http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/nasa/ NASA pictures and NASA news. Science articles on NASA programs. Latest images from Hubble Telescope and much more. en-us Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:05:02 EST Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:05:02 EST 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/nasa/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215142819.htm Astronomers are watching a delayed broadcast of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, an event initially seen on Earth nearly 170 years ago. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:28:28 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215142819.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123945.htm Astronomers have found a cluster of young, blue stars encircling the first intermediate-mass black hole ever discovered. The presence of the star cluster suggests that the black hole was once at the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy. The discovery of the black hole and the star cluster has important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123945.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123838.htm Astronomers have found a cluster of young blue stars surrounding a mid-sized black hole called HLX-1. The discovery suggests that the black hole formed in the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy. The findings have important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:38:38 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215123838.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215095945.htm More than 70 teachers had an opportunity to experience what it feels like to float in space as they participated in the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston last week. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215095945.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213145618.htm New and improved ways for future space travelers to communicate will be tested on the International Space Station after a launch later this year from Japan. The SCaN Testbed, or Space Communications and Navigation Testbed, was designed and built at NASA's Glenn Research Center over the last three years. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:56:56 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213145618.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213143016.htm New images from the Planck mission show previously undiscovered islands of star formation and a mysterious haze of microwave emissions in our Milky Way galaxy. The views give scientists new treasures to mine and take them closer to understanding the secrets of our galaxy. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:30:30 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213143016.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209111111.htm Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209111111.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209101541.htm The 355-foot-tall mobile launcher, or ML, behaved as expected during its move to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November 2011, an analysis of multiple sensors showed. The top of the tower swayed less than an inch each way. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:15:15 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209101541.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209101327.htm On February 5, 2002, NASA launched what was then called the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) into orbit. Renamed within months as the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) after Reuven Ramaty, a deceased NASA scientist who had long championed the mission, the spacecraft's job was to observe giant explosions on the sun called solar flares. Ten years since its launch, RHESSI has observed more than 40,000 X-ray flares, helped craft and refine a model of how solar eruptions form, and fueled additional serendipitous science papers on such things as the shape of the sun and thunder-storm-produced gamma ray flashes. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:13:13 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209101327.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100806.htm The camera at the end of the robotic arm on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has its own calibration target, a smartphone-size plaque that looks like an eye chart supplemented with color chips and an attached penny. When Curiosity lands on Mars in August, researchers will use this calibration target to test performance of the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. MAHLI's close-up inspections of Martian rocks and soil will show details so tiny, the calibration target includes reference lines finer than a human hair. This camera is not limited to close-ups, though. It can focus on any target from about a finger's-width away to the horizon. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100806.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100646.htm NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was placed in standby mode Feb. 7, 2012 as engineers prepare to end mission operations, nearly nine years after the telescope's launch. The spacecraft is scheduled to be decommissioned -- taken out of service -- later this year. The mission extensively mapped large portions of the sky with sharp ultraviolet vision, cataloguing millions of galaxies spanning 10 billion years of cosmic time. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100646.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100422.htm The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing the three-petal lander of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about two miles to the east. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:04:04 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100422.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120207151800.htm ESA's Mars Express has returned strong evidence for an ocean once covering part of Mars. Using radar, it has detected sediments reminiscent of an ocean floor within the boundaries of previously identified, ancient shorelines on Mars. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:18:18 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120207151800.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092421.htm The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073, which is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies such as NGC 1073 helps astronomers learn more about our celestial home. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092421.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092006.htm Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet’s surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analyzing individual particles of Martian soil. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092006.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202150821.htm Astronomers aimed Hubble at one of the most striking examples of gravitational lensing, a nearly 90-degree arc of light in the galaxy cluster RCS2 032727-132623. Hubble's view of the distant background galaxy, which lies nearly 10 billion light-years away, is significantly more detailed than could ever be achieved without the help of the gravitational lens. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202150821.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202094328.htm The center of just about every galaxy is thought to host a black hole, some with masses of thousands of millions of Suns and consequently strong gravitational pulls that disrupt material around them. They had been thought to hinder the birth of stars, but now astronomers studying the nearby galaxy Centaurus A have found quite the opposite: a black hole that seems to be helping stars to form. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:43:43 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202094328.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201182149.htm A camera aboard one of NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft has returned its first unique view of the far side of the moon. MoonKAM, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, will be used by students nationwide to select lunar images for study. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:21:21 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201182149.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201142402.htm A potent follow-up solar flare, which occurred Jan. 17, 2012, just days after the Sun launched the biggest coronal mass ejection seen in nearly a decade, delivered a powerful radiation punch to Earth's magnetic field despite the fact that it was aimed away from our planet. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201142402.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201094326.htm A new view shows a stellar nursery called NGC 3324. It was taken using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The intense ultraviolet radiation from several of NGC 3324's hot young stars causes the gas cloud to glow with rich colors and has carved out a cavity in the surrounding gas and dust. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:43:43 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201094326.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131150828.htm Space scientists have described the first detailed analyses of captured interstellar neutral atoms -- raw material for the formation of new stars, planets and even human beings. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131150828.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131143745.htm When scientists discovered two great swaths of radiation encircling Earth in the 1950s, it spawned over-the-top fears about "killer electrons" and space radiation effects on Earthlings. The fears were soon quieted: the radiation doesn't reach Earth, though it can affect satellites and humans moving through the belts. Nevertheless, many mysteries about the belts -- now known as the Van Allen Radiation belts -- remain to this day. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:37:37 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131143745.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131140114.htm A great magnetic bubble surrounds the solar system as it cruises through the galaxy. The sun pumps the inside of the bubble full of solar particles that stream out to the edge until they collide with the material that fills the rest of the galaxy, at a complex boundary called the heliosheath. On the other side of the boundary, electrically charged particles from the galactic wind blow by, but rebound off the heliosheath, never to enter the solar system. Neutral particles, on the other hand, are a different story. They saunter across the boundary as if it weren't there, continuing on another 7.5 billion miles for 30 years until they get caught by the sun's gravity, and sling shot around the star. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:01:01 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131140114.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131135743.htm Using data from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft, an international team of researchers has measured neutral "alien" particles entering our solar system from interstellar space. A suite of studies provides a first look at the constituents of the interstellar medium, the matter between star systems, and how they interact with our heliosphere. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:57:57 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131135743.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130100202.htm The sun unleashed an X1.8 class flare that began at 1:12 PM ET on January 27, 2012 and peaked at 1:37. The flare immediately caused a strong radio blackout at low-latitudes, which was rated an R3 on NOAA's scale from R1-5. The blackout soon subsided to a minor R1 storm. Models from NASA's Goddard Space Weather Center predict that the CME is traveling at over 1500 miles per second. It does not initially appear to be Earth-directed, but Earth may get a glancing blow. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:02:02 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130100202.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172736.htm The largest solar particle event since 2005 hit Earth, Mars and the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft traveling in-between, allowing the onboard Radiation Assessment Detector to measure the radiation a human astronaut could be exposed to en route to the Red Planet. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:27:27 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172736.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172327.htm NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, mission arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Jan. 27 after a cross-country trip by truck from the Orbital Sciences Corporation's manufacturing plant in Dulles, Va. The mission is scheduled to launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean on March 14. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:23:23 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172327.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126155915.htm NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126155915.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160623.htm Some images of stark Martian landscapes provide visual appeal beyond their science value, including a recent scene of wind-sculpted features from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160623.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160531.htm Though generally thought to be quite dry, roughly half of the giant asteroid Vesta is expected to be so cold and to receive so little sunlight that water ice could have survived there for billions of years, according to the first published models of Vesta's average global temperatures and illumination by the sun. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:05:05 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160531.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160405.htm NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, shipped to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Jan. 24, 2012, to be mated to its Pegasus launch vehicle. The observatory will detect X-rays from objects ranging from our sun to giant black holes billions of light-years away. It is scheduled to launch March 14 from an aircraft operating out of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:04:04 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160405.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093619.htm Eight years after landing on Mars for what was planned as a three-month mission, NASA's enduring Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is working on what essentially became a new mission five months ago. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:36:36 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093619.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093504.htm A new analysis of radar data from NASA's Cassini mission, in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, has revealed regional variations among sand dunes on Saturn's moon Titan. The result gives new clues about the moon's climatic and geological history. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:35:35 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093504.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125091155.htm Astronomers have found the strongest link so far between the most powerful bursts of star formation in the early Universe, and the most massive galaxies found today. The galaxies, flowering with dramatic starbursts in the early Universe, saw the birth of new stars abruptly cut short, leaving them as massive — but passive — galaxies of aging stars in the present day. The astronomers also have a likely culprit for the sudden end to the starbursts: the emergence of supermassive black holes. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125091155.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118203110.htm A subset of data that helps map out the sun's magnetic fields was recently released from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Observations that measure the strength and direction of magnetic fields on the solar surface -- known as vector magnetograms -- play a crucial role in understanding how those fields change over time and trigger giant eruptions off the surface of the sun such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:31:31 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118203110.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201225.htm The High Frequency Instrument aboard the Planck space telescope has completed its survey of the remnant light from the Big Bang explosion that created our universe. The sensor ran out of coolant on Jan. 14, as expected, ending its ability to detect this faint energy. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:12:12 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201225.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201001.htm Twin NASA spacecraft that achieved orbit around the moon New Year's Eve and New Year's Day have new names, thanks to elementary students in Bozeman, Mont. Their winning entry, "Ebb and Flow," was selected as part of a nationwide school contest that began in October 2011. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:10:10 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201001.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200826.htm In order to reduce power consumption, mission managers have turned off a heater on part of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, dropping the temperature of its ultraviolet spectrometer instrument more than 23 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit). It is now operating at a temperature below minus 79 degrees Celsius (minus 110 degrees Fahrenheit), the coldest temperature that the instrument has ever endured. This heater shut-off is a step in the careful management of the diminishing electrical power so that the Voyager spacecraft can continue to collect and transmit data through 2025. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200826.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200606.htm In 1995, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took an iconic image of the Eagle nebula, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation," highlighting its finger-like pillars where new stars are thought to be forming. Now, the Herschel Space Observatory has a new, expansive view of the region captured in longer-wavelength infrared light. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200606.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120115223636.htm The last mineral thought to have been unique to the Moon has been discovered in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia. Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:36:36 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120115223636.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113210608.htm New maps produced by the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal features at the moon's northern and southern poles in regions that lie in perpetual darkness. LAMP uses a novel method to peer into these so-called permanently shadowed regions, making visible the invisible. Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113210608.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154045.htm Astronomers have discovered the three smallest confirmed planets ever detected outside our solar system. The three planets, which all orbit a single star, are smaller than Earth and appear to be rocky. Their existence suggests that the galaxy could be teeming with similarly rocky planets—and that there's a good chance that many are in the so-called habitable zone, where liquid water and possibly life could exist. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154045.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154039.htm The smallest exoplanets yet discovered orbit a dwarf star almost identical to Barnard's star, one of the sun's nearest neighbors. The similarity helped the astronomers calculate the size of the distant planets. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154039.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133952.htm A new Hubble Space Telescope image centers on the 100-million-solar-mass black hole at the hub of the neighboring spiral galaxy M31, or the Andromeda galaxy, the only galaxy outside the Milky Way visible to the naked eye and the only other giant galaxy in the local group. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133952.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133946.htm Astronomers have discovered two new planets orbiting double star systems, something that had never been seen until last September. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133946.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133332.htm NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has looked deep into the distant universe and detected the feeble glow of a star that exploded more than 9 billion years ago. The sighting is the first finding of an ambitious survey that will help astronomers place better constraints on the nature of dark energy: the mysterious repulsive force that is causing the universe to fly apart ever faster. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:33:33 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133332.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133329.htm Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have solved a longstanding mystery of the type of star, or so-called progenitor, that caused a supernova in a nearby galaxy. The finding yields new observational data for pinpointing one of several scenarios that trigger such outbursts. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:33:33 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133329.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111113727.htm Peering deep inside the hub of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a large, rare population of hot, bright stars. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:37:37 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111113727.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111111111.htm NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft successfully refined its flight path Wednesday with the biggest maneuver planned for the mission's journey between Earth and Mars. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111111111.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110173451.htm Astronomers have identified the moment when a black hole in our galaxy launched super-fast knots of gas into space. Racing outward at about one-quarter the speed of light, these "bullets" of ionized gas are thought to arise from a region located just outside the black hole's event horizon, the point beyond which nothing can escape. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:34:34 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110173451.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110163446.htm The stars we see today weren't always as serene as they appear, floating alone in the dark of night. Most stars, likely including our sun, grew up in cosmic turmoil -- as illustrated in a new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The image shows one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our galaxy, a region called Cygnus X. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:34:34 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110163446.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110140423.htm An extremely hot, massive young galaxy cluster is the largest ever seen in the distant universe. The newly discovered galaxy cluster has been nicknamed El Gordo -- the "big" or "fat one" in Spanish. It consists of two separate galaxy subclusters colliding at several million kilometres per hour, and is so far away that its light has travelled for seven billion years to reach Earth. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:04:04 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110140423.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110114438.htm The collision of two clusters of galaxies 5 billion light years away could help astronomers better understand "dark matter," the invisible stuff that makes up a big chunk of our universe. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:44:44 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110114438.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110114332.htm NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a cluster of galaxies in the initial stages of construction — the most distant such grouping ever observed in the early universe. In a random sky survey made in near-infrared light, Hubble spied five tiny galaxies clustered together 13.1 billion light-years away. They are among the brightest galaxies at that epoch and very young, existing just 600 million years after the universe's birth in the big bang. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:43:43 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110114332.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109192644.htm The James Webb Space Telescope marked a year of significant progress in 2011 as it continues to come together as NASA's next generation space telescope. The year brought forth a pathfinder backplane to support the large primary mirror structure, mirror cryotesting, creation of mirror support structures, several successful sunshield layer tests and the creation of an assembly station within NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's cleanroom. Achievements were also made in the areas of flight and communications software and the propulsion system. Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:26:26 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109192644.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109192512.htm NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will spend the next several months at a site informally named "Greeley Haven." The name is a tribute to planetary geologist Ronald Greeley (1939-2011), who was a member of the science team for the Mars rovers and many other interplanetary missions. Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:25:25 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109192512.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106130334.htm NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will spend the next few months during the coldest part of Martian winter at Greeley Haven, an outcrop of rock on Mars recently named informally to honor Ronald Greeley, a professor of planetary geology, who died Oct. 27, 2011. Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:03:03 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106130334.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104133201.htm Using powerful magnets to levitate fruit flies can provide vital clues to how biological organisms are affected by weightless conditions in space, researchers say. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:32:32 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104133201.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104111908.htm "Humanity's adventurous, stubborn, mad and glorious aspiration to reach the stars," is the subject of a new article. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:19:19 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104111908.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120101224913.htm The second of NASA's two Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft has successfully completed its planned main engine burn and is now in lunar orbit. Working together, GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B will study the moon as never before. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:49:49 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120101224913.htm