Washington, May 17 (ANI): The Kepler space telescope - NASA's primary instrument for detecting planets beyond our solar system-had suffered a critical failure and could soon be shut down permanently, the agency's officials announced Wednesday, May 15.

Washington, May 1(ANI): Astronomers at the Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research (SOAR) and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) have obtained sharp stellar images using a new instrument dubbed SAM, for SOAR Adaptive Module, which creates an artificial laser guide star.

London, Apr 25 (ANI): Brazil has launched a musical instrument known as caxirola to be the aural stimulant of choice at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, to be held in the country.

Washington, Apr 6 (ANI): NASA's Astrophysics Explorer Program has selected two missions for launch in 2017 - a planet-hunting satellite and an International Space Station instrument to observe X-rays from stars.

Guwahati, Apr 5 (ANI): Assam's newfound acceptance of the piano was seen at a recent concert, 'Melody of Nimble Fingers-2013.' by young musicians of the state who played the instrument with panache.

Washington, Mar. 29 (ANI): When a worker's supervisor offers emotional and instrumental support, the employee is more likely to recover without needing to take that extra afternoon or day off.

Washington, Mar 20 (ANI): The laser-shooting ChemCam instrument aboard the Curiosity rover currently searching the surface of Mars for signs of habitability has shown what appears to be a common feature on the surface of some very different Martian rocks during Curiosity's first 90 days on the Red Planet.

Washington, March 13 (ANI): Using a new high-tech gadget, astronomers have observed four planets orbiting a star relatively close to the sun in unprecedented detail, revealing the roughly ten-Jupiter-mass planets to be among the most exotic ones known.

Jorhat, Mar 3 (ANI): Playing 315 different musical instruments, artists from across the globe achieve a new world record. And this record was recently made in Assam's Jorhat district.

London, Feb. 19 (ANI): Making a child learn a musical instrument to enhance their academic achievement is a waste of money, a psychologist has claimed.

Lohardaga, Jan 29 (ANI): The Maoists in an audacious diktat have banned the use of modern music systems from wedding ceremonies in Jharkhand, and asked the locals to only use traditional instruments.

Mumbai, Jan 25 (ANI): Eminent Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who was instrumental in sending lone surviving militant of 2008 Mumbai attack Ajmal Kasab to the gallows, has termed David Headley's sentence as meagre in comparison to the brutality and heinousness of the crime.

London, Jan.16 (ANI): Scientists at the University of Birmingham have devised a unique screening instrument that provides a 'one-stop' brain function profile of patients who have suffered stroke or other neurological damage.

London, December 31 (ANI): Just like learning to play a musical instrument, losing weight requires behavioral changes and a certain amount of discipline, says an expert.

Washington, December 29 (ANI): NASA's Swift satellite team is celebrating eight years of Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) operations by collecting more than 100 of the instrument's best snapshots in a web-based photo gallery.

Chennai, Dec.12 (ANI): Fans of superstar Rajinikanth flocked to his residence here on Wednesday to celebrate his 62nd birthday.

New Delhi, Dec. 12 (ANI): Sitar became synonymous with Grammy winning composer Ravi Shankar, said his Indian instrument maker Sanjay Sharma, who crafted customized sitars on the former's request.

Washington, December 4 (ANI): NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used its full array of instruments to analyze Martian soil and found a complex chemistry within the Martian soil.

Islamabad, Dec. 3 (ANI): Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that all cellular companies are bound to adopt a biometric data system within three months for selling cellphone SIMs in the country.

Washington, November 20 (ANI): Using a unique new instrument on the world's largest optical telescope, astronomers have pinned down the likely origins of especially bright supernovae that they use as easy-to-spot "mile markers" to measure the expansion and acceleration of the universe.

Washington, November 10 (ANI): Using the High Contrast Instrument for the Subaru Next Generation Adaptive Optics (HiCIAO), a large international team of astronomers has observed and examined PDS 70, a young star about 10 million years old with a mass similar to that of the Sun.

Washington, October 16 (ANI): NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has taken second scoop of Martian soil using its instrument - 'Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis' (CHIMRA).

Wellington, September 7 (ANI): An Australia-based psychic will be using an instrument called didgeridoo to help Aucklanders clear their "blocked energy" during a meditation workshop later this month.

London, September 7 (ANI): NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has sucked Martian air into its big Sample Analysis at Mars (Sam) instrument to reveal the concentration of different gases.

Melbourne, Sept 5 (ANI): A robber got more than he bargained for when he attempted to hold-up an adult shop in Townsville, only to be left in bruises after being attacked with a blunt instrument by the store owner.