When astronomers discover a supernova, it's too late to learn much about the star before it exploded. Even if astronomers have a picture of its home galaxy before the star went supernova, there are often too many stars in the area to pick out the progenitor star. An international team of astronomers got a lucky break when a supernova exploded in the relatively nearby Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) which was well photographed by Hubble. By comparing archived pictures with a new photo containing the supernova, they were able to find the exact star that exploded.

Scientists from NASA, MIT and other institutions have developed a comprehensive simulation of the Earth's climate that accurately models ocean, ice, land and atmosphere. This new model, called the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) pulls in data from a variety of sources, such as satellites and ground observations. The research team will be releasing the software publicly on the internet to the scientific community so they can use the simulator to study various processes in the Earth's environment.

Two of Saturn's icy moons, Mimas and Tethys, circle the planet in this infrared image of the Ringed Planet taken by Cassini. Mimas is 397 kilometers (247 miles) across. Tethys is 1,071 kilometers (665 miles) across. It's also possible to see a large, doughnut-shaped storm near Saturn's southern pole which is at least 1,600 km (1,000 miles) across.

NASA is helping researchers build machines and materials at the smallest scales - known as nanotechnology - to enable future space explorers. One example of this research is in the development of carbon nanotubes, which could have 100 times the strength of steel at 1/6 the weight, and used in the construction of a future space elevator. Nanofactories could churn out spacecraft parts where atoms are placed individually with atomic precision.

This image, taken by ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, shows a large patch of water ice sitting on the floor of a Martian crater. The unnamed impact crater is located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars' far northern latitudes. This patch of ice seems to be present all year round, as the temperature and pressure don't get high enough for the ice to sublimate away into gas. There are also faint traces of ice on the inside wall of the crater.

NASA engineers are working on a new instrument that could peer through rock and dirt on Mars to see evidence of life under the surface. The Neutron/Gamma ray Geologic Tomography (NUGGET) would be wielded by a Martian rover, and aimed at suspicious rocks. By releasing a focused beam of neutrons, some of atoms in the target rock will capture them and give off a characteristic gamma ray signature, measurable by the instrument. Ancient fossils embedded in the rock would be revealed by their chemicals.

Sailing through space on nothing but photons from the Sun is a nice dream, but we're still years away from the reality. NASA took their next step in June, however, when they tested a 20-metre (66-foot) prototype solar sail at their Plum Brook research facility. They successfully deployed the sail using an inflatable boom designed to unfurl the sail from a box the size of a suitcase and then keep it rigid in space.

Take your estimate for the amount of neon in a star, and triple it. At least, that's what a team of astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have concluded. They performed a detailed survey of 21 nearby sun-like stars within a distance of 400 light-years from Earth, and found they all contained an average of 3X the neon traditionally predicted for our Sun. Neon is difficult to find in stars because it doesn't give off any light in the visible spectrum. But when heated to millions of degrees, for example, in a star, this elusive element blazes in the X-ray spectrum.

NASA has confirmed that the space shuttle Discovery launched safely into orbit yesterday. During their 12-day mission to the International Space Station, Commander Eileen Collins and 6 other astronauts will test a series of techniques and equipment designed to make the shuttles safer. The crew of Discovery will spend seven hours today examining every inch of the shuttle with a camera attached to its robotic arm to look for any damage. The shuttle is expected to dock with the space station on Thursday.

Most teenagers go to summer camp in order to learn arts and crafts, hang out beside a lake in the northern wilderness, and perhaps learn to horseback ride. Nevertheless, every year a small handful of teenagers opt out of the traditional camp and travel to the desert of the American Southwest. Instead of learning how to build a fire they discover how to use research-grade telescopes, instead of discussing the latest fashions they debate planetary formation, and instead of identifying plant types they identify the hydrogen line in Vega. What kind of person spends free time doing that?

Humans have really raced up the evolutionary ladder in the last 40,000 years. From dragging knuckles on the ground to speeding jets over the sands of the Mojave desert, we've come a long way. Of course progress wasn't continuous. There were some good years and some bad years. Many people think 1905 was particularly good. John Stachel in his book, Einstein's Miraculous Year gives credit to this statement. Within it are the five papers that Einstein wrote then. With time and much investigation, his papers were fully appreciated and with this hindsight, 1905 does appear to have been particularly good.

Cassini took this beautiful photograph of Saturn's unlit side, with its rings deep in shadow. Reflected light from the sunlit portion of the rings casts an eerie glow across the portion in shadow. This image was taken on June 8, when the spacecraft was approximately 477,000 km (296,000 miles) away from the planet.

A clever new telescope design could allow engineers to pack larger folding space telescopes into smaller spaces on rockets, dramatically reducing their weight and launch costs. Inspired by amateur telescopes which can be disassembled for transport, this design could allow fleets of low cost space telescopes with bigger mirrors than Hubble. They could be used for detailed Earth observation, astronomical observations, or even be sent to other planets and moons to examine their surfaces in extreme detail.

With the discovery of methane in Mars' atmosphere, scientists are trying to find out what the source is. Since methane is destroyed by sunlight, there has to be an active source constantly producing it. Here on Earth, methane is largely produced by living bacteria, called methanogens, which convert carbon and hydrogen into methane. The problem is that Earth bacteria go into a dormant state when exposed to the low pressure Martian atmosphere. So they're probably deep underground, and the methane they produce slowly moves to the surface.

NASA and Volanz Aerospace have announced the next Centennial Challenge prize: to build a better set of gloves for astronauts. Teams will compete for a $250,000 prize to build a pair of gloves which are strong, easy on astronaut hands, and provide better dexterity than the gloves NASA currently uses. The competition is scheduled for November 2006, where various teams will submit their glove designs to a series of tests.

Astrophotographer Chris Cook took this picture of the The Rho Region - Scorpius on May 8, 2005 from Gila, New Mexico. This image was taken with a Pentax 67 camera, Pentax 165mm @ f/2.8 lens and Astro-Physics 400GTO mount.

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.

Christopher J. Picking took this picture of the Full Moon at perigee on the 21st, July 2005 from Wairarapa, North Island, New Zealand. This image was taken with a Canon 10D camera, Saxon 70 x 900 refractor, 1/180 exposure at ISO200.

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.

Mike O'Brien took this picture of the Solar eclipse on December 4th 2002 from Lyndhurst, South Australia. This image was taken with a 3mp Fuji Finepix 6800Z camera set on default settings.

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.