Heavens

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity describes how the gravity of a massive object, such as a star, can curve space and time. It has been successfully used to predict such astronomical observations as the bending of starlight by the sun, small shifts in the orbit of the planet Mercury and the phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. Now, it may soon be possible to study the effects of general relativity in bench-top laboratory experiments.

A team of international astrophysicists, including Dr Maria Lugaro from Monash University, has discovered a new explanation for the early composition of our solar system.

The team has found that radioactive nuclei found in the earliest meteorites, dating back billions of years, could have been delivered by a nearby dying giant star of six times the mass of the sun.

Dr Lugaro said the findings could change our current ideas on the origin of the solar system.

The remaining clouds and showers that were once tropical storm Dolores are fading at sea, more than 940 miles west of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Dolores has now weakened into a remnant low pressure area but continues to kick up 11 foot high waves at sea.

On Friday, July 17 at 6:30 a.m. EDT, Dolores' fragmented showers and thunderstorms were located near 20 degrees north latitude and 125 degrees west longitude moving northwest near 15 knots (17 mph). Sustained winds were still around 20 knots (23 mph) and its minimum central pressure had gone up to 1006 millibars.

A lunar geochemist at Washington University in St. Louis says that there are still many answers to be gleaned from the moon rocks collected by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their historic moonwalk 40 years ago July 20.

And he credits another WUSTL professor for the fact that the astronauts even collected the moon rocks in the first place.

The imaging system on board NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently had its first of many opportunities to photograph the Apollo landing sites. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) imaged five of the six Apollo sites with the narrow angle cameras (NACs) between July 11 and 15, within days of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

BOULDER--Establishing a key link between the solar cycle and global climate, new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) shows that maximum solar activity and its aftermath have impacts on Earth that resemble La Nina and El Nino events in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The research may pave the way toward better predictions of temperature and precipitation patterns at certain times during the Sun's cycle, which lasts approximately 11 years.

Establishing a key link between the solar cycle and global climate, research led by scientists at the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., shows that maximum solar activity and its aftermath have impacts on Earth that resemble La Niña and El Niño events in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

The research may pave the way toward predictions of temperature and precipitation patterns at certain times during the approximately 11-year solar cycle.

Located 7,000 light-years away, towards the constellation of Serpens (the Snake), the Eagle Nebula is a dazzling stellar nursery, a region of gas and dust where young stars are currently being formed and where a cluster of massive, hot stars, NGC 6611, has just been born. The powerful light and strong winds from these massive new arrivals are shaping light-year long pillars, seen in the image partly silhouetted against the bright background of the nebula.

The nebula itself has a shape vaguely reminiscent of an eagle, with the central pillars being the "talons".

The team believes the surprising similarities between some micrometeorites landing on Earth and comet samples returned by NASA's Stardust mission are no accident. "There has been lots of debate about the nature of micrometeorites reaching the Earth," says Dr. Matthieu Gounelle of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. "Some believe they are asteroidal, while others argue they are cometary. Our work suggests that in a sense, both camps may be right."

A new study has revealed the origins of tiger stripes and a subsurface ocean on Enceladus- one of Saturn's many moons. These geological features are believed to be the result of the moon's unusual chemical composition and not a hot core, shedding light on the evolution of planets and guiding future space exploration.

Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, is filling in the picture with new findings of Gamma-rays throughout the universe.

"Compton [Gamma-Ray Observatory] showed us that two classes of active galaxies emitted gamma rays -- blazars and radio galaxies," said Luigi Foschini at Brera Observatory of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Merate, Italy. "With Fermi, we've found a third -- and opened a new window in the field."

Clusters are the largest structures in the Universe and are comprised of many galaxies, like the Milky Way. One mystery about them is why the gas in the centers of some galaxy clusters is rapidly cooling and condensing, but not forming into stars. Until recently, no model existed that successfully explained how this was possible.

How can rescue units be better protected during disaster operations or avalanche victims be found quicker? A new localization system connects satellite-based positioning systems with terrestrial locating aids and situation-dependent sensory systems.

A team of researchers from the CSIC-INTA Astrobiology Centre in Madrid has confirmed that the type of mineralogical composition on the surface of Mars influences the measuring of its temperature. The study is published this week in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring and will be used to interpret the data from the soil temperature sensor of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) vehicle, whose launch is envisaged for 2011.

Venus Express has charted the first map of Venus's southern hemisphere at infrared wavelengths. The new map hints that our neighbouring world may once have been more Earth-like, with both, a plate tectonics system and an ocean of water.

The map comprises over a thousand individual images, recorded between May 2006 and December 2007. Because Venus is covered in clouds, normal cameras cannot see the surface, but Venus Express used a particular infrared wavelength that can see through them.