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| INTEGRAL deciphers diffuse signature of cosmic-ray electrons |
| Astronomers exploiting six years worth of data from ESA's INTEGRAL mission have pinned down the individual processes contributing to the high-energy Galactic interstellar emission produced by cosmic-ray electrons. Deciphering each of the different physical mechanisms at play at hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray wavelengths represents a crucial step towards an increasingly detailed picture of the population of high-energy particles permeating the Milky Way. |
| Date: 21 Dec 2011 |
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| Strangely slow pulsar discovered nestled in young supernova remnant |
| Astronomers have discovered a very slowly rotating X-ray pulsar still embedded in the remnant of the supernova that created it. This unusual object was detected on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, using data from a number of telescopes, including ESA's XMM-Newton. A puzzling mismatch between the fairly young age of the supernova remnant and the slow rotation of the pulsar, which would normally indicate a much older object, raises interesting questions about the origin and evolution of pulsars. |
| Date: 20 Dec 2011 |
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| Young star rebels against its parent cloud [heic1118] |
| Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 has captured this image of a giant cloud of hydrogen gas illuminated by a bright young star. The image shows how violent the end stages of the star-formation process can be, with the young object shaking up its stellar nursery. |
| Date: 15 Dec 2011 |
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| MARSIS completes measurement campaign over Martian North Pole |
| The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on board Mars Express has recently completed a subsurface sounding campaign over the planet's North Pole. The campaign was interrupted by the suspension of science observations several times between August and October due to safe modes and to anomalies in the operation of the spacecraft's Solid-State Mass Memory (SSMM) system. As MARSIS best observes in the dark, which for the North Pole only occurs every few years, it was among the first instruments to resume observations once a partial work-around for the problems had been implemented. |
| Date: 14 Dec 2011 |
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| Hubble's 10 000th scientific paper published |
| The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has passed another milestone in its almost 21 years of observations: the publication of the 10 000th refereed scientific paper based on Hubble data. |
| Date: 06 Dec 2011 |
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| Cluster reveals Earth's bow shock is remarkably thin |
| A new study based on data from ESA's Cluster mission has revealed that the bow shock formed by the solar wind as it encounters Earth's magnetic field is remarkably thin: it measures only 17 kilometres across. Thin astrophysical shocks such as this are candidate sites for early phases of particle acceleration. The finding thus sheds new light on the much debated issue of particle injection in the context of cosmic ray acceleration. |
| Date: 16 Nov 2011 |
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| LISA Pathfinder takes major step in hunt for gravitational waves |
| Sensors destined for ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission in 2014 have far exceeded expectations, paving the way for a mission to detect one of the most elusive forces permeating through space - gravitational waves. |
| Date: 14 Nov 2011 |
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| Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation - Cosmic Vision Mission: MarcoPolo-R |
| This Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation (CISI) is open to the European science community for enabling assessment studies of the science instruments of the MarcoPolo-R mission. MarcoPolo-R, has been selected for assessment following the ESA Call for a Medium-size M3 mission opportunity in the Cosmic Vision (CV) 2015-2025 plan. The European science community is invited to propose dedicated studies on science instrumentation that would potentially be provided by the ESA Member States, should the mission be adopted. The Proposal submission deadline is 6 January 2012, at 14:00 CET. |
| Date: 14 Nov 2011 |
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| Hubble uncovers tiny galaxies bursting with starbirth in early Universe [heic1117] |
| Using its infrared vision to peer nine billion years back in time, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered an extraordinary population of tiny, young galaxies that are brimming with star formation. |
| Date: 10 Nov 2011 |
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| Hubble directly observes the disc around a black hole [heic 1116] |
| A team of scientists has used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to observe a quasar accretion disc - a brightly glowing disc of matter that is slowly being sucked into its galaxy's central black hole. Their study makes use of a novel technique that uses gravitational lensing to give an immense boost to the power of the telescope. The incredible precision of the method has allowed astronomers to directly measure the disc's size and plot the temperature across different parts of the disc. |
| Date: 04 Nov 2011 |
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| Mars Express observations temporarily suspended |
| Anomalies in the operation of the solid-state mass memory system on board Mars Express have caused science observations to be temporarily halted. A technical work-around is being investigated that will enable the resumption of a number of observations and should evolve into a long-term solution. |
| Date: 31 Oct 2011 |
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| Rosetta reveals mysterious Lutetia |
| On 10 July 2010, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft flew past asteroid (21) Lutetia, one of the largest objects orbiting within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Rosetta's encounter revealed an intriguing object which has survived since the birth of the planets, some 4.5 billion years ago. |
| Date: 27 Oct 2011 |
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| Herschel discovers tip of cosmic iceberg around nearby young star |
| Using ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to study one of the closest protoplanetary discs to Earth, astronomers have detected cold water vapour for the first time in such an environment. Located in a thin layer at intermediate depths in the disc, the cold vapour hints at a much larger reservoir of water ice hidden deeper in the disc and amounting to several thousand times the mass of water that makes up our planet's oceans. The discovery sheds new light on the presence and role of water in the early formation stages of a planetary system. |
| Date: 20 Oct 2011 |
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| Hubble survey carries out a dark matter census [heic 1115] |
| The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been used to make an image of galaxy cluster MACS J1206.2-0847. The apparently distorted shapes of distant galaxies in the background is caused by an invisible substance called dark matter, whose gravity bends and distorts their light rays. MACS 1206 has been observed as part of a new survey of galaxy clusters using Hubble. |
| Date: 13 Oct 2011 |
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| Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation - Cosmic Vision Mission: LOFT |
| This Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation (CISI) is open to the European science community for enabling assessment studies of the science instruments of the LOFT mission. LOFT, the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing, has been selected for assessment following the ESA Call for a Medium-size M3 mission opportunity in the Cosmic Vision (CV) 2015-2025 plan. The European science community is invited to propose dedicated studies on science instrumentation that would potentially be provided by the ESA Member States, should the mission be adopted. The Proposal submission deadline is 18 November 2011, at 14:00 CET. |
| Date: 10 Oct 2011 |
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| Tenuous ozone layer discovered in Venus' atmosphere |
| Using observations of Venus performed with an instrument on ESA's Venus Express scientists have detected, for the first time, a tenuous layer of ozone in this planet's atmosphere. Located at an altitude of about 100 km, the layer is up to a thousand times less dense than the one found, at a lower altitude, in the Earth's stratosphere, but both are dominated by very similar chemical reactions. The discovery poses new challenges to the characterisation of planetary atmospheres, especially in the quest for biomarkers on extrasolar planets. |
| Date: 06 Oct 2011 |
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| Herschel finds first evidence of Earth-like water in a comet |
| A team of astronomers using ESA's Herschel Space Observatory have discovered the first comet containing water that is similar in isotopic composition to that in Earth's oceans. This detection, in the comet 103P/Hartley 2, shows that contrary to earlier belief, comets may well have played an important role in bringing water to our planet, and that the reservoir of Earth-like water in the Solar System is far larger than suspected. |
| Date: 05 Oct 2011 |
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| Dark and bright: ESA chooses next two science missions |
ESA PR 25 2011
The powerful influence of the Sun and the nature of the mysterious 'dark energy' motivate ESA's next two science missions. Solar Orbiter and Euclid were selected today by ESA's Science Programme Committee for implementation, with launches planned for 2017 and 2019. |
| Date: 04 Oct 2011 |
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| Galaxy caught blowing bubbles [heic1114] |
| Hubble's famous images of galaxies typically show elegant spirals or soft-edged ellipses. But these neat forms are only representative of large galaxies. Smaller galaxies like the dwarf irregular galaxy Holmberg II come in many shapes and types that are harder to classify. This galaxy's indistinct shape is punctuated by huge glowing bubbles of gas, captured in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. |
| Date: 29 Sep 2011 |
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| ESA orbiter discovers water supersaturation in the Martian atmosphere |
| New analysis of data sent back by the SPICAM spectrometer on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft has revealed for the first time that the planet's atmosphere is supersaturated with water vapour. This surprising discovery has major implications for understanding the Martian water cycle and the historical evolution of the atmosphere. |
| Date: 29 Sep 2011 |
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