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Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
New focus on the moon NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera has taken and received its first images of the Moon, kicking off the year-long mapping mission of Earth's nearest celestial neighbor. The LROC imaging system is under the watchful eyes of Arizona State University professor Mark Robison, the principal investigator. 
NASA
Contact: Nicole Staab
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
 Geophysical Research LettersAGU journal highlights - July 2, 2009 Featured in this release are research papers on the following topics: "Ancient supervolcano's eruption caused decade of severe winters"; "Understanding fault movement during Wenchuan earthquake"; "First direct measurement of lunar backscatter from solar wind"; "Reducing uncertainty in estimates of global sea level rise"; "Boost in freshwater content of Arctic Ocean "; "Data gaps in records hinder detection of climate trends"; "Glaciers cause seismic activity in Iceland"; and more.
Various
Contact: Maria-Jose Vinas
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
LRO's first moon images NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has transmitted its first images since reaching the moon on June 23. The spacecraft's two cameras, collectively known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, were activated June 30. The cameras are working well, and have returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds).
NASA
Contact: Nancy Neal Jones
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
ScienceMany characteristics of Mars, including ice, are similar to Earth, paper says Mars gets as far as 250 million miles away, but many parts of it closely resemble places on Earth, including its landscape, history of water, soil and even its weather, says a Texas A&M University researcher in the current issue of Science magazine.
NASA
Contact: Mark Lemmon
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
ScienceNASA's Fermi Telescope reveals a population of radio-quiet gamma-ray pulsars A new class of pulsars detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is solving the mystery of previously unidentified gamma-ray sources and helping scientists understand the mechanisms behind pulsar emissions.
NASA
Contact: Tim Stephens
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
SciencePinpointing origin of gamma rays from a supermassive black hole An international collaboration of 390 scientists reports the discovery of an outburst of very-high-energy gamma radiation from the giant radio galaxy Messier 87, accompanied by a strong rise of the radio flux measured from the direct vicinity of its super-massive black hole. The combined results give first experimental evidence that particles are accelerated to extremely high energies of tera electron Volt in the immediate vicinity of a supermassive black hole and then emit the observed gamma rays.
US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, STFC
Contact: Henric Krawczynski
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
ScienceMars data published in Science this week Four papers in the journal Science this week offer new details about the history of water on Mars, gleaned from the 2008 NASA Phoenix Mars Mission that was operated from the University of Arizona.
NASA
Contact: Johnny Cruz
Public Release: 2-Jul-2009
ScienceVLBA locates superenergetic bursts near giant black hole Combining gamma-ray telescopes with the supersharp radio 'vision' of the Very Long Baseline Array showed astronomers the location from which very-high-energy gamma rays are emerging from the core ot the giant galaxy M87.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Dave Finley
Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
Astronomer's new guide to the galaxy: Largest map of cold dust revealed Astronomers have unveiled an unprecedented new atlas of the inner regions of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, peppered with thousands of previously undiscovered dense knots of cold cosmic dust -- the potential birthplaces of new stars. Made using observations from the APEX telescope in Chile, this survey is the largest map of cold dust so far, and will prove an invaluable map for observations made with the forthcoming ALMA telescope, as well as the recently launched ESA Herschel space telescope. Contact: Douglas Pierce-Price
Public Release: 1-Jul-2009
NatureNew class of black holes discovered A new class of black hole, more than 500 times the mass of the Sun, has been discovered by an international team of astronomers.
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Science and Technology Facilities Council, European Space Agency, NASA
Contact: Dr Sean Farrell
Public Release: 30-Jun-2009
Astrophysical Journal LettersUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa astronomers discover pair of solar systems in the making Two University of Hawaii at Manoa astronomers have found a binary star-disk system in which each star is surrounded by the kind of dust disk that is frequently the precursor of a planetary system. Doctoral student Rita Mann and Dr. Jonathan Williams used the Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to make the observations. Contact: Dr. Jonathan Williams
Public Release: 30-Jun-2009
Astrophysical JournalLargest ever survey of very distant galaxy clusters completed An international team of researchers led by Gillian Wilson, an astronomer at the University of California, Riverside, has completed the largest ever survey designed to find very distant clusters of galaxies. Named the Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey, "SpARCS" detects galaxy clusters using deep ground-based optical observations. SpARCS is designed to find clusters, snapped as they appeared long ago in time, when the universe was 6 billion years old or younger.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, University of California - Riverside
Contact: Iqbal Pittalwala
Public Release: 30-Jun-2009
Unity of the Universe ConferenceIntense heat killed the Universe's would-be galaxies, researchers say Millions of would-be galaxies failed to develop after being exposed to intense heat from the first stars and black holes formed in the early Universe, according to new research.
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Contact: Leighton Kitson
Public Release: 29-Jun-2009
Journal of Geophysical Research - AtmospheresHand-held aerosol sensors help fill crucial data gap over oceans Since NASA researchers began assembling the Aerosol Robotic Network in the 1990s, the worldwide network of ground-based aerosol sensors has grown to 400 sites across seven continents. The trouble is that two-thirds of the planet is covered by ocean. And aerosols -- the tiny atmospheric particles that can have an outsized impact on the climate -- are just as likely to be found in the air above the oceans as they are over land.
NASA
Contact: Sarah DeWitt
Public Release: 29-Jun-2009
World's largest aerosol sensing network has leafy origins From his office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Brent Holben helps manage the world's largest network of ground-based sensors for aerosols -- tiny specks of solids and liquids that waft about in the atmosphere. These particles come from both human and natural sources, and can be observed everywhere in the world.
NASA
Contact: Sarah DeWitt
Public Release: 25-Jun-2009
WeatherClimate phenomenon influences England's chances in the Australian leg of the Ashes The El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon has been shown to have a significant effect on the results of the Ashes cricket series. When the series is held in Australia, the Australian Cricket team is more likely to succeed after El Nino years, while the England cricket team has a historically better record following La Nina years (the opposite phase), according to a study published today in Weather. Contact: Ben Norman
Public Release: 25-Jun-2009
Science ExpressMilky Way's super-efficient particle accelerators caught in the act Thanks to a unique "ballistic study" that combines data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have now solved a long-standing mystery of the Milky Way's particle accelerators. They show in a paper published today on Science Express that cosmic rays from our galaxy are very efficiently accelerated in the remnants of exploded stars. Contact: Dr. Henri Boffin
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
Planetary and Space ScienceNew instrument has potential to detect water deep underground on Mars With the whoosh of compressed gas and the whir of unspooling wire, a team of Boulder scientists and engineers tested a new instrument prototype that might be used to detect groundwater deep inside Mars.
NASA
Contact: Maria Martinez
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
Geophysical Research LettersSpace shuttle science shows how 1908 Tunguska explosion was caused by a comet The mysterious 1908 Tunguska explosion that leveled 830 square miles of Siberian forest was almost certainly caused by a comet entering the Earth's atmosphere, says new Cornell University research. The conclusion is supported by an unlikely source: the exhaust plume from the NASA space shuttle launched a century later.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Blaine Friedlander
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
Astrophysical JournalGalaxies coming of age in cosmic blobs The "coming of age" of galaxies and black holes has been pinpointed, thanks to new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. This discovery helps resolve the true nature of gigantic blobs of gas observed around very young galaxies. Contact: Megan Watzke
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
New detectors for nuclear, radiological material in cargo should not be acquired until testing deficiencies fixed, cost-benefit analysis completed A thorough cost-benefit analysis that includes an assessment of meaningful alternatives is needed to reveal the potential security advantages of deploying new detector systems to screen cargo for nuclear and radiological materials at US ports and border crossings. It is likely that the costs will exceed the savings gained from improved efficiency of the screening systems, says a new report from the National Research Council. Contact: Jennifer Walsh
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
Environmental Research LettersDry autumns and winters may lead to fewer tornadoes in the spring, says UGA researcher Global warming will likely mean more unpredictable weather, scientists say, and a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia pins down, possibly for the first time, how drought conditions in an area's fall and winter may effect tornado activity the following spring. Contact: Marshall Shepherd
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
NatureSalty ocean in the depths of Enceladus A new discovery could have implications for the search for extraterrestrial life. Contact: Professor Nikolai Brilliantov
Public Release: 24-Jun-2009
NatureJets on Saturn's moon Enceladus not geysers from underground ocean, says study Water vapor jets that spew from the surface of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus are not really geysers from an underground ocean as initially envisioned by planetary scientists, according to a study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Nick Shneider
Public Release: 23-Jun-2009
Astronomy & AstrophysicsMagnetic field on bright star Vega Astronomy & Astrophysics publishes the first detection of a magnetic field on the bright star Vega. Using the NARVAL spectropolarimeter of the Bernard-Lyot telescope on top of the Pic du Midi (France), astronomers clearly observe the magnetically-induced effect in the spectrum of Vega, thereby showing that the star possesses a magnetic field, something unknown so far. Contact: Dr. Jennifer Martin
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