5) Star Factory About 880 million years after the Big Bang, a huge galaxy was building new stars at an incredible pace. An international team of astronomers discovered the galaxy HFLS3 with help from 12 observatories all over the world. HFLS3 is a starburst galaxy, which means it turns gas into stars at an extremely [...]

5) Voyager Hokey Pokey What is going on with Voyager 1? Two weeks ago, the American Geophysical Union, or AGU, announced the space probe had finally left our solar system, which is incredibly exciting. Except it’s not exactly true. Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 launched in 1977, checked out a couple planets, and [...]

[The text below is a modified transcript of this video.] 5) Exoplanet Composition Scientists have determined the chemical composition of an exoplanet’s atmosphere–129 light years away. The planet is a gas giant five to ten times more massive than Jupiter and it lives in a solar system along with four other gassy planets. Using data [...]

[The text below is a modified transcript of this video.] 5) Mercury’s Magma Ocean Mercury may once have contained a veritable ocean of shifting, glowing molten rock. Scientists think magma flowed over the planet’s surface more than four billion years ago. Since March 2011, NASA’s Messenger probe has been orbiting Mercury to gather information about [...]

[The text below is a modified transcript of this video.] 5) Supernova Space Rays Here on Earth, we’re under constant attack from space. Charged particles, primarily protons, crash into our atmosphere at close to the speed of light. We call them cosmic rays and we’ve finally found out where they come from. In order to [...]

[The text below is a modified transcript of this video.] 5) Inflatable Space Station We’re this close to having a bouncy castle in space. NASA just ordered an inflatable module that will attach to the International Space Station. Start up company Bigelow Aerospace won an 18 million dollar contract from NASA to build the Bigelow [...]

[The text below is a modified transcript of this video.] 5) Couch Potatoes on Mars When you’re sending a manned mission to Mars, you need to plan for every aspect of the trip; including how to get a good night’s rest. A simulated Mars mission has shown the importance of balancing activity with sleep to [...]

[The text below is a modified transcript of this video.] 2012 is almost over and it’s time take a look back at the top space stories of the past year. We’ll find out what happened in the weeks and months after the news broke. And, hey, don’t forget to tell us your top five in [...]

[The text below is a modified transcript of this video.] Story 5 For all those who have been dreaming of venturing into space, now is the time! For as little as… $750 million dollars, you could be the first person to step on the moon in 40 years. Golden Spike, a private spaceflight company, announced that [...]

Story 5 Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson helped DC comics locate Superman’s fictional home planet Krypton in the non-fictional universe.  Because Krypton revolves around a red sun, Tyson has placed the planet in the constellation Corvus, which has a red dwarf star. Links: Superman’s Home Planet Krypton “Found” Story 4 Many people living in New York [...]