Russia: destination - Mars!

A new word is launched in Russia: a Marsonaut. The six members of the simulation programme for a visit to Mars have started the third phase of the experiment, namely a Mars landing followed by the first Mars walk. The Russian flag...

Branson's Virgin Galactic to fly scientists into space

Richard Branson announced Monday that his Virgin Galactic commercial space flight program will include not just space tourists but scientists who will conduct research experiments.

Scientists investigate the possibility of wormholes between stars

(PhysOrg.com) -- Wormholes are one of the stranger objects that arise in general relativity. Although no experimental evidence for wormholes exists, scientists predict that they would appear to serve as shortcuts between one point of spacetime and another. Scientists usually imagine wormholes connecting regions of empty space, but now a new study suggests that wormholes might exist between distant stars. Instead of being empty tunnels, these wormholes would contain a perfect fluid that flows back and forth between the two stars, possibly giving them a detectable signature.

Roots of the solar system: astronomers observe planets in the making

Planets form in disks of dust and gas that surround young stars. A look at the birth places means a journey into the past of Earth and its siblings. Now, astronomers have been able to obtain detailed images of the protoplanetary disks of two stars using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii.

Continent-wide telescope extends cosmic 'yardstick' three times farther into universe

New observations with the Very Long Baseline Array have made the farthest direct distance measurement ever, a key step toward understanding the mysterious Dark Energy that constitutes some 70 percent of the Universe. Other observations are redrawing the map of our home Galaxy and promise to revise our understanding of extrasolar planets.

Solar flare: space weather disrupts communications, threatens other technologies

A powerful solar flare has ushered in the largest space weather storm in at least four years and has already disrupted some ground communications on Earth.

Waiter, there's metal in my moon water!

Bring a filter if you plan on drinking water from the moon. Water ice recently discovered in dust at the bottom of a crater near the moon

Reflected glory: new image of nebula shows brilliant starlight as it ricochets off dust particles

The nebula Messier 78 takes center stage in this image taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, while the stars powering the bright display take a backseat. The brilliant starlight ricochets off dust particles in the nebula, illuminating it with scattered blue light. Igor Chekalin was the overall winner of ESO

Sun unleashes huge solar flare towards Earth

The Sun has unleashed its strongest flare in four years, observers say.

Does a massive planet lurk in the outer Solar system?

Could there be a massive planet well beyond the orbit of Pluto? Unfortunately, this "extraordinary" claim is based on rather "ordinary" evidence.

Nasa budget boosts private space

US President Barack Obama wants more money to go towards developing commercial rockets and capsules to take American astronauts into orbit.