dec 20
| Moon's 'youngest' crater discovered
SEE March 5, 2003 update | Gaherty on RASCals also noted print from observer Stuart's negative plus photo of Stuart here |
Dec 19 | First high-energy image from black hole hunter | Integral gamma ray observatory; black hole candidate Cygnus X-1
Coord's 19 58 21.67 + 35 12 5.78 |
Dec 19 | Mystery Energy Source Detected in Space also NewSci Star cluster puzzle revealed by Chandra | 'mysterious cloud of high-energy electrons around a young cluster of stars' RCW 38.
Coord's (J2000) RA 08h 59m 19.2s
Dec -47º 30' 22"; Vela; est. 6,000 light yrs |
dec 19 | Dark Streaks On Martian Slopes May Signal Active Water | |
Dec 19 | Disturbed Youth: Hubble Finds Galaxy in the Making | only 68 mLight Years away, less than 100 million years old |
Dec 18 | brief press release from NASA
New Moon Over Jupiter
fuller story
Jupiter Adds Another to Its Ranks | 40th moon found.
Thanks, Dean for this headline suggestion |
Dec 18 | Clouds discovered at south pole of Saturn's moon Titan | |
Dec 17 | New Theory Unravels [Solar] Magnetic Instability | |
Dec 17 | More Sun-like stars may have planetary systems | "...there may be a lot more planets circling stars like the Sun than current models of star and planet formation predict. [researchers] propose that most older T Tauri stars haven't lost their disks at all" |
Dec 17 | Precursors To Early Earth Life Found In Canadian Meteorite | "Tagish Lake meteorite [...] contains a previously unseen type of primitive organic material that was formed long before our own solar system came into being" |
Dec 17 | Galileo Gets a Long-Distance Repair Job | |
Dec 17 | Here's Looking at Nothing: New Probe to Examine Supposed Empty Space also: Dec 18 Web-Enabled Spacecraft: CHIPS Observatory Will FTP Files in from Space | CHIPS, Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer,
----
'engineers turn to the Internet for inexpensive ways to operate spacecraft and communications' |
Dec 17 | Report: Microbes Rain Down from Space? More Support for Controversial Theory | |
Dec 17 | Newly Spotted Comet Visible in Small Telescopes | |
Dec 17 | Microbes from edge of space revived | |
Dec 17 | Hydrocarbon bubbles discovered in meteorite | |
Dec 16 | Exploding Stars: Threat to Earth Lower But Still Real | |
Dec 16 | Antarctic lake's secret water | "Scientists find a saltwater lake below Antarctica's icy surface which could hold clues about possible microbial life on Mars." |
Dec 16 | Best view of Big Bang 'echo' | 'telescope sited at the South Pole obtains best ever pictures of early Universe' |
Dec 14 | Lunar Crash of 1953: Impact Crater Identified | |
Dec 14 | Scientists exposed as sloppy reporters | 'study reveals many scientists do not read papers they cite as references' |
Dec 13 | Earth's volcanism linked to meteorite impacts
New Scientist | Gigantic meteorites may punch through crust and cause massive lava surges that obliterate the crater, controversial work suggests'
[Tho' said not a crater artifact, the east side of Hudson's Bay on some geologic maps shows volcanic material, which if above controversial work has some merit, makes me still wonder personally about that curved region: BF] |
Dec 10 | Vanishing anti-neutrinos good news for physicists | |
Dec 9 | NASA shortlists life on Mars missions | 'four proposals for 2007 mission will probe potential biological activity - one a lander, another a sample return vehicle'
- See Dec 6 story |
Dec 9 | Astronauts' view of eclipse | [compare the ISS 2002 photo with photo taken from Mir August 11, 1999] also has animated graphic of 2002 eclipse path, note how fast is moves over Australia. |
Dec 9 | Mars Loaded with Ice but Still No Sign of Water | |
Dec 9 | Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Quasar | Abstract  Interstellar Scintillation of the Polarized Flux Density in Quasar PKS 0405-385 Rickett ,Kedziora-Chudczer , Jauncey
Astrophysical Journal December 10 |
Dec 9 | Swiss Cheese Moon: Jovian Satellite Full of Holes | |
Dec 7 | Lack of vision angers NASA pioneer - - - - - -
Space pioneer says leadership erodes NASA's vision, respect Note: source Florida Today may only achive for 2 weeks | "Former flight director [C.Kraft] blasts Washington for not investing in space"
- - - - -
"[...] I think the pathway to Mars is back to the Moon. You have enough robotic effort that you now have the capability to go there and find out more about Mars. At the same time, if you were going to the moon, the moon would be the place where you would try out all of this stuff (the hardware and techniques). [...]" |
Dec 7 | Saturn's moon Titan may hold clues to origin of life | |
Dec 6 | Dark Edge of Sunspots Reveal Magnetic Melee | |
Dec 6 | NASA Picks Mars Scout Candidates | - See Dec 9 story |
Dec 6 | SETI's Call for Cash | |
Dec 6 | Astrophysicists bag Euro prize | European Union's Descartes prize, for work on origin of gamma-ray bursts |
Dec 6 | Hubble Photographs 'Double Bubble' Nebulae in Neighboring Galaxy | also here |
Dec 6 | Asteroids prompted Martian flash floods? also Martian water gone in a flash | torrential downpours that carved planet's giant valleys may have flowed in short, warm periods following bombardments' |
Dec 6 | Space station to increase inhabitants | "Doubling up the Soyuz lifeboats in 2006 could double the number of permanent residents allowed and permit far more scientific research" |
Dec 5 | Europe plans world's biggest telescope | |
Dec 4 | Millions wonder at southern eclipse Thousands View Dazzling Solar Eclipse in Australia, Africa | |
Dec 4 | Eclipse brings claim of medieval African observatory | 800-year-old astronomical observatory in Zimbabwe? |
Dec 4 | Astronomers weigh up alien planet | "Hubble [and] new way of determining the mass of planets orbiting distant stars" |
Dec 3 | Kuiper Prize Going to JPL Pioneer in Radar Study of Asteroids | |
Dec 2, 4 | ESO: How small are small stars really? How Small Are Small Stars Really? VLT Interferometer Measures The Size Of Proxima Centauri And Other Nearby Stars | |
Dec 2 related | Alien Intelligence Depends on Time Needed to Grow Brains | |
Dec 1 | Colors of the Moon? | |
November 2002
top |
Nov 30 | ESA: No shortage of mysteries on planet Venus | European Space Agency's Venus Express 2005 |
Nov 29 | Gas giant planets form quicker than thought? | " formed in less than a thousand years - a lot faster than originally thought, according to a new simulation of planet formation by Italian and Canadian planetary scientists." |
Nov 29 | Time running out for spaceprobe | 'trying to recover data from stuck tape recorder on Galileo' |
Nov 28 | Commercial Moon mission sets launch date: October 2003 | |
Nov 28 | UofA story Scientists use video in search for rare meteorite | |
Nov 27 | From Darwin To Internet At The Speed Of Light | Looking for new ways to detect planets ESA thinking about miniaturised optical systems on a microchip |
Nov 26 | Report: After the Big Bang, the Big Snowstorm
Space.com | |
Nov 19 | Mega telescope dilemma | Australian designs: 300 stations consisting of 175 antennaes throughout the country; Square Kilometre Array (SKA). |
Nov 15 | Pollution, cloud may solve global evaporation puzzle | [Not astronomy itslef, but since clouds affect observing, maybe of interest/concern...]
"The steady rise in global temperatures since 1950 has not been accompanied by an increase in the water evaporation rate - in fact, this has been falling. Now Australian scientists think they can answer this puzzle." |
Nov 12 | Mars meteors more common than thought | "new U.S.-Russian study, strengthening the case for theories that life on Earth may have originated on the red planet." |
More November 2002 and Earlier Headlines
 before linking over: These earlier headlines are on old-design pages, which affects how some links work there. Some links there may not connect through to other old Calendar-site pages as thoseother pages are gradually taken off-line. To get to the newest pages easily, come back to any new-design page and then link. (The older headline pages open in a separate window in most browsers, in which case close that window and this page should still be showing.)
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