IRON AND ICE - RADAR DAILY

Rosetta makes first detection of molecular nitrogen at a comet

Mar 24, 2015 (ESA)

ESA's Rosetta spacecraft has made the first measurement of molecular nitrogen at a comet, providing clues about the temperature environment in which Comet 67P/C...

Unusual Asteroid Suspected of Spinning to Explosion

Mar 24, 2015 (SPX)

A team led by astronomers from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, recently used the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to observe and measure a rare c...

Chilly Philae still slumbering, says comet mission

Mar 20, 2015 (AFP)

European space managers Friday ended an eight-day vigil for a wakeup call from the robot lander Philae, but remained hopeful the scout will revive as it rides o...

Other Asteroids Contributed Elusive Olivine to Vesta

Mar 19, 2015 (SPX)

Olivine should be one of the most abundant minerals on asteroid Vesta, but it remains elusive. Scientists working on NASA's Dawn mission to Vesta were initially...

Desktop App has potential to increase asteroid detection

Mar 18, 2015 (SPX)

A software application based on an algorithm created by a NASA challenge has the potential to increase the number of new asteroid discoveries by amateur astrono...

A second minor planet may possess Saturn-like rings

Mar 17, 2015 (SPX)

There are only five bodies in our solar system that are known to bear rings. The most obvious is the planet Saturn; to a lesser extent, rings of gas and dust al...

Rosetta: OSIRIS detects hints of ice in the comet's neck

Mar 17, 2015 (SPX)

The Hapi region on the neck of Rosetta's comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reflects red light less effectively than most other regions on the comet. It thus appea...

Scientists Will Try to Contact the Comet Lander on March 12

Mar 12, 2015 (SPX)

Scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will make the first attempt to contact the stranded comet lander Philae on Thursday Mar. 12. "The first attemp...

Wake up Philae! The world awaits news

Mar 12, 2015 (AFP)

Excitement mounted Thursday as scientists started listening for signs of life from robot lab Philae, hurtling through space perched on a comet some 460 million ...

Comet mission in bid to contact dormant Philae probe

Mar 11, 2015 (AFP)

Ground controllers will open a communications line Thursday with a robot lab perched on a comet zipping through space, hoping for signs it is alive, the Europea...

Dawn: We Have Arrived at Ceres

Mar 09, 2015 (JPL)

--SPACE STORY-- asteroid slug1 295 25-DEC-49 Dawn: We Have Arrived at Ceres Dawn: We Have Arrived at Ceres dawn-ceres-crescent-arrival-lg.jpg dawn-ceres-crescen...

NASA space probe 'Dawn' enters orbit of dwarf planet

Mar 06, 2015 (AFP)

The US space probe Dawn began orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres on Friday on a voyage of discovery into the solar system's main asteroid belt, where it will colle...

Comet flyby: OSIRIS catches glimpse of Rosetta's shadow

Mar 05, 2015 (ESA)

Images from the OSIRIS scientific imaging camera taken during the close flyby on 14 February have now been downlinked to Earth, revealing the surface of Comet 6...

Subaru Telescope Observes Rapid Changes in a Comet's Plasma Tail

Mar 05, 2015 (SPX)

Images from a December 2013 observation of the comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) (Note 1) reveal clear details about rapidly changing activity in that comet's plasma ta...

Ceres' mysterious existence has long puzzled scientists

Mar 05, 2015 (UPI)

In less than two days, NASA will provide the closest ever view of a dwarf planet in between Mars and Jupiter that has mesmerized, puzzled and tantalized astrono...

OSIRIS catches glimpse of Rosetta's shadow

Mar 04, 2015 (SPX)

Several days after Rosetta's close flyby of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 14 February 2015, images taken on this day by OSIRIS, the scientific imaging syst...

NASA Spacecraft Nears Historic Dwarf Planet Arrival

Mar 03, 2015 (JPL)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its historic orbit insertion at the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn will be the first mission to...

OSIRIS-REx Mission Completes System Integration Review

Mar 02, 2015 (SPX)

This week marked the completion of an important step on the path to spacecraft assembly, test, and launch operations for the Origins Spectral Interpretation Res...

Dark Energy Camera catches breathtaking glimpse of comet Lovejoy

Mar 02, 2015 (SPX)

On December 27, 2014, while scanning the southern sky as part of the Dark Energy Survey, researchers snapped the above shot of comet Lovejoy. The image above wa...

Bright lights on dwarf planet perplex NASA as probe nears

Feb 27, 2015 (AFP)

The discovery of another bright light on the dwarf planet Ceres has NASA scientists perplexed as the US Dawn probe prepares to enter the orbit of the largest ob...