Last week , I told you we would show you a new map of Mercury based on the January MESSENGER flyby. Here it is, kindly provided by one of NASA’s master mappers, Robert Gaskell of the Planetary Science Institute in Altadena, California. This image is an anaglyph — a flat image that simulates a three-dimensional view — of the fault scarp Beagle Rupes as it cuts across the crater Sveinsdóttir. The area shown here is about 160 miles (257 kilometers) square...

In centuries past, explorers would visit terra incognita — unknown lands — and bring new information back home to feed the master mappers of Europe. It hasn’t changed all that much — except the explorers are robot spacecraft and the master mappers of the solar system are scientists. Late Tuesday afternoon, I saw a NASA press release about one of NASA’s master mappers, Robert Gaskell. He’s a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson...

NASA’s lone gunmen say they have designed a better, safer, cheaper version of the Ares I crew launcher (above), one of the cornerstones of the post-Shuttle space program. NASA Remember the “ lone gunmen ,” the trio of militantly nonconformist Uber-geeks on The X-Files who tracked government conspiracies? It appears NASA’s got an infestation of them, too. In a story this week by Jay Reeves of the Associated Press , I learned of a merry band of dissident...

Have you heard the news? Astronomers have observed the early phase of an exploding star. It’s 2008d, the “ supernova caught in the act .” If you are in the science media, you can’t help having heard about it. For days, we’ve been in the midst of a blitz that would make the Luftwaffe envious. Fortunately, the supernova discoverers are firing press releases at us, not dropping bombs. At one point yesterday, I almost reached for my spam filter. As is...

NASA engineers have proposed a mission to an asteroid threatening Earth. Bruce Damer (DigitalSpace) I’m happy to report NASA may be planning to do more about the as-yet unaddressed asteroid threat to Earth than helplessly watch giant space rocks whiz by the home planet from time to time. The Guardian , a British newspaper, reported recently that some NASA scientists have written a report outlining a mission to asteroid 2000SG344. The object is about...

Have NASA astronomers discovered the black hole in the Milky Way’s center where lost socks turn into X rays? Tune in next week to find out. Ute Kraus (Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik) NASA has found something amazing in our galaxy. Unfortunately, it’s not saying just what it has found — until next week, when it collects enough reporters for a press conference. Or, if you want it from the horse’s mouth, here is the exciting, taunting first...

As NASA engineers prepare the gamma-ray observatory GLAST for launch in mid-2008, the agency has put out a call for help from the public: Please think of a better name for the high-tech space telescope. “Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope” aptly describes the satellite’s function, but doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue. “We’re looking for name suggestions that will capture the excitement of GLAST’s mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high...

This just in from the hydrocarbon desk at Astronomy.com: Titan’s surface lakes and methane-ice-laden dune seas collectively hold hundreds of times Earth’s bounty of hydrocarbons (oil and gas). It’s a Texas oilman’s dream: hydrocarbons rain from the sky on Titan. To my mind, this could solve a lot of problems. Planetary scientists have been competing with NASA’s fantastically expensive manned space program for decades. Word on the aerospace street...

The commanders of both space shuttle Discovery (STS-120) and the International Space Station (ISS), the two crewed spacecraft now in orbit, are women. So, this week in the interstellar media, headlines gush with a milestone in the annals of gender. "Women set to take charge of space," said IEEE Spectum Online . "A great leap for womankind," notes Yahoo! News . You get the idea. This raises a complicated question. Is this kind of...

At the veterinarian, they do it with an injection. When astronomers want to "put to sleep" one of their pets, they use a mouse click. Yesterday, astronomers at Johns Hopkins University shut down the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite after 8 years of service. The craft operated 5 years past its planned mission, but repeated and worsening malfunctions in its pointing system rendered FUSE inoperable. In several decades...