60-Second Space: Recent Episodes
Scientific American
Leading science journalists provide a daily minute commentary on some of the most interesting developments in the world of astronomy and space exploration. For a full-length, weekly podcast you can subscribe to Science Talk: The Podcast of Scientific American . To view all of our archived podcasts please go to www.scientificamerican.com/podcast
New evidence points to the evolution of the ability for bacteria to grab nitrogen from the atmosphere some 3.2 billion years ago, about 1.2 billion years earlier than thought—with implications for finding extraterrestrial life. Lee Billings reports
A dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way may consist of more dark matter than regular matter.* Clara Moskowitz reports
NASA has to deal with the unexpected financial consequences of robotic missions that just keep going. Lee Billings reports
The oldest group of terrestrial worlds now known formed some 11.2 billion years ago, more than six billion years before our sun and planets. Clara Moskowitz reports
New images from a NASA orbiter reveal Beagle 2’s final resting place. Lee Billings reports
Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy’s latest comet find is naked-eye visible in the southeast sky until January 24. Clara Moskowitz reports
The company hopes to send up a Falcon 9 rocket and then safely land the discarded first stage for reuse. Lee Billings reports
John Grunsfeld, the former astronaut who now heads NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, thinks that traveling light could get people to Mars by the 2040s
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is its particular crimson shade because of the interaction of ultraviolet light and specific chemical compounds in the gas giant's atmosphere. Lee Billings reports
Over the summer researchers identified seven specks of dust returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft. But determining their true origin has been difficult. Clara Moskowitz reports
The Rosetta spacecraft has unexpectedly detected hydrogen sulphide and ammonia coming from Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Lee Billings reports
Take part in a citizen-science project by helping researchers track high-energy cosmic rays via a network of smartphone users. Clara Moskowitz reports
Astronomers have discovered one of the largest and most complex organic molecules yet in a gaseous star-forming region of interstellar space. Clara Moskowitz reports
Data from the International Space Station-based Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment supports the idea that dark matter consists of the invisible particles called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. Clara Moskowitz reports
Texas State University astronomer Donald Olson combined solar, tidal and weather data to identify the likely moment of the image in the Monet work Impression, Sunrise
Astronomers have identified the Milky Way’s cosmic address—inside the supercluster Laniakea, which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian. Clara Moskowitz reports
On August 24th, 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft rendezvoused with Neptune, making it the farthest planet to pose for a close-up, a record it still holds today.
If intelligent aliens are dumb enough to pollute their atmosphere, NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope is powerful enough to spot some of the signs on some exoplanets. Clara Moskowitz reports
Within a Mars-like laboratory environment, perchlorate salts known to exist on Mars were able to lower the freezing point enough to get ice to turn to liquid water. Clara Moskowitz reports
The Cassini probe readies for its final act with new flight patterns that will get unprecedented views of Saturn and culminate in a final dive into the planet's atmosphere. Clara Moskowitz reports
A galaxy four billion light-years from us was has three supermassive black holes at its center, with two in a tight formation. Clara Moskowitz reports
The European Southern Observatory broke ground June 19th to build the world's largest telescope atop the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile. Clara Moskowitz reports
The current solar maximum appears to be weak. But the few previously measured maxes could have been unusually strong. Clara Moskowitz reports
A failed dwarf galaxy called the Smith Cloud apparently survived an ancient collision with the Milky Way because of a protective dark matter cloak. Clara Moskowitz reports
Pluto has at least five moons and an atmosphere—and now a new analysis places its diameter as bigger than its outer solar system rival, Eris
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, once estimated to be 41,000 kilometers across, is just 16,500 kilometers wide in the latest Hubble Space Telescope observations, and the shrinkage seems to be accelerating. Clara Moskowitz reports
When a white dwarf passes in front of its binary star system companion every 88 days, it acts like a lens to make the larger star appear brighter to us.
The star cluster HVGC-1 had been part of the M87 galaxy, but now it's fleeing that galaxy at more than two million miles per hour. Clara Moskowitz reports
A brown dwarf only about three to 10 times Jupiter's mass couldn't get fusion going and now sits freezing in space, in the nearby galactic neighborhood. Clara Moskowitz reports
Citizen scientists have helped professional astronomers locate more than 500 million lunar craters by using an app called MoonMappers. Karen Hopkin reports
More than 100 tiny satellites are set to launch into space on April 14th, in a demonstration of a possible future inexpensive technology that could pave the way for the $1,000 satellite. Clara Moskowitz reports
After prolonged periods in microgravity, astronauts' hearts became more spherical, according to scans done on the International Space Station. Sophie Bushwick reports
The asteroidlike object Chariklo orbits between Saturn and Uranus and has been found to have its own set of rings. Clara Moskowitz reports
An exhaustive search by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has found no hints of a theorized planet or dwarf star in our neck of the cosmic woods. Clara Moskowitz reports
The half-the-speed-of-light spin of a giant black hole suggests it grew by digesting another black hole in a galaxy merger. Clara Moskowitz reports
Spanish astronomers spotted a meteoroid impact at 61,000 kilometers per hour using a telescope network that automatically scans the moon. Clara Moskowitz reports
The Hubble Telescope's new set of Frontier Fields images includes a galaxy some 13-billion light-years away, which makes it a candidate for the most distant object ever seen. Clara Moskowitz reports
Galileo—who, among many accomplishments, was first to use a telescope to discover moons around Jupiter—was born 450 years ago this week. Clara Moskowitz reports
Exoplanet Kepler 413 b's tilt can vary by as much as 30 degrees over 11 years, leading to extremely erratic seasons. Clara Moskowitz reports
Astronomers have come up with a shopping list of what a planet needs to support life, perhaps even better than our Earth does, making them "superhabitable." Michael Moyer reports
On January 20th the European Space Agency woke its Rosetta probe after two-and-a-half years in hibernation, in preparation for its final approach to a comet
More than 3,000 astronomers assembled last week for the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Clara Moskowitz reports
Two recently found supernovae are much farther away and brighter than almost any star explosion ever seen, perhaps because they wound up as rapidly spinning magnetars. Clara Moskowitz reports
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite that went into hibernation in 2011 has been brought to life as an asteroid lookout. Clara Moskowitz reports
Ten-year-old Nathan Gray of Nova Scotia officially becomes the youngest person ever to identify a new supernova. Clara Moskowitz reports
Don't miss viewing Comet ISON, visible in the east before dawn, with a tail now as long as the bowl of the Big Dipper. Clara Moskowitz reports
India aims to become the fourth entity to send a mission to Mars with its launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission, aka Mangalyaan. Clara Moskowitz reports.
At a symposium on the danger of asteroid impacts, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart said it's time for the planet to develop a strategy should a big rock come our way. Clara Moskowitz reports.
Two of the three known planets around the star Kepler 56 orbit their host out of line with the star's equator. Clara Moskowitz reports.
Voyager 1's own record of the plasma vibrations in its vicinity conclusively show that it has reached the space between the stars. John Matson reports
The distributed computing project Einstein@Home uses home computers to search through years of telescope data to find pulsars. John Matson reports.
NASA's WISE satellite surveyed the universe before being mothballed in 2011. Now it's being resurrected as a near-Earth asteroid scanner.
Although the Kepler space telescope's stabilization system is beyond repair, it has produced reams of data that have yet to be fully searched for exoplanets. John Matson reports.
The only issue related to the flip of the sun's magnetic field is that it corresponds with the peak of the sunspot cycle, when the sun is prone to launch flares and bursts of plasma into space that can effect satellites and power grids. John Matson reports.
Since it landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, the Curiosity rover has done photography, geology and roamed a good kilometer. John Matson reports
A huge cloud of plasma south of our galactic black hole could be evidence of a past feeding frenzy. John Matson reports
Theory said that muon neutrinos could transform into electron neutrinos. A neutrino detector confirms this by catching many more electron neutrinos than it should have otherwise. John Matson reports
The black hole in galaxy NGC 1277 is way more massive than usual. Astronomers hypothesize it was ejected from another galaxy before settling in its new home. John Matson reports
The star WX UMa went from 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit to 30,000 degrees F in less than three minutes. Chris Crockett reports
A reaction between two common molecules occurs much faster at frosty interstellar temperatures than on our toasty Earth due to a cold-stabilized transition and quantum tunneling. John Matson reports
Three teenage Texas model rocketeers beat out teams from France and the U.K. to claim top honors at this year's International Rocketry Competition. John Matson reports
Looking at the Himiko Galaxy as it was just 800 million years after the big bang offers a glimpse at how the most massive galaxies took shape. John Matson reports
Segue 2, one of dozens of "companion" galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, is now the smallest galaxy known. Michael Moyer reports
A side benefit of NASA's Curiosity rover mission is that we now know about how much radiation an interplanetary traveler would face. John Matson reports
Isotopic analysis of water trapped in volcanic glass in lunar samples show that the moon has more water than thought, and the water there and on Earth had the same origins. Karen Hopkin reports
After nine (Earth) years of slowly traversing Mars, Opportunity broke the U.S. off-world rover record held by Apollo 17's lunar buggy since 1972. John Matson reports.
Silicon-rich rocky material was found around white dwarfs in the Hyades star cluster by the Hubble Space Telescope, despite the fact that almost no known planets exist in star clusters. John Matson reports
Based on the Milky Way's effect on the motion of a nearby dwarf galaxy, our galaxy seems to have more mass than we previously thought. John Matson reports
NASA's orbiting Kepler telescope recently spotted three exoplanets in or near their stars' so-called habitable zones, the temperate region where a planet could accommodate liquid water. John Matson reports
Using imagery taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007, amateur astronomers located an object that could be a Russian lander that went dark after a few seconds on Mars in 1971. John Matson reports
Saturn's rings and moons contain a uniform distribution of water ice, which seems to reflect their common origins billions of years ago. John Matson reports
New data from the European Planck satellite indicate that the universe is 13.8 billion years old rather than a mere 13.7 billion years old. John Matson reports
An incomplete version of Chile's ALMA telescope array found that star formation was in full swing earlier than had been thought. John Matson reports
A study of the star HD 140283, only about 190 light-years away from us, finds that it formed in short order after the big bang. John Matson reports
The Van Allen Probes recently found a third belt of charged particles circling Earth, which was then destroyed by a solar shock wave. John Matson reports
Heat radiating from an asteroid imparts a tiny push to the rock, meaning that we could subtly steer an asteroid by changing its reflectance. John Matson reports
The Russian city of Chelyabinsk was awakened on February 15 when a meteor exploded overhead, with an energy equivalent to about 300 kilotons of TNT
Even as a few of its sensors cause problems, the Curiosity rover became the first robotic visitor to bore into the Martian surface. John Matson reports
The star TW Hydrae should be too old to still have planets forming around it, but its gas and dust indicate it still has planetary potential. John Matson reports
Tree-ring data from A.D. 774 show a sudden spike in radioactive carbon 14, pointing to a burst of charged particles or high-energy radiation that struck Earth. A relatively nearby gamma-ray burst could be the culprit. John Matson reports
After a few false alarms, the star SN 2009ip appears to have gone supernova at last. John Matson reports
Six volunteers spent 520 days in a simulation of a trip to Mars, and wound up experiencing sleep disturbances and becoming more sedentary. John Matson reports
Opening the door to the paying public means that less healthy individuals will soon have access to space--if their doctors approve. John Matson reports
The Cassini orbiter spotted a river system on Titan that NASA likens to a miniature version of the Nile River, but flowing with liquid ethane and methane. John Matson reports
NASA has plans for another Mars rover, but no trips scheduled for exotic places like Titan or Europa. John Matson reports
A proof-of-concept 3-D printing job using lunarlike material shows that quick-and-dirty tools or spare parts could be manufactured on the moon. John Matson reports
Global 3-D climate simulations for plausible Martian atmospheres show that even with a much thicker CO2 layer, the greenhouse effect could not have warmed Mars above freezing. John Matson reports.
Thanks to gravitational lensing by a cluster of galaxies, the light emitted by a small galaxy 13.3 billion years ago has reached Earth. John Matson reports
A planet at least seven times as massive as Earth orbits comfortably in the habitable zone of the star HD 40307. John Matson reports
Fomalhaut b looked like an exoplanet to some astronomers and like dust to others. But new analyses strengthen the planet view. John Matson reports
A chemical analysis of lunar samples now points to the solar wind being behind the ultrathin dusting of water molecules first detected in 2009 from spacecraft measurements. John Matson reports
An analysis of the Huygens probe's sensor data has reconstructed bouncing and skidding, moments before it came to rest on Titan. John Matson reports
A star orbiting the galactic center's black hole in just 11.5 Earth years should provide data for studying how gravity works near an extremely massive object. John Matson reports
Smaller ground-based telescopes produce research results that get more citations per dollar spent than the big guys. John Matson reports
UV light, which radiates from stars and galaxies, can induce rapid changes in icy hydrocarbon molecules cooled to 5 kelvins, as on a comet. John Matson reports
In the J0651 binary system two white dwarf stars orbit each other in less than 13 minutes--and it's getting a little faster all the time. John Matson reports
On September 5th NASA's Dawn spacecraft left the asteroid Vesta and set sail for the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015. John Matson reports
NASA's infrared WISE spacecraft found about 130 glowing black holes in a small region of space, meaning that at least two million active black holes dot the sky. John Matson reports
Only about 0.5 percent of Milky Way-like galaxies have companions like our satellite galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds. John Matson reports
The twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes will fly through the Van Allen Belts for two years, measuring charged particles, plasma waves and magnetic fields. John Matson reports
More than 6,000 new images of Kennedy Space Center have recently been added to Google Street View. John Matson reports
After successfully completing its complex series of landing maneuvers, the Curiosity rover is on the Martian surface and ready to begin exploration. John Matson reports
Palomar Observatory's Project 1640 on the Hale Telescope allows astronomers to directly observe exoplanets, whereas the gamma-ray sensitive HESS 2 in Namibia tracks violent astrophysical events such as supernovae and flaring black holes. John Matson reports
The tiny slowing of the two Pioneer spacecraft, known as the Pioneer anomaly and considered by some to challenge general relativity, is probably due to the heat produced by electronics and radioactive decay. John Matson reports
The Curiosity rover is set to begin exploring Mars on August 6. But first it has to land. John Matson reports
Gravitational lensing shows that two galaxy clusters are connected by a filament of dark matter. John Matson reports
The B612 Foundation wants to put a telescope in orbit around the sun to look for asteroids that might hit Earth. John Matson reports
The sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, is much hotter than the surface. Giant magnetic tornadoes may be behind the heat transfer. John Matson reports
Dimitar Sasselov, director of Harvard's Origins of Life Initiative, explains how rocky exoplanets larger than Earth could have greater potential for life than Earth did. Steve Mirsky reports
Several nearby star clusters could harbor incredibly huge stars, with masses of up to 600 suns. John Matson reports
The first commercial visitor to the ISS splashed down successfully in the Pacific after a supply run. John Matson reports
The International Space Station received its first commercial visitor with the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon resupply capsule. John Matson reports
Residents of western states will be in position to see the ring of fire of an annular eclipse on May 20th. John Matson reports
A space-based telescope picked up faint thermal radiation from a "super-Earth" planet 40 light-years away. John Matson reports
Scientists are using a zeppelin to do a slow search for signs of fragments left by the April 22nd Sutter's Mill meteorite. John Matson reports
Dozens of asteroid impacts at least as bad as the dinosaur killer occurred long after such impacts were previously thought to have petered out. John Matson reports
Gamma-ray bursts can't be the source of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays that reach Earth. John Matson reports
A recently discovered pair of exoplanets may be the wreckage of one formerly giant planet. John Matson reports
Starting with Discovery, the decommissioned space shuttle fleet will go on display at museums around the country. John Matson reports
When the star Cassiopeia A exploded, nearly all the iron from the core was expelled to the outer regions of the supernova. John Matson reports
Significant amounts of water exist on Mars, sequestered within hydrated minerals and stored in the planet's crust. John Matson reports
John Carter is the latest in a string of movies set on the Red Planet that have all wound up in the red, financially. John Matson reports
A new study explains why the odds favored the man-in-the-moon side to always face Earth. John Matson reports
Dark matter doesn't usually collide much with itself or with ordinary matter, but it appears to be uncharacteristically clumping in the galaxy cluster A520. John Matson reports
Rockfalls visible in orbiter images of Mars indicate that geologic activity occurred just a few million years ago and may be ongoing. John Matson reports
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn went to space, becoming the first American in orbit, and a national icon. John Matson reports
The black hole at the center of Milky Way could be steadily feeding on a cloud of asteroids, producing frequent, small x-ray flares. John Matson reports
The Flame Extinguishment Experiment, or FLEX, on board the ISS allows researchers to study zero-gravity fire--and ways to fight it. John Matson reports
The Kepler spacecraft has found 26 previously unknown exoplanets orbiting 11 stars. John Matson reports
The 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is now accepting entries. John Matson reports
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found two binary star systems that each host a planet, implying that millions exist. John Matson reports
The twin GRAIL craft will map lunar gravity and could find evidence for the remains within the moon of a former second satellite. John Matson reports
This month the International Telecommunication Union will consider a proposal to abolish leap seconds. John Matson reports
Irregular natural satellites, captured from the population of near-Earth asteroids, orbit Earth for a few months and move on. John Matson reports
Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, via his new venture, Stratolaunch Systems, hopes to launch spacecraft from massive airplanes. John Matson reports
Galaxies NGC 3842 and NGC 4889 host black holes, each of which about 2,500 times the mass of the one at the center of the Milky Way. John Matson reports
NASA's Kepler telescope has discovered its first exoplanet that could be at temperatures allowing liquid water, a big hurdle for life. John Matson reports
The newest Mars rover, Curiosity, dwarfs NASA's previous rovers in size and scientific prowess. John Matson reports
A class of wandering stars called OB runaways may have been thrown from home by competing binary star systems that got too close. John Matson reports
New telescopes could spot aliens on planets around distant stars, if they like their cities really brightly lit. John Matson reports
The Phobos-Grunt mission, which could launch November 8th, will try to grab some Phobos soil and bring it back to Earth. John Matson reports
On November 8th an asteroid will pass Earth within the moon's orbit, offering a rare opportunity for study. John Matson reports
A Soyuz rocket carried into space components for a European GPS system--but the bigger news was the launch site, the European Space Agency home in French Guiana. John Matson reports
A sub-satellite of the Saturnian moon would explain two of the most puzzling features of Iapetus. John Matson reports
The WISE spacecraft's census of near-Earth asteroids lowers the population of the big, bad ones. John Matson reports
China launches the unmanned Tiangong 1 later this week, setting up opportunities for docking and long-duration stays. John Matson reports
To evolve into our current solar system, the original version probably had a fifth gas giant, computer simulations indicate. John Matson reports
NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will fall out of orbit soon, with large pieces perhaps reaching Earth's surface, according to NASA's Nick Johnson at a telephone press conference. John Matson reports
NASA will teach writers about space science and promote sci-fi novels in the hope of inspiring young readers to learn science and math and become part of the space workforce. John Matson reports
NASA's WISE satellite has found a Y dwarf star, cool enough to touch, that is the hub of the seventh closest star system to us. John Matson reports
Seven years into its three-month mission, the Mars rover Opportunity reaches Endeavour Crater, a possible geologic treasure trove. John Matson reports
A telescopic sky survey finds 14 previously unknown objects in and around the Kuiper Belt. John Matson reports
The space shuttle era is over, but a mission to Jupiter is next up on the launch pad. John Matson reports
A Hubble telescope search for dust rings around Pluto turned up a previously unknown moon. John Matson reports
NASA's Kepler mission's principal investigator, Bill Borucki, talks about the search for exoplanets that might be habitable. Part 2 of 2. John Matson reports
NASA's Kepler mission's principal investigator, Bill Borucki, talks about the search for exoplanets that might be in habitable zones around their stars. John Matson reports
Orbital debris within 250 meters of the International Space station is a warning to clean up the neighborhood before a tragic impact. John Matson reports
Computer simulations show that about 10 percent of planets could have a massive moon that helps to stabilize the planetary tilt. John Matson reports
After 34 years in space, 17 billion miles from Earth, Voyager 1 has reached or is about to reach the heliopause. John Matson reports
The Tagish Lake meteorite fragments contain widely varying organic compounds, a sign that chemical reactions were taking place on board the body in space. John Matson reports
A database of stars with known ages and spin rates could let astronomers gauge more stars' ages and find the ones old enough to support planets that could have complex life. John Matson reports
A planet-size object could be behind the odd departure of some comets from the Oort Cloud--and toward us. John Matson reports
A survey of 150,000 galaxies confirms predictions about dark energy, thought to be what's driving galaxies apart. John Matson reports
Among projects under consideration by NASA is one that would send a boat to the hydrocarbon sea on Saturn's moon Titan to check out its composition and chemistry. John Matson reports.
Our understanding of dark matter says the Milky Way should have many times more than its dozen or so small satellite galaxies. John Matson reports
Comet Hale-Bopp has been spotted beyond the orbit of Neptune, far enough from the sun to be without its dirty tail. John Matson reports
Two 30,000 light-year-long blobs called Fermi bubbles have been discovered on either side of our galactic plane. John Matson reports