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Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Astronauts from five nations get wet during ESA’s underground training course

Tadpole galaxies are rare and difficult to find in the local universe.

To find alien life, we may want to scour for the right chemistry.

Minute Physics pieces together what we know about the great-great-grandfathers of galaxies that we see today.

They are of particular interest to scientists because they can offer clues to star-formation processes.

A new map created with measurements from an airborne instrument developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, reveals the devastating effect of California’s ongoing drought on Sierra Nevada conifer forests.

Winter changes in Arctic carbon dioxide may accelerate global warming. Scientists could detect these changes by aircraft with ongoing monitoring programs.

Chemicals found in Martian rocks by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover suggest the Red Planet once had more oxygen in its atmosphere than it does now.

Space Science Image of the Week: Testing the parachute that will slow Schiaparelli for a Mars landing

Researchers found high levels of manganese oxides by using a laser-firing instrument on the rover.

To dig to the bottom of the LIGO merger, researchers at Durham University created a universe.

NASA is weighing using the Curiosity Mars rover to capture images of dark streaks present on some higher slopes of Mount Sharp that may be potential water sites.

Today (6/24), at exactly 9:57 and 48 seconds a.m. PDT, NASA’s Juno spacecraft was 5.5 million miles (8.9 million kilometers) from its July 4th appointment with Jupiter.

Getting spacecraft ready for launch may have more to do with medical research than you think.

Our week through the lens: 20-24 June 2016

The agency awarded a sole source contract extension to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for continued Hubble science operations support at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

We usually send them 400 km up, but next week ESA will be sending six astronauts 800 m underground into the rocky caves of Sardinia, Italy. The caving course recreates aspects of a space expedition with an international crew and has become an essential part of ESA’s astronaut training.

This year’s participants are ESA astronaut Pedro Duque, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Richard Arnold, Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide, Chinese astronaut Ye Guangfu and cosmonaut Sergei Korsakov.

Join us Friday, 24 June, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-3A image of the Mediterranean

To accomplish its mission, NASA’s new Jupiter probe needs to put itself on the line dozens of times.

Hubble spied a new feature on the dark blue ice giant.

The three new hot Jupiters are the first discovered by Qatar since 2011.

Scientists have discovered an unexpected mineral in a rock sample at Gale Crater on Mars, a finding that may alter our understanding of how the planet evolved.

The Sentinel-2A satellite captured creation of the ‘Floating Piers’ installation on Lake Iseo by the Bulgarian–American artist, Christo

Technology image of the week: Sentinel-2B being lowered into Europe’s largest vacuum chamber for testing

What formed the black holes that formed detected gravitational waves?

Plenty of good news for our ocean worlds!

Black holes are a giant X-ray beacon … and an X-ray telescope caught one in the act.

The twin Sentinel-1 satellites have – for the first time – combined to show their capability for revealing even small deformations in Earth’s surface.

European Service Module testing at NASA’s Plum Brook Station

The most powerful magnets in the universe are caught red-handed with a cloud of debris from the supernova that birthed them.

While the lower levels are already bone dry, electric winds make sure the upper atmosphere stays cooked too.

It may leave some water on Mars, but could be toxic to humans living there.

Astronomers have discovered the youngest fully formed exoplanet ever detected.

Replay: ESA astronaut Tim Peake meets the media at the European Astronaut Centre for the first time since landing back on Earth

Space Science Image of the Week: This Planck view of the North Celestial Loop shows its wispy filaments in detail, including a feature nicknamed ‘the Spider’

A team of astronomers has confirmed the existence of a young planet approximately 5 times the size of Earth.

In all likelihood, the first stars that formed in the Milky Way will never be directly observed.

On its third mission this year, Ariane 5 lofted more than 10.7 tonnes – its heaviest commercial cargo so far.

Watch replay of ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and commander Yuri Malenchenko fall back to Earth

Image gallery: ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko landed safely today

ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko landed safely today in the Kazakh steppe after a three-hour ride in their Soyuz spacecraft. They left the International Space Station at 05:52&n…

Tim Peake’s best photos from space chosen and commented on by professional photographer Max Alexander

Our week through the lens: 13-17 June 2016

The denser environment in a cluster will cause more frequent interactions between planets and nearby stars, which may explain the excess of hot Jupiters.

On July 4, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles (4,667 kilometers) of the cloud tops of our solar system’s largest planet.

Watch the return of ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Soyuz spacecraft commander Yuri Malenchenko on Saturday.

Operations image of the week: ESA’s deep-space tracking station in Argentina framed by a rainbow and highlighted by the Sun

Technology image of the week: the shiny face of Japan’s contribution to the BepiColombo mission to Mercury, currently being tested at ESA

Join us Friday, 17 June, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of the southern Tibetan Plateau

A young giant sun cooks its planet hotter than some stars.

Researchers’ calculations indicate 2016 HO3 has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century.

ExoMars captured its first images of Mars this week as part of its preparations for arriving at the Red Planet in October.

It is highly probable that the human race will hear from aliens, but it may not be for a while.

The Mars-like deserts of the American Southwest are some of Earth’s most iconic stargazing grounds. Far from pestering city lights and free from regular cloud cover, they provide a starry-skied sanctuary for lovers of the night.
So, it would stan…

A small asteroid has been discovered in an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth, and it will remain so for centuries to come.

One physicist believes LIGO-like black holes could be the “missing mass” long sought by particle physicists. Not everyone is so sure.

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.

The detection bolsters the search for more black hole mergers and ripples in space-time.

ESA’s first Mars orbiter will provide an important helping hand when the second arrives at the Red Planet in October.

A brown dwarf was found with “solar” flares that outshine our own sun, despite not making the grade as a star.

Chandra finds powerful X-rays that may disrupt the formation of exoplanets around smaller stars.

“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.

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.

Astronomers have gained a new perspective on the behavior of outbursting star FU Orionis, using data from an airborne observatory and a space telescope.

If we want to live on Mars, we need to make it warm and wet again.

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.

Kepler-1647b, the largest exoplanet to orbit two suns has been found with an orbital period of 3 years

Curiosity has discovered a mineral that infers high-temperature volcanism occurred on the Red Planet.

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.