The detection bolsters the search for more black hole mergers and ripples in space-time.
Planet-devouring star reveals possible limestone crumbs
Researchers found that the rocky material being accreted by the star could be comprised of minerals that are typically associated with marine life processes here on Earth.
A little help from friends

ESA’s first Mars orbiter will provide an important helping hand when the second arrives at the Red Planet in October.
Substellar brown dwarfs can still pack a star-like punch
A brown dwarf was found with “solar” flares that outshine our own sun, despite not making the grade as a star.
Smaller stars may not be the best parents for would-be planets
Chandra finds powerful X-rays that may disrupt the formation of exoplanets around smaller stars.
Gluttonous Star May Hold Clues to Planet Formation
Astronomers have gained a new perspective on the behavior of outbursting star FU Orionis, using data from an airborne observatory and a space telescope.
A First: NASA Spots Single Methane Leak from Space
For the first time, an instrument onboard an orbiting spacecraft has measured the methane emissions from a single, specific leaking facility on Earth’s surface.
Rover Opportunity Wrapping up Study of Martian Valley
“Marathon Valley,” slicing through a large crater’s rim on Mars, has provided fruitful research targets for NASA’s Opportunity rover since July 2015, but the rover may soon move on.
Astronomers find first evidence of chiral chemistry in distant cosmic cloud
An organic (if toxic) alcohol could point the way toward finding more “handed” molecules — the kind that make up RNA, DNA, and other building blocks to life.
These Experiments Are Building the Case to Terraform Mars
If we want to live on Mars, we need to make it warm and wet again.
Newly discovered “Tatooine” is the largest ever found
Kepler-1647b, the largest exoplanet to orbit two suns has been found with an orbital period of 3 years
Ancient volcanos on Mars burned very, very hot
Curiosity has discovered a mineral that infers high-temperature volcanism occurred on the Red Planet.
How Cold Can You Go? Cooler Tested for NASA Telescope
A first-of-its-kind cooler for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2018, has completed testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
NASA Spacecraft Closing in on Jupiter, Media Briefing to Discuss July 4 Arrival
NASA will host a media briefing at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) on Thursday, June 16, to discuss the agency’s Juno spacecraft and its July 4th arrival at Jupiter.
NASA Mars Rover Descends Plateau, Turns Toward Mountain
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has analyzed its 12th drilled sample of Mars. This sample came from mudstone bedrock, which the rover resumed climbing in late May after six months studying other features.
Sentinel-1B timelapse
A look back on the preparations for the 25 April liftoff of Sentinel-1B
How the Sun was born
Space science image of the week: A young star in the final stages of birth offers a glimpse at the way our Sun formed 4.6 billion years ago
One-Third of Humanity Can’t See the Milky Way
Light pollution has reached levels where many people can’t see the “arms” of our home galaxy.
SpaceX lays out a roadmap to getting humans to Mars in a decade
Elon Musk reveals news about his plan for a manned Mars mission.
Dawn Mission Honored With Collier Trophy
NASA’s Dawn mission, the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial targets, has been honored with the National Aeronautic Association’s 2016 Robert J. Collier Trophy.
Week In Images
Our week through the lens: 6-10 June 2016
Seasonal dust storms sighted on the Red Planet
Temperature records from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal three distinct seasonal dust storms on Mars.
NASA’s Juno Mission 26 Days from Jupiter
NASA’s Juno mission is now 26 days and 11.1 million miles (17.8 million kilometers) away from the largest planetary inhabitant in our solar system — Jupiter.
NASA Mars Orbiters Reveal Seasonal Dust Storm Pattern
After decades of research to discern seasonal patterns in Martian dust storms from images showing the dust, but the clearest pattern appears to be captured by measuring the temperature of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
How a global telescope could reveal black holes for the first time
A new algorithm could finally reveal the splendors of a black hole. The MIT grad student who wrote it just needs a dozen radio telescopes worldwide to do it.
Earth from Space

Join us Friday, 10 June, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-3A image of the UK
Cold gas in deep space
Operations image of the week: Mission controllers use these cold-gas thrusters to keep LISA Pathfinder where it needs to be
Water may be hiding in the most unlikely of places
Hot Jupiters may be harboring atmospheric water shrouded by thick haze layers.
Cloudy Days on Exoplanets May Hide Atmospheric Water
Scientists found that a group of hot Jupiters observed with Hubble may have about half their atmospheres blocked by clouds or haze.
Chips with everything
Technology image of the week: these varied integrated circuits, etched onto a single piece of silicon, endow Europe’s space missions with intelligence
Computer simulations shed light on the Milky Way’s missing red giants
There’s a possibility that these red giants were dimmed after they were stripped of tens of percent of their mass millions of years ago during repeated collisions with an accretion disk at the galactic center.
Astronomers witness a supermassive black hole feeding on cold gas clouds
1 billion light years away, a hungry galactic center got a whiff of cold gas “rain.”
How a college senior found 4 new planets
By tweaking the numbers in Kepler data, Michelle Kunimoto managed to find four very different worlds.
LISA Pathfinder Mission Paves Way for Space-based Detection of Gravitational Waves
LISA Pathfinder, a mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) with contributions from NASA, has successfully tested a key technology needed to build a space-based observatory for detecting gravitational waves.
Step to the stars
Human spaceflight and robotic operations image of the week: Aurora and stars over Concordia research station in Antarctica
Paving the way
Media briefing replay: LISA Pathfinder scientists present first results on the key technologies needed to observe gravitational waves from space
LISA Pathfinder exceeds expectations

ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission has demonstrated the technology needed to build a space-based gravitational wave observatory.
We’re getting serious about mining asteroids
Asteroid mining is making the leap from science fiction novels and into corporate boardrooms as new technologies bring the idea within reach.
Yes, we can take the gravitational wave hunt to space
The LISA Pathfinder mission paves the way for a future of gravitational wave observatories in space.
Universe’s first life might have been born on carbon planets
New research suggests that planet formation in the early universe might have created carbon planets consisting of graphite, carbides, and diamond.
Kunsthaus Museum
“The Colours of Cooperation” is the theme of Ecsite 2016, taking place 7-11 June in Graz, Austria
Asteroseismology may help unravel the secrets of the Milky Way
The oldest stars in the Milky Way may give us an insight into the formation of our galaxy
Mysterious microwaves

Space Science Image of the Week: Planck’s view of a giant loop of microwaves that defies easy explanation
Air conditioning goes green

The ingenuity of four space engineers has created a zero-emission air-conditioning system that doesn’t pollute our atmosphere when we turn it on.
Hubble spots heavy, ancient, metal-filled stars pulsing away
The “heavy-metal stars” are nearly 10.5 billion years old.
“Wasteful” galaxies launch heavy elements into surrounding halos and deep space, study finds
Research shows that more oxygen, carbon, and iron atoms exist in the sprawling gaseous halos outside galaxies than exist within the galaxies themselves.
Monitoring pipelines from space
Dutch company Orbital Eye has developed a service that uses satellites to monitor gas and oil pipelines. A major African pipeline operator has already signed up for the service.
Week In Images
Our week through the lens: 30 May-3 June 2016
NASA’s Hubble finds universe is expanding faster than expected
This surprising finding may be an important clue to understanding those mysterious parts of the universe that make up 95 percent of everything and don’t emit light, such as dark energy, dark matter, and dark radiation.
A new planetarium show shines a light on a dark solar system mystery
A new show at the Adler Planetarium tells the story of Planet Nine, by way of the Kuiper Belt.
Secrets revealed from Pluto’s “twilight zone”
Looking back at Pluto with images like this gives New Horizons scientists information about Pluto’s hazes and surface properties that they can’t get from images taken on approach.
Southern Maine
Earth observation image of the week: A Sentinel-2A image of Maine and New Hampshire, USA
Fifty Years of Moon Dust: Surveyor 1 was a Pathfinder for Apollo
Surveyor 1 landed on the moon on June 2, 1966, marking humanity’s first controlled touchdown on the lunar surface.
Five Things About Coral and CORAL
NASA’s CORAL campaign will survey reef ecosystems from Hawaii to Australia. Here are a few fast facts about reefs and the way they’re studied.
Microbes in Space: JPL Researcher Explores Tiny Life
A JPL microbiologist is studying fungi and bacteria as part of International Space Station research.
Space Station tour

Take a narrated tour of the International Space Station in six languages in this video – also available in 3D
Earth from Space

Join us Friday, 3 June, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week, Sentinel-2 takes us over Maine and New Hampshire in the northeast US
LISA Pathfinder results

First results from ESA’s mission to demonstrate gravitational-wave technology will be presented on Tuesday, 7 June. Watch livestream from 09:30 GMT and join a Reddit AMA session at 12:00 GMT
Pluto’s heart: Like a cosmic “lava lamp”
In a reservoir that’s likely several miles deep in some places, solid nitrogen warmed by Pluto’s modest internal heat becomes buoyant and rises up in great blobs before cooling off and sinking again to renew the cycle.
New observational distance record promises important tool for studying galaxies
This will open a whole new realm of research into how galaxies evolve and interact with their surroundings over cosmic time.
Jupiter’s clouds hide huge pillars of ammonia gasses
A new study finds that Galileo’s atmospheric probe may have stumbled into an anomalous structure just below the uppermost clouds.
Journey into sound
Technology image of the week: The Large European Acoustic Facility looks like a giant sound speaker, and that’s precisely what it is
First EDRS laser image

ESA today unveiled the first Sentinel-1 satellite images sent via the European Data Relay System’s world-leading laser technology in high orbit
Measuring the Milky Way: one massive problem, one new solution
The mass of the Milky Way, so far, is 7 x 1011 solar masses.
This Was How NASA Envisioned a Mars Trip in the 1950s
Plans to get to Mars are nothing new. They’re as old as NASA itself.
For some comets, breaking up is not that hard to do
A new study indicates the bodies of some periodic comets may regularly split in two, then reunite down the road.
King Tut’s May Have Carried Around a Meteor-Forged Dagger
This famous king of Egypt might have had a space dagger in his collection of relics
Mapping that sinking feeling
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For a low-lying, densely populated country like the Netherlands, monitoring subsidence is critical. Until recently, tiny displacements in the ground beneath our feet couldn’t be mapped nationally but, thanks to the Sentinel-1 mission, this is now possible.
New NASA Instrument Brings Coasts and Coral into Focus
PRISM is advancing scientists’ ability to study hard-to-see phenomena in coastal waters.
Kickstarter Shines a Light on Tabby’s Star
To find out what’s going on around the weirdest star in the galaxy, astronomers are turning to crowdfunding.
Fort McMurray fires

The Sentinel-2 satellite recently captured this image of wildfires in Canada’s Alberta province
ESA will use its martian “webcam” for serious science
A modest “webcam” on Mars Express has proven useful for outreach, education, and citizen-science. Now ESA has decided to adopt it as a professional science instrument.
Space Station Mercury
Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: The International Space Station and planet Mercury pass in front of the Sun
Born in a golden cloak
Space science image of the week: A young star fights its way through birth clouds cloaked in a golden swathe of light
Asteroid touchdown
In the run up to Asteroid Day on 30 June, this video details the micro-lander envisaged as part of ESA’s proposed Asteroid Impact Mission
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Crosses Jupiter/Sun Gravitational Boundary
Jupiter is now the most dominant gravitational force in the Juno spacecraft’s universe.
Rosetta’s comet contains ingredients for life

Ingredients regarded as crucial for the origin of life on Earth have been discovered at the comet that ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has been probing for almost two years.
Week In Images
Our week through the lens: 23-27 May 2016
A planet 1,200 light-years away is a good prospect for a habitable world
Kepler-62f is approximately 40 percent larger than Earth and, at that size, is within the range of planets that are likely to be rocky and possibly could have oceans.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft crosses Jupiter/Sun gravitational boundary
Scientists project Jupiter’s gravity will dominate as the trajectory-perturbing effects by other celestial bodies are reduced to insignificant roles.
Couture in orbit
Video highlights from the space-inspired fashion show at London’s Science Museum, 25 May
Mars Is Emerging From an Ice Age
A changing climate may be headed Mars’ way after a prolonged ice age.
NASA Radar Finds Ice Age Record in Mars’ Polar Cap
Scientists using radar data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have found a record of the most recent Martian ice age recorded in the planet’s north polar ice cap.
Couture in orbit catwalk
Images from the space-inspired fashion project Couture in Orbit
Sentinel-1 helping Cyclone Roanu relief

Cyclone Roanu has claimed over 100 lives in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and has left tens of thousands in need of aid. Officials are looking to the sky for information on flooded areas to analyse the cyclone’s aftermath and support emergency response activities.
Satcoms is changing lives in South African rural schools
Satcoms in rural primary schools in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa looks set to expand following the success of a pilot project.
Earth from Space

Join us Friday, 27 May, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of Chile
Mars triptych
Operations image of the week: Three images of Mars acquired by two cameras in space and one in Australia
Close encounters of a tidal kind could lead to cracks on icy moons
Until now, it was thought that the cracks were the result of geodynamical processes, such as plate tectonics, but the models suggest that a close encounter with another body might have been the cause.
Number of habitable planets could be limited by stifling atmospheres
When looking for planets that could harbor life, scientists look for planets in the “habitable zones” around their stars — at the right distance from the stars to allow water to exist in liquid form.
Asteroid lander on show
Technology image of the week: this half-scale model of ESA’s next lander to a small body goes on show at next week’s ILA Berlin Air Show
Mars Webcam goes pro

A modest ‘webcam’ on Mars Express has proven useful for outreach, education and citizen-science. Now ESA have decided to adopt it as a professional science instrument.
Footprints of baby planets found in a gas disk
This discovery supports the idea that planets form in much shorter timescales than previously thought and prompts a reconsideration of alternative planet formation scenarios.
Supermassive black holes cause galactic-scale warming
“Red geyser” galaxies point to a late stage for galaxies where star formation is nearly impossible.
Spirit in memoriam
NASA said its last good-bye to the Spirit rover five years ago, but the mobile science station packed a lot of discoveries into its time on the Red Planet.
NASA Telescopes Find Clues For How Giant Black Holes Formed So Quickly
Using data from NASA’s Great Observatories, astronomers have found the best evidence yet for cosmic seeds in the early universe that should grow into supermassive black holes.
Space fashion
Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Weightlessness inspiring new fashion designers with Couture in Orbit
14 and counting
Europe now has 14 Galileo navigation satellites in orbit after its latest launch success
And yet it moves: 14 Galileo satellites now in orbit

Named for the astronomer who pinpointed Earth’s true position in the Solar System, the Galileo satellite navigation system that will help Europe find its way in the 21st century now has 14 satellites in orbit after today’s double launch.
Astronomers discover fresh lunar craters
New technique allows scientists to “age” craters in the Moon’s darkest regions