An image of the anisotropies of the Cosmic microwave background as observed by Planck and released by the European Space Agency on March 21, 2013. A new study on the radiation leftover from the outset of creation of the universe has revealed that the Big Bang occurred 100 million years earlier than previous estimates around 13.8 billion years ago. The analysis of the data collected by the European... 

For the first time ever, scientists have been able to measure the precise spin rate of a ‘supermassive black hole’. The findings will provide some clue as to how some of the most mysterious objects in our universe began to form. The black hole is located in the NGC 1365 galaxy, located 56 billion light years away from us, and two million times the mass of the Sun. By its very nature, a... 

Landing on a 50,000mph asteroid: The astronauts will drive vehicles on the surface - and pick up skills necessary to destroy 'planet killer' asteroids that may approach our planet in future The space agency Nasa is training a team of astronauts to land on asteroids after a three million mile journey – dwarfing the mere 239,000 miles travelled to the moon. The mission, planned for the... 

This all-sky image shows the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO), a molecule used by astronomers to trace molecular clouds across the sky, as seen by Planck. New images captured by the European Space Agency (ESA) Planck mission space telescope have revealed a mysterious haze of microwave emissions in the Milky Way Galaxy. “The images reveal two exciting aspects of the galaxy in which we live.... 

The ocean is believed to have been temporary and its water would have frozen and preserved underground or turned into vapor and lifted gradually into the atmosphere. The MARSIS radar on board the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft has found evidence of a large body of water that once covered part of Mars. The study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters indicates that... 

The Mars500 project crew has returned to Earth after 520 days of living inside steel containers to simulate the length of a journey to the Red Planet. Three Russians, two EU citizens and a Chinese national spent 17 months in a 550-cubic-meter mock spaceship at a Moscow research institute as part of the $15 million Mars500 experiment aiming to investigate the psychological and physiological effects... 

A Korean satellite has caught an eye-catching view of an island in Mexico for a deep, rocky hole and waters so dark that they earned it the name Holbox―a name that means “black hole.” The photo was taken by the Korea Multi-purpose Satellite 2, or Kompsat-2, and show Holbox Island and its Yalahou lagoon at the northeast corner of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The photo was revealed in the science... 

The crewmembers will soon step out on a simulated Martian surface. The crew of the Mars500 simulated mission to the Red Planet have reached a key milestone. The six men, sealed since June inside steel containers representing a spacecraft, have “gone into orbit” at their destination. Three of the group will now “descend” to the planet, don real spacesuits and walk on the “surface”... 

Six volunteers will today be locked up together in a windowless, mock spaceship for 520 days. The ‘astronauts’ will be trapped inside the capsule for a simulated flight to Mars, and are expected to live and work as if they are on the 43-million mile journey for real. The all-male crew will not endure weightlessness, but from today they will follow a harsh regimen of experiments and exercise. The... 

Computer Animated Asteroid Russia’s space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely. Anatoly Perminov told Golos Rossii radio the space agency would hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis. He said his agency might eventually invite...