Space & Astronomy

Reuters - Corrects location of very Large Array telescope to New Mexico from Chile in 8th paragraph

AP - When galaxies initially formed, they weren't the first in the cosmic neighborhood. The supermassive black holes, which reside at the center of galaxies, probably moved in first, a new astronomy study suggests.

Reuters - Japan's space agency will launch a satellite later this month to monitor greenhouse gases around the world, officials said Wednesday, hoping the data it collects helps global efforts to combat climate change.

CQPolitics.com - Public lobbying by boosters of NASA chief Michael Griffin, who has indicated that he would like to keep his job, may end up backfiring as the new administration considers who should head the agency.
SPACE.com - WASHINGTON - NASA could extend space shuttle operations to 2012 by adding three flights – at a cost of roughly $5 billion - without dramatically affecting the agency's plan to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020, according to a draft internal report on delaying the planned 2010 retirement of the orbiter fleet.
SPACE.com - LONG BEACH, Calif. — Astronomers may have solved a cosmic chicken-and-the-egg problem: Which came first — galaxies or the supermassive black holes in their cores?
SPACE.com - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) met its goal of having its first Falcon 9 rocket in place and fully integrated at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by the end of 2008.
Reuters - Four months after the newest U.S. missile-warning satellite built by Northrop Grumman Corp failed in orbit, officials are still investigating what happened.

AFP - The Milky Way, the Earth's home galaxy, is spinning much faster and has a mass 50 percent larger than previously believed, raising the probability of a collision with another galaxy, according to a report out Monday.

AP - Take that, Andromeda! For decades, astronomers thought when it came to the major galaxies in Earth's cosmic neighborhood, our Milky Way was a weak sister to the larger Andromeda. Not anymore. The Milky Way is considerably larger, bulkier and spinning faster than astronomers once thought, Andromeda's equal.