Afghanistan Sun
AfghanistanSun.com Saturday 4th February 2012 Issue 10/035
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New images reveal lava flows on Mars
Newly released images from ESA's Mars Express orbiter show lava flows on the Syrtis Major region of the planet, which was nce thought to be a sea of water.

The lava flooded the older highland...


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NASA releases first video of moon's 'dark side'
NASA has sent back its first footage of the 'dark' side of the moon, the one that is not visible from the Earth.

The footage shows a journey from the north to the south pole of the moon, revealing...
Two new planets revolving around twin suns discovered
Researchers have discovered two new planets, named Kepler-34 and Kepler-35, each of which is circling around its own double suns.

Together with Kepler-16, discovered a few months ago, there are now...
Hubble zooms in on brightest ever "magnified" galaxy
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a uniquely close-up view of the brightest distant "magnified" galaxy discovered yet in the universe.

This observation provides a unique opportunity to...
Google Earth updates data on ocean terrains
Google Earth has upgraded its ocean data to offer the most precise digital view of the seafloor to date.

The update application reflects new bathymetry data assembled by Scripps Institution of...
'First Light' taken by NASA instrument to determine Earth's energy balance
The latest version of NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is scanning Earth for the first time, helping to guarantee sustained availability of measurements of the...
NASA IBEX Finds Mismatch Between Solar System, Galactic Space
The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from NASA's Great Observatories - the Chandra X-ray Observatory [blue], the Hubble Space...
Aspiring astronauts double: NASA
Final decisions for NASA's astronaut program are expected by the spring of 2013. NASA has received 6372 applications for its 2013 class of astronauts, double the usual number, the US space...
Small moves add up in commercial space
additional breathing space , thanks to legislation that was approved by the House on Friday and seems certain to become law.The provision takes up just a few words in...
Check out the Red Planet's craziest colors
This false-color view of Toro Crater on Mars was captured on Dec. 1, 2011, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and released on Wednesday. The...
Asteroid Eros draws skywatchers in Earth flyby
This picture of Eros, the first of an asteroid taken from an orbiting spacecraft, is a mosaic of four images obtained by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft in 2000 on Valentine's Day, immediately...
‘The Great Dying’ Occurred in Phases, Killed 90 Percent of Earth's Species
The biggest mass extinction that killed 90 percent of the Earth's marine life occurred in phases and took hundreds of thousands of years to complete, experts have said. According to a study...
Super Earth That Could Support Life Found
Scientists have discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth along with three other planets orbiting a nearby star and it is just 22 light years away from Earth. Super-Earth takes about 28 days to...
Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Xoom Lose Google Support: Doomsday for Verizon CDMA Phones?
Android developer Web site as the company has removed nearly all reference to CDMA phones and tablets from its official documents and Google's developer site,...
Drought-Hit Mars May be Dead [PHOTOS]
Previous researches have indicated that, Mars might have experienced warmer as well as wetter periods more than three billion years ago. The scientists also believe that Mars was exposed to liquid...
Texas governor, senator greet Chinese lunar new year
Texas Governor Rick Perry and Senator Rodney Ellis on Friday sent congratulatory letters to the Chinese Consulate General in Houston, greeting the Chinese lunar new year and expressing hopes for good...
Premier: no discriminatory rare earth supply policies in place
China's premier said Friday that the country does not discriminate against foreign companies in terms of rare earth supplies, stating that policies and quotas for both domestic and foreign...
NASA releases first video of moon's 'dark side'
NASA has sent back its first footage of the 'dark' side of the moon, the one that is not visible from the Earth. The footage shows a journey from the north to...
Space Rock of Love: Asteroid Eros Attracts Skywatchers in Earth Flyby
In 1931, the close approach of the asteroid Eros allowed professional astronomers to calculate its distance and make that era's most accurate measurement of the solar system. As the asteroid...
Radiation blamed for Mars probe failure
Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars mission failed because space radiation disrupted its computer system, an official investigating commission says. The commission's investigation found no faults...
Jupiter-Bound NASA Probe Adjusts Course Toward Giant Planet
Jupiter is probably the best place in the solar system to study how the magnetic fields of planets are generated. The Juno spacecraft will make the five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to Jupiter and...
Where Is The Universe?
Have you ever asked yourself ';Where am I?'; ';What am I?'; ';Who am I?';; Have you ever just stopped to ask ';where is the universe?'; Let us deviate from...
Cities at Night Panorama of Millions of US East Coast Earthlings
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured this stunning nighttime panorama of the major cities along the East Coast of the United States on Jan. 29, 2012. Credit: NASA Do you...
Incredible 3-D View Inside a Martian Crater
A 3-d view of a well-preserved and unnamed impact crater on Mars, as seen by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. Click for high-resolution...
Can We Land On a Comet?
The Rosetta mission will do something never before attempted: land on a comet. The spacecraft is now on its way to intercept comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in January 2014 and land a probe on it for...
"Blue Marble' view of Earth's other side
Blue Marble " views, come from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. The minivan-size spacecraft is the first of its kind: an Earth-observing satellite built to collect...
Christina McHale Replaces Venus Williams in Fed Cup Singles
WORCESTER, Mass. - Venus Williams's comeback to competitive tennis will have to wait at least one more day.


The United States Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez did not name the 31-year-old...
NASA Awards San Jose State $73 Million For Air Traffic Control Research
SAN JOSE (CBS/AP) — NASA has awarded $73 million to San Jose State University to participate in research on how people interact with new technology that will be introduced during an overhaul of...
Wanted: Mock Astronauts for Mission to Mars ... in Hawaii
If you've ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut and have four months to spare, you might have the "right stuff" to fly to Mars … well, sort of. Scientists at Cornell...
NASA Awash In Astronaut Applications, But Still Lacks Spaceships
NASA may not have space shuttles to launch people into the final frontier anymore, but that hasn't stopped Americans from lining up in droves for the chance to join the agency's iconic...
Oh Eros: Valentine's Day Asteroid Makes NEAR Fly-by
The 21-mile long 'God of Love' space rock made its closest approach to Earth (15 million miles away) since 1975 on January 31st, 2012. NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker...
Earth From Space: The Secret of NASA's Amazing 'Blue Marble' Photos
This photo from NASA's Suomi NPP satellite shows the Eastern Hemisphere of Earth in "Blue Marble" view. The photo, released Feb. 2, 2012, is a companion to a NASA image showing the...
Virgin Galactic's Private Spaceship Ramping Up Toward Passenger Flights
The first WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo launch system has undergone extensive tests. Next to come are critical rocket-powered flights of the two-pilot, six-passenger...
Week in Review: The Stars of 'The Voice' Return to TV
, NBC's white-hot singing competition featuring Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton. We posted an excerpt of Brian Hiatt's cover story, in which the four stars...
IBEX Spacecraft Intercepts 'Alien' Particles
February 3, 2012 As it circles Earth, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer hunts for particles streaming in from beyond the solar system. It has intercepted hydrogen, helium, neon and oxygen...
Blue Marble: The Making Of
February 3, 2012 NASA's iconic images of Earth from space date back to the late 1960s-with snapshots taken by Apollo astronauts. The modern "blue marble" images are captured by...
Space voyages shouldn't be politically incorrect
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  — It's the kind of question a presidential candidate might ask: "Why should we spend money on space programs and going to Mars, when we need dollars so...
NASA flooded with astronaut applications
NASA may not have space shuttles to launch people into the final frontier anymore, but that hasn't stopped Americans from lining up in droves for the chance to join the agency's iconic...
Iran reports launch of small satellite into orbit
A still from a broadcast report on the English-language Iranian Press TV is said to show the launch of the Navid observation satellite into orbit early...
Experiments look at how to fight fire in space
New experiments on the International Space Station may reveal tips on fighting fires in space, and back here on Earth, too. In space, where there is no up or down, and the atmosphere and pressure...
Hubble captures Milky Way galaxy's twin
An uncanny twin of our own Milky Way galaxy takes center stage in a new cosmic portrait by the Hubble Space Telescope unveiled Friday. The amazing photo shows the galaxy NGC 1073, a barred spiral...
Matter Is Different Outside Solar System
NASA says a spacecraft gathering data on material outside the solar system found matter out there doesn't look like the same stuff our solar system is made of. NASA's Interstellar...
Blue Marble: The science behind NASA's spectacular Earth images
NASA 's newest Earth-watching satellite is beaming back spectacular views of our home planet - huge mosaics of many images stitched together at the highest-resolution yet obtained. But...
Does the Milky Way galaxy have an evil twin?
The Hubble Space Telescope has detected a galaxy that is strikingly similar to our own Milky Way, but there's no reason to believe that it's...
Reports: Iran successfully launches small Earth-watching satellite
Iranian state news reported that the Iranian Space Agency has successfully launched a 110-lb. satellite into orbit Friday, in what is being hailed as a huge achievement for the country's space...
Blue Marble: NASA releases hi-res image of Earth's B-side
As a followup to last week's wildly popular shot of our planet's Western Hemisphere, NASA has now released the flipside (which just might turn out to be the more popular track in the long...
Vatican Launches 'Universe' Exhibit in Galileo's Hometown
The Vatican announced that it will be co-hosting a major science exhibition in Pisa, Italy, the hometown of astronomer Galileo Galilei, who four centuries ago was branded a heretic by the...
Earth Day Celebrations on Oregon Coast
Covering 180 miles of Oregon coast travel: Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler, Rockaway, Garibaldi, Tillamook, Oceanside, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport,...