AstroSpace Update
July 2010
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Kepler (exoplanet finder) has been observing 156,000 stars in Cygnus since May last year, looking for the dips in light level caused by planets transiting (passing in front of) their stars. The first 1.5 months of data has finally been released (only partially) and there [...]

AstroSpace Update
February 2010
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Cassini (Saturn mission) has imaged a flash of sunlight reflecting from a lake (of methane) on Saturn’s moon Titan.

AstroSpace Update
November 2009
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has imaged newly formed craters from meteorites striking Mars, and found them often to be surrounded by white material, which then fades over weeks. The white material was suspected to be subsurface water ice that was splashed out by the impact. [...]

AstroSpace Update
October 2009
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
Stardust (comet sample return) – Scientists have discovered glycine, an amino acid and a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned to Earth in 2006 by the Stardust spacecraft. Glycine was detected some time ago in both the aerogel sample [...]

AstroSpace Update
July 2009
Gathered by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources
New standard candle – Type Ia supernovas are the most reliable standard candle used for determining larger distances in the Universe. Since we know how bright these are, and we measure how bright one appears, we can calculate how far it must be in order [...]