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NASA sees Tropical Depression Sonamu form near Philippines

The first Tropical Depression of 2013 formed the western North Pacific Ocean today, and NASA's Terra satellite captured an infrared image of the "birth."

Tropical Depression Sonamu, otherwise known as Tropical Depression 01W developed near 8.6 north latitude and 118.6 east longitude, about 185 nautical miles (213 miles/342.6 km) northwest of Zamboanga, Philippines. Sonamu's center is located in the Sulu Sea and is expected to cross the southern end of Palawan before moving into the open waters of the South China Sea.

2 NASA satellites see Cyclone Dumile over La Reunion and Mauritius

NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites captured visible and infrared data on Tropical Cyclone Dumile as it slammed into the islands of La Reunion and Mauritius in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Carbon in Vesta's craters

The protoplanet Vesta has been witness to an eventful past: images taken by the framing camera onboard NASA's space probe Dawn show two enormous craters in the southern hemisphere. The images were obtained during Dawn's year-long visit to Vesta that ended in September 2012. These huge impacts not only altered Vesta's shape, but also its surface composition. Scientists under the lead of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau in Germany have shown that impacting small asteroids delivered dark, carbonaceous material to the protoplanet.

Planets abound

PASADENA, Calif.—Look up at the night sky and you'll see stars, sure. But you're also seeing planets—billions and billions of them. At least.

That's the conclusion of a new study by astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) that provides yet more evidence that planetary systems are the cosmic norm. The team made their estimate while analyzing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32—planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.

How computers push on the molecules they simulate

Because modern computers have to depict the real world with digital representations of numbers instead of physical analogues, to simulate the continuous passage of time they have to digitize time into small slices. This kind of simulation is essential in disciplines from medical and biological research, to new materials, to fundamental considerations of quantum mechanics, and the fact that it inevitably introduces errors is an ongoing problem for scientists.

NASA sees a struggling post-Tropical Storm Freda affecting New Caledonia

Tropical Storm Freda may no longer be a tropical storm, but as a low pressure area it is bringing rainfall and gusty winds to New Caledonia. Two NASA satellites captured two different looks at the storm.

ALMA sheds light on planet-forming gas streams

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have seen a key stage in the birth of giant planets for the first time. Vast streams of gas are flowing across a gap in the disc of material around a young star. These are the first direct observations of such streams, which are expected to be created by giant planets guzzling gas as they grow. The result is published on 2 January 2013 in the journal Nature.

Our galaxy's 'geysers' are towers of power

Seen from Earth, the outflows stretch about two-thirds across the sky from horizon to horizon.The outflows correspond to a "haze" of microwave emission previously spotted by the WMAP and Planck space telescopes and regions of gamma-ray emission detected with NASA's Fermi space telescope in 2010, which were dubbed the "Fermi Bubbles".

The WMAP, Planck and Fermi observations did not provide enough evidence to indicate definitively the source of the radiation they detected, but the new Parkes observations do.

ALMA shows how young star and planets grow simultaneously

Astronomers have used the ALMA telescope to get their first glimpse of a fascinating stage of star formation in which planets forming around a young star are helping the star itself continue to grow, resolving a longstanding mystery. The young system, about 450 light-years from Earth, is revealing its complex gravitational dance to the ever-sharpening vision of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), scheduled for completion this year.

Galactic geysers fuelled by star stuff

Enormous outflows of charged particles from the centre of our Galaxy, stretching more than halfway across the sky and moving at supersonic speeds, have been detected and mapped with CSIRO's 64-m Parkes radio telescope.

Corresponding to the "Fermi Bubbles" found in 2010, the recent observations of the phenomenon were made by a team of astronomers from Australia, the USA, Italy and The Netherlands, with the findings reported in today's issue of Nature.

Research unearths terrace farming at ancient desert city of Petra

A team of international archaeologists including Christian Cloke of the University of Cincinnati is providing new insights into successful and extensive water management and agricultural production in and around the ancient desert city of Petra, located in present-day Jordan. Ongoing investigations, of which Cloke is a part, are led by Professor Susan Alcock of the Brown University Petra Archaeological Project (BUPAP).

Magnetic fields created before the first stars

Magnets have practically become everyday objects. Earlier on, however, the universe consisted only of nonmagnetic elements and particles. Just how the magnetic forces came into existence has been researched by Prof. Dr. Reinhard Schlickeiser at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. In the journal Physical Review Letters, he describes a new mechanism for the magnetisation of the universe even before the emergence of the first stars.

No permanent magnets in the early universe

NASA satellites saw Cyclone Freda's widening eye

Tropical Cyclone Freda intensified over the last couple of days in the warm waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean, and NASA's TRMM and Aqua satellites measured the rainfall within the storm, and noticed the eye grew larger.

An image gallery gift from NASA's Swift

Of the three telescopes carried by NASA's Swift satellite, only one captures cosmic light at energies similar to those seen by the human eye. Although small by the standards of ground-based observatories, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) plays a critical role in rapidly pinpointing the locations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the brightest explosions in the cosmos.

NASA sees Wukong struggling to survive in South China Sea

NASA's TRMM satellite captured rainfall data on Tropical Depression Wukong as it struggles to stay together in the South China Sea. Wukong has been battered with wind shear for days and NASA satellite data still shows an area of moderate rainfall within the dying storm.