The Daily Galaxy: Great Discoveries Channel

Where Will We Find Life in the Solar System: Daily Galaxy Poll Results

"One lifeforms deadly radiation may be another lifeforms lunch."

David Grinspoon, member of the science team for NASA's Mars rover, and interdisciplinary scientist for the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission.

Prominent astrobiologists have warned that we humans may be blinded by our familiarity with carbon and Earth-like conditions. In other words, what we’re looking for may not even lie in our version of a “sweet spot”. After all, even here on Earth, one species “sweet spot” is another species worst nightmare. In any case, it is not beyond the realm of feasibility that our first encounter with extraterrestrial life will not be a solely carbon-based occasion.

Sending Earth LIFE To A Martian Moon -Russia Readies Epic Mission

In the sort of super-science we should be doing all the time, Russian scientists are sending life itself to orbit a Martian moon.  It's educational, it's awesome, and insanely they had to carefully navigate regulations designed to prevent them from doing anything even nearly that cool.

Robots In Space -Our Exploration Future?

While the "man" in mankind is lacking these days, with our boldest and bravest endeavours being criticized as costly or dangerous by people who can't even spell the words involved, we're still adventuring into outer space.  If we can't go, with our shuttles retired and our future unclear, we've built batallions of robots to explore outer space for us.  They last longer, they don't complain about one-way trips or freezing to death, and the probability of artificial intelligences coming back to kill us has been measured as "only happened in 10% of Star Trek movies."

Massive Magnetic Fields Observed at Center of the Milky Way

There's a reason you never see scientists at fireworks displays - the universe puts on a far better show for them all year round.  One such ultra-impressive artifact is "The Arches", megascale ribbons of hot plasma flowing around the supermassive black hole at the core of our galaxy.

There's a reason you never see scientists at fireworks displays - the universe puts on a far better show for them all year round.  One such ultra-impressive artifact is "The Arches", megascale ribbons of hot plasma flowing around the supermassive black hole at the core of our galaxy.

Space Mystery: The Missing Neutron Galaxies of the Early Universe -A Galaxy Insight

Ultradense cosmic cannonballs used to tear around the universe, punching through regular galaxies like a bullet through candyfloss, going their own way and heaven help the heaven that got in their way - and scientists don't know where they are now.  Luckily this is cosmology, not cinema, or the answer would be "Right behind you!"

Ultradense cosmic cannonballs used to tear around the universe, punching through regular galaxies like a bullet through candyfloss, going their own way and heaven help the heaven that got in their way - and scientists don't know where they are now.  Luckily this is cosmology, not cinema, or the answer would be "Right behind you!"

Code Red: Military Shuts Out Scientists from Infra-Red Signatures on All Meteors Which Hit the Planet

The military has decided to deny scientists data on incoming meteors in order to protect military secrets.  Anyone who can't see any problems with this arrangement, well done on never having seen a movie -ever.  Oh, and get Michael Bay on the phone - we've got his next plot ready.

The military has decided to deny scientists data on incoming meteors in order to protect military secrets.  Anyone who can't see any problems with this arrangement, well done on never having seen a movie -ever.  Oh, and get Michael Bay on the phone - we've got his next plot ready.

The Space Elevator Games -The Next Big Reality TV Show? (VIDEO)

It's right out of NOVA or the scifi channel: Microsoft is sponsoring the 2009 Space Elevator Conference, a four-day long event with movies, presentations, and workshops where engineers and entrepreneurs gather to discuss the technical and logistical issues of building an actual elevator to space.

"It's bringing top people around to present ideas from a research standpoint and a business standpoint," said conference spokesperson Melinda Young. "We're talking about a way to supplement travel to space by rockets."

It's right out of NOVA or the scifi channel: Microsoft is sponsoring the 2009 Space Elevator Conference, a four-day long event with movies, presentations, and workshops where engineers and entrepreneurs gather to discuss the technical and logistical issues of building an actual elevator to space.

"It's bringing top people around to present ideas from a research standpoint and a business standpoint," said conference spokesperson Melinda Young. "We're talking about a way to supplement travel to space by rockets."

Mega-Mars Discovery: The "Block Island" Meterorite

In further proof that NASA are cooler than most people manage without liquid hydrogen, they've started analyzing a meteorite - on Mars.  This scores them a double "Space Stuff" bonus, and proves that no matter how incredible things get, the universe always has more to offer.

The Opportunity rover (still running after five years despite being built for ninety-day mission) made the mega-Martian discovery when it spotted "Block Island" - a half-meter chunk of rock absolutely nothing like anything anywhere else on the planet so far.  Because it probably isn't from the planet, with scientists saying it's a meteor which made Mars its final resting place.

Did Earth Trump Jupiter's Recent Impact Explosion 214 Million Years Ago?

 

Not quite. But despite last week's news, Jupiter's asteroid-devouring magnetic field doesn't have a monopoly on awesome impact explosions. Canada's Manicouagan impact crater in northern Quebec shown above, framed on the north by the aurora borealis, was created 214 million years ago by an asteroid with an estimated five-kilometer diameter. The crater is one of the planet's largest, with a diameter of about 100 kilometers. The crater is a multiple-ring structure, but the feature that shows up best in this Landsat satellite photo is the inner ring, which is occupied by a lake with an outer diameter of about 70 kilometers. The impact may have produced a mass extinction similar to that at the end of the Cretaceous period.

The Real Space Race Has Yet To Begin

Expanding into space has been a dream of scifi since before the genre had a name.  Adventure, overcrowding, the chance of green-skinned women - the reasons are manifold but the idea is always the same, because the need to advance and prosper in new locations is fundamental to our species.  The fact it's usually because we ruined the last place (or we don't like the people who live there) is best ignored.

Where Will We Find Life in the Solar System: Daily Galaxy Poll Results

"One lifeforms deadly radiation may be another lifeforms lunch."

David Grinspoon, member of the science team for NASA's Mars rover, and interdisciplinary scientist for the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission.

Prominent astrobiologists have warned that we humans may be blinded by our familiarity with carbon and Earth-like conditions. In other words, what we’re looking for may not even lie in our version of a “sweet spot”. After all, even here on Earth, one species “sweet spot” is another species worst nightmare. In any case, it is not beyond the realm of feasibility that our first encounter with extraterrestrial life will not be a solely carbon-based occasion.

Sending Earth LIFE To A Martian Moon -Russia Readies Epic Mission

In the sort of super-science we should be doing all the time, Russian scientists are sending life itself to orbit a Martian moon.  It's educational, it's awesome, and insanely they had to carefully navigate regulations designed to prevent them from doing anything even nearly that cool.

Robots In Space -Our Exploration Future?

While the "man" in mankind is lacking these days, with our boldest and bravest endeavours being criticized as costly or dangerous by people who can't even spell the words involved, we're still adventuring into outer space.  If we can't go, with our shuttles retired and our future unclear, we've built batallions of robots to explore outer space for us.  They last longer, they don't complain about one-way trips or freezing to death, and the probability of artificial intelligences coming back to kill us has been measured as "only happened in 10% of Star Trek movies."

Massive Magnetic Fields Observed at Center of the Milky Way

There's a reason you never see scientists at fireworks displays - the universe puts on a far better show for them all year round.  One such ultra-impressive artifact is "The Arches", megascale ribbons of hot plasma flowing around the supermassive black hole at the core of our galaxy.

There's a reason you never see scientists at fireworks displays - the universe puts on a far better show for them all year round.  One such ultra-impressive artifact is "The Arches", megascale ribbons of hot plasma flowing around the supermassive black hole at the core of our galaxy.

Space Mystery: The Missing Neutron Galaxies of the Early Universe -A Galaxy Insight

Ultradense cosmic cannonballs used to tear around the universe, punching through regular galaxies like a bullet through candyfloss, going their own way and heaven help the heaven that got in their way - and scientists don't know where they are now.  Luckily this is cosmology, not cinema, or the answer would be "Right behind you!"

Ultradense cosmic cannonballs used to tear around the universe, punching through regular galaxies like a bullet through candyfloss, going their own way and heaven help the heaven that got in their way - and scientists don't know where they are now.  Luckily this is cosmology, not cinema, or the answer would be "Right behind you!"

Code Red: Military Shuts Out Scientists from Infra-Red Signatures on All Meteors Which Hit the Planet

The military has decided to deny scientists data on incoming meteors in order to protect military secrets.  Anyone who can't see any problems with this arrangement, well done on never having seen a movie -ever.  Oh, and get Michael Bay on the phone - we've got his next plot ready.

The military has decided to deny scientists data on incoming meteors in order to protect military secrets.  Anyone who can't see any problems with this arrangement, well done on never having seen a movie -ever.  Oh, and get Michael Bay on the phone - we've got his next plot ready.

The Space Elevator Games -The Next Big Reality TV Show? (VIDEO)

It's right out of NOVA or the scifi channel: Microsoft is sponsoring the 2009 Space Elevator Conference, a four-day long event with movies, presentations, and workshops where engineers and entrepreneurs gather to discuss the technical and logistical issues of building an actual elevator to space.

"It's bringing top people around to present ideas from a research standpoint and a business standpoint," said conference spokesperson Melinda Young. "We're talking about a way to supplement travel to space by rockets."

It's right out of NOVA or the scifi channel: Microsoft is sponsoring the 2009 Space Elevator Conference, a four-day long event with movies, presentations, and workshops where engineers and entrepreneurs gather to discuss the technical and logistical issues of building an actual elevator to space.

"It's bringing top people around to present ideas from a research standpoint and a business standpoint," said conference spokesperson Melinda Young. "We're talking about a way to supplement travel to space by rockets."

Mega-Mars Discovery: The "Block Island" Meterorite

In further proof that NASA are cooler than most people manage without liquid hydrogen, they've started analyzing a meteorite - on Mars.  This scores them a double "Space Stuff" bonus, and proves that no matter how incredible things get, the universe always has more to offer.

The Opportunity rover (still running after five years despite being built for ninety-day mission) made the mega-Martian discovery when it spotted "Block Island" - a half-meter chunk of rock absolutely nothing like anything anywhere else on the planet so far.  Because it probably isn't from the planet, with scientists saying it's a meteor which made Mars its final resting place.

Did Earth Trump Jupiter's Recent Impact Explosion 214 Million Years Ago?

 

Not quite. But despite last week's news, Jupiter's asteroid-devouring magnetic field doesn't have a monopoly on awesome impact explosions. Canada's Manicouagan impact crater in northern Quebec shown above, framed on the north by the aurora borealis, was created 214 million years ago by an asteroid with an estimated five-kilometer diameter. The crater is one of the planet's largest, with a diameter of about 100 kilometers. The crater is a multiple-ring structure, but the feature that shows up best in this Landsat satellite photo is the inner ring, which is occupied by a lake with an outer diameter of about 70 kilometers. The impact may have produced a mass extinction similar to that at the end of the Cretaceous period.

The Real Space Race Has Yet To Begin

Expanding into space has been a dream of scifi since before the genre had a name.  Adventure, overcrowding, the chance of green-skinned women - the reasons are manifold but the idea is always the same, because the need to advance and prosper in new locations is fundamental to our species.  The fact it's usually because we ruined the last place (or we don't like the people who live there) is best ignored.