Space

Europe to launch 1st dedicated mission to 'mysterious' Mercury in 2015

Apr 20, 4:44 pm

Washington, Apr 20 (ANI): Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, has somewhat baffled astronomers since long.

the past, because of its proximity to the Sun, it has been difficult for Earth-based telescopes to observe Mercury against the ferocious solar light.

In 2015, to increase our understanding of this mysterious planet, Europe is launching BepiColombo, the first dedicated mission to Mercury.

It will reach its destination in 2022.

Its observations of Mercury should also offer new insights into the workings of extra-solar planets in other solar systems.

These planets, which like Mercury are formed in very close proximity to their parent star the sun, are a hot topic in planetary science and astronomy at the moment. (ANI)

Mercury, Sun, planets, mission

Moon meteor blast 'visible to naked eye on Earth', says NASA May 19, 12:46 pm

Melbourne, May 19 (ANI): NASA has revealed that a boulder-sized meteor slammed into the moon in March, causing an explosion so bright that it was visible to the naked eye on Earth.

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Newly discovered solar twin unveils 'future of sun' May 19, 11:30 am

Washington, May 19 (ANI): Astronomers have found the farthest known solar twin in the Milky Way Galaxy-CoRoT Sol 1, which has about the same mass and chemical composition as the Sun.

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Near-Earth asteroids and Mars' 2 moons considered for future space missions May 18, 2:35 pm

Washington, May 18 (ANI): Researchers from the SETI Institute, the Mars Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, and the space robotics company Honeybee Robotics, have successfully completed a first series of field tests aimed at investigating how humans will explore and work on near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and eventually the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos.

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Sun unleashes earth-directed solar particles into space May 18, 2:35 pm

Washington, May 18 (ANI): At 5:24 am EDT on May 17, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later and affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.

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