Astronomers have found an embryonic star in a stellar nursery giving off a healthy glow of X-rays, even though it's much too young. The observations were mostly made using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory, and suggest that some unknown process is superheating the star's surface to generate X-rays. Matter is falling towards the star 10 times faster than it should just with gravity, so it could be that the star's magnetic field is somehow responsible, channeling gas into the star.

A team of European astronomers have discovered a highly structured cluster of thousands of galaxies at an incredible 9 billion light-years away. In other words, this structure was highly evolved only a few billion years after the Big Bang; a situation that should be impossible, according to current theories. Incredibly, some of the galaxies in the cluster are red and elliptical, which would indicate that they were already quite old at only a few billion years old.

How do you hide some of the brightest galaxies in the Universe? Behind a shroud of dust, of course. NASA's Spitzer space telescope has uncovered a strange class of galaxies which are incredibly bright - shining with the light of 10 trillion suns - but obscured behind a thick veil of dust and gas. So, why are they so dusty? The dust is churned out by stars, but it's strange how well distributed it is. It could be that all galaxies started out this dusty, and then became clearer over time, or maybe the massive black hole at their center has something to do with it.

Jupiter's massive magnetic field is so powerful, it can generate auroras one thousand times more powerful than we'll see here on Earth. One of the best ways to study Jupiter's aurora is in the X-ray spectrum, watching how particles and ions crash into Jupiter's atmosphere. Observations from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory suggest that these particles are partly coming from the Sun, but also from Io, Jupiter's volcanically active moon, which is known to be blasting out steady streams of particles.

The chances are very high that you will encounter another intelligent life-form in the course of your life and when you do it may come as a big surprise. When, for instance, did you last visit the zoo? Remember those chimpanzees - very smart. And how about those dolphins at the marine aquarium? Brilliant! And that cat of yours is probably smarter than you think - but your dog will never admit it. Finally that grey parrot your Uncle Ned has may actually know what its talking about! Ultimately by paying attention to signs of intelligence on Earth, we may also come to recognize signs of intelligence amongst the stars.

Recent discoveries on Mars such as methane in the atmosphere, a subterranean ice pack near the equator, and evidence of flowing water in the planet?s past brings new speculation to the most frequently asked questions about the Red Planet: Is there, or was there ever life on Mars?

A Zenit-3SL rocket roared up from Sea Launch this morning, delivering a replacement satellite for XM Satellite Radio. The rocket lifted off at 0351 GMT (10:51 pm EST Monday), and the XM-3 satellite reached its geosynchronous transfer orbit about an hour later. The launch had been delayed several times because of poor weather and ocean conditions at the launch site in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The 17th Progress cargo ship blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome yesterday, carrying two tonnes of supplies for the International Space Station and a special camera designed to inspect the Space Shuttle for damage. The Progress should reach the station by Wednesday, and dock in afternoon. The previous cargo ship, now filled with garbage, was detached from the station on Sunday, and will reenter and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere on March 9.

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! As another month ends and a new one begins, let's celebrate the early evening dark and "set the skies on fire" by studying AE Aurigae! Want a challenge for the big scope? We'll check out southern galactic clusters for binoculars and telescopes and learn the location of several comets. It's North America's turn as the Moon occults not one - but two stars in the same night! And right when you thought you could sleep late, the moments before dawn will offer a morning conjunction worth waking up for! So mark your calendars and hope for clear skies because here's what's up!

An unmanned Progress cargo ship is about to blast off from Kazakhstan, carrying much needed supplies to the International Space Station. If everything goes well, the 17th Progress mission will lift off today carrying a variety of supplies: food, water, air, spare parts, and life support equipment. One important piece of cargo is a new digital camera that the station crew will use to inspect the space shuttle for damage when it docks.

What drives a person to write an autobiography? Maybe being a central character in a world shaping event would do it, as with Winston Churchill. Perhaps it's purely to make money. I'm sure you can think of someone that falls into this category. Another motive could be, for the most part, a means of saying "Thanks for all those great times.". This is the way Patrick Moore comes across in his book, Patrick Moore, The Autobiography. Without a trace of conceit, worldly drama or artificial pretension he happily writes about what is important to himself and of some of the events surrounding his time on Earth.

When Huygens landed on Titan, it saw river channels, beaches, islands and swirling fog. So Saturn's largest moon is definitely wet: not from water, but from liquid methane (aka natural gas). And if this methane can fall as rain, it's entirely possible that there could be rainbows, as the Sun's light passes through methane droplets. A methane rainbow would be a larger than a water rainbow because it bends light differently. Sunlight has trouble passing through Titan's hazy atmosphere, but you might be able to see an infrared rainbow with the right kind of camera.

Scientists have captured an image of Saturn's magnetic field using a special instrument on board NASA's Cassini spacecraft called the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI). MIMI is able to measure how ions streaming from the Sun are pushed around by Saturn's powerful magnetic field, and create a 3-D image of the planet's surroundings. Using this instrument, the scientists discovered a powerful radiation field just inside Saturn's rings.

Cassini has discovered oxygen ions in the atmosphere around Saturn's rings, suggesting that life isn't the only process that could produce it. Molecular oxygen, aka O2, is produced here on Earth as a byproduct of plant respiration - animals like us need it to survive. It was previously thought that O2 is so volatile that it needs the presence of life to occur in a planet's atmosphere. But on Saturn, this oxygen is generated and maintained by a reaction of the Sun's radiation and the icy particles in Saturn's rings.

Here's a beautiful 1280x1024 wallpaper photo of Saturn taken by Cassini. Actually, this isn't a single photo, but a composite image built up of 126 separate images taken by Cassini over the course of 2 hours on October 6, 2004. The full resolution image is 8888x4544 pixels, and serves as the best picture of Saturn taken by Cassini so far. Features as small as 38 km (24 miles) across are visible at this resolution.

Cassini discovered a large, bright and complex storm in Saturn's southern hemisphere in September 2004 which scientists dubbed the "Dragon Storm" because of its unusual shape. The Dragon Storm appears to be a long-lived storm which periodically flares up to produce dramatic white plumes which then subside. Cassini has also detected strong radio bursts generated by intense lightning storms.

A few days ago we asked you to send in your Near-Earth asteroid questions for Dr. David J. Tholen from the University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy. With the current full Moon brightening the night sky, he's got a little extra time on his hands, and rushed the answers back to us. What are the chances of an asteroid strike in our lifetime? How could we exploit asteroid minerals? Read on for his answers. Thanks to everyone who got involved, and to TheThorn from the forum Community Support team for organizing this interview.

When Huygens plunged through Titan's atmosphere last month, the biggest telescopes here on Earth were trained on the moon. Some of the best images ever taken of Titan from Earth have been released by the European Southern Observatory. Since these images aren't constrained by the brief Cassini flybys, they can give scientists a better perspective of Titan's over a longer period. The images were taken at a specific wavelength of light that pierces through the methane haze surrounding Titan to show some of its surface features, which scientists can match up to Cassini's images.

Scientists were surprised a few years ago when the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory discovered bursts of gamma rays weren't only coming from deep space - some are coming from the Earth too. Further observations from NASA's RHESSI satellite has shown that approximately 50 Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) emanate from our planet every day, blasting out gamma rays for about a millisecond. What causes these TGFs is still unknown, but scientists believe they're caused by the build-up of electrical charge at the tops of thunderclouds.

Just before matter is gobbled up by a hungry black hole, it's hurtling around the monster at nearly the speed of light. This heats up the material and it can release a tremendous amount of energy as X-rays. Different elements release energy with a specific fingerprint that astronomers can detect. Researchers from Europe have measured iron as it hurtles around black holes and found a relativistic effect because it's moving so quickly. The team averaged out the X-ray light from 100 distant black holes to show the telltale signature of material about to be consumed by a black hole.