Space

Was that a meteor over New York (and zipping across Twitter)?

Apparently the bright object that people reported seeing shooting over the East Coast of the United States last night -- and that left a glittery trail across Twitter -- may well have been a meteor.

Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environmental Office told the Associated Press that, "going on visual reports," the flash was "a single meteor event."

"The thing is probably a yard across. We basically have (had) a boulder enter the atmosphere over the northeast," he added.

The object lit up Twitter last night at about 8 p.m. East Coast … Read more

New verdict in scientific whodunit: Dino-killing space rock was a comet

Some 65 million years ago, a big rock -- a very big rock -- slammed into the southwest portion of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, creating a 110- to 180-mile crater and triggering a biological catastrophe that wiped out more than half the Earth's species, including the dinosaurs.

In 2010, an international panel of scientists ruled out alternative explanations as they coalesced around the theory that the space rock impact was responsible for this cataclysmic event. However, they debated whether the crater was produced by a comet or an asteroid.

New research now points to a comet as the … Read more

Bezos Expeditions recovers pieces of Apollo 11 rockets

A year after discovering rockets from the Apollo 11 moon mission on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, Bezos Expeditions has recovered "many prime pieces" of the engines, Jeff Bezos blogged today.

Amazon's billionaire founder and chief executive wrote that the crew of the ship Seabed Worker spent three weeks at sea, working almost three miles below the surface to pull up the various piece of the engines.

"We've seen an underwater wonderland -- an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves … Read more

Voyager 1 may have left the solar system, 35 years after launch

Voyager 1 truly has gone where no man (or spacecraft) has gone before. Huge changes in the environment around the space probe indicate that it has gone beyond the heliosphere, our little corner of space that's dominated by the influence of the sun.

It only took 35 years for the craft to travel more than 11 billion miles from the sun and possibly exit the solar system. What scientists are seeing is a huge spike in galactic cosmic rays.

"Within just a few days, the heliospheric intensity of trapped radiation decreased, and the cosmic ray intensity went up as you would expect if it exited the heliosphere," said Bill Webber, professor emeritus of astronomy at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.… Read more

New clues emerge on origin of Kepler's famous supernova

More than 400 years after skywatchers -- including astronomer Johannes Kepler -- witnessed the appearance of a spectacular new star in the night sky, astronomers have uncovered important new details about the origins of this famous supernova.

The supernova remnant contains iron-rich material surrounded by an expanding shock wave that scarfs up interstellar gas and dust in its path. The ensuing shroud of gas and dust is estimated to be 14 light-years wide and is expanding at 4 million miles per hour.

A new study published online and in the February 10 issue of The Astrophysical Journal found that the … Read more

Where should CNET Road Trip go in the Midwest?

Summer is still three months away, but here in Northern California, with bright sunshine outside (and windows to keep the chilly wind out), it already feels like it's just around the corner.

That's also because I've already started the planning for Road Trip 2013, my eighth-annual journey to highlight some of the best destinations around for technology, military, architecture, science, nature, and so on.

For six of the past seven years, CNET Road Trip has taken me all around the roads of the United States, giving me the opportunity to visit the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, the … Read more

Sex in space may be dangerous, study says

I've always imagined that being up in space isn't really so much fun.

Yes, the views are nice, but the claustrophobia must be entirely stifling. What are you supposed to do up there, for days on end? You can't just work all the time.

The temptation, then, might be to occasionally enjoy a little recreation in the procreative sphere.

Sex would surely offer a touch of vigorous exercise and a little human community.

However, now research has emerged suggesting that sex up there could be dangerous.… Read more

Space shots: Our beautiful world from far above

Today, the International Space Station gets a change of command as outgoing NASA Commander Kevin Ford transfers leadership of the space lab to Commander Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut to assume the role. Hadfield and crew will carry out the planned Expedition 35 mission (PDF).

Our gallery below looks back at some the extraordinary images of Earth Hadfield captured with dSLRs during his first few months aboard the space lab (he and Expedition 34 arrived in mid-December). The unique vantage point of the ISS delivers unforgettable vistas, from the astoundingly abstract Australian Outback to a sensational shimmer of gold on the waters of the San Francisco Bay.… Read more

Anti-aging cream made with 'space diamonds'

Anti-aging! Space diamonds! Groundbreaking medical research! Wow, Celestial Black Diamond Night Cream sure sounds like a miracle. Let's take a closer look.

The product description says the cream includes black diamond particles "believed to have formed in space." Huh? Either they came from space, or they didn't. Manufacturer 111 Skin doesn't divulge the sourcing method for the particles, but it does describe them as "microspheres that penetrate the deeper dermal layer of the skin in order to transport three essential youth restoring ingredients: patent-pending NAC Y2 formula, Collagen type I and III and Hyaluronic acid."… Read more

Curiosity Rover discovers conditions suited for ancient life on Mars

NASA is reporting that an analysis of a rock powder sample collected by the Curiosity rover suggests that ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

The sample contained traces of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon -- key chemical ingredients for life.

For astronomers, the news constitutes the latest clue in their pursuit of a scientific holy grail: Answering the big question about whether life ever existed on the Red Planet. Their challenge until now has been to confirm whether the Martian atmosphere could have supported a habitable environment. The preliminary evidence now suggests the answer is yes, with the rock samples pointing to evidence that conditions on Mars were once favorable for life. A couple of particularly intriguing clues: The presence of clay as well as the absence of "abundant salt" point to the likely existence of an ancient environment where there was fresh water, according to NASA.… Read more