Supernova remnants are beautiful to behold, but they are also the result of extremely violent explosions and leave behind one of the most dynamic objects in the Universe. One such object, the pulsar at the center of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), has been the source of much study ever since data from the Chandra X-ray observatory were published over 10 years ago.

Based on the observational data, the size of the pulsar -- a rapidly rotating neutron star -- was estimated to be about 6 miles across, which is theoretically impossible. Theories abounded, that this must not be a pulsar, but rather an object called a quark star. Such an object has never directly been observed, but has been predicted to exist under just the right circumstances.

If a pulsar's gravity is sufficiently high, all the neutrons in the star would no longer be distinct from one another, and the result would be that the star would simply become a massive ball of quarks -- one of the fundamental particles of nature. Specifically, there would exist an abundance of strange quarks (one of the six types of quarks) within the star.

Since this would be the first star of its type ever observed, scientists have been working very hard to either confirm or eliminate this possibility for Cas A. A few weeks ago scientists Wynn Ho and Craig Heinke reported in the Journal Nature that they have discovered the reason that the pulsar at the center of Cas A appears so small. It is not a quark star, but rather is a normal pulsar surrounded by a carbon atmosphere.

While unusual, it is possible that a young, hot pulsar -- like Cas A -- can fuse its hydrogen atmosphere and eventually create a carbon rich atmosphere instead. Because of this the pulsar would appear much smaller than it really is. While this may disappoint some scientists -- I have to say I was really hoping for the quark star theory to be correct -- it does give us insight into a phenomenon never observed in pulsars before. But there are still lots of supernova remnants out there, so who knows, maybe we'll find one of these quark stars yet.

Image Credit: Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI/CXC/SAO

Back in October many of you were following the events of the LCROSS mission as the probe slamed into the Moon (on purpose), to look for traces of water. Well, after weeks of pouring over mountains of data, NASA has released their initial findings. And it turns out that the Moon contains more water than we once thought.

NASA determined that the only way they could make sense of the data was if water was present on the Moon -- and a rather significant amount of water at that.

This was not completely surprising however; several months ago, NASA determined that deep in the Moon's shadowed craters near the poles, the temperature is a frigid -397 degrees Fehenheight, which is the coldest temperature ever recorded in our Solar System. In order to achieve those kinds of temperatures, a complex mixture of molecules need to be present, including water.

So what does all this mean? Well, water is a key element to life. And if we, as humans, ever hope to spend an extended amount of time on the Moon we will need a continuous source of water. These results lay the foundation for future long term missions to the Moon, and then to Mars.

Image Credit: NASA

Every year the Earth passes through the trail of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, creating a pretty good meteor shower visible in the night sky. NASA reports that about about 20 - 30 meteors per hour should visible during the Leonid shower in North America. While this pales in comparison to the nearly 300 per hour being predicted in Asia, it should be a great sight nontheless.

The Moon will be in a new phase, creating the kind of dark conditions desired for seeing the events. The best time to see the events will be after 4:00 a.m. So those of you who are early risers, get out there with your morning joe and check it out.

The idea of colonizing Mars is not a new one, it has been the backdrop of many science fiction novels, and the focus of much scientific research. But, actually making it happen is a whole other story. Well on Sunday, November 15, the National Geographic Channel is going to air a special, as part of their "Expedition Week", about how we would go about creating a habitable planet out of Mars.

I think it will definitely be worth a watch, and in the meantime you can check out the promotional material and videos to whet your appetite. I think the reality of how close we are to undertaking the colonization of Mars will surprise some of you. So, check it out, and let me know what you think!

Image Credit: © National Geographic Channel

NASA reported that a 23 foot wide asteroid came within about 8,700 miles of entering Earth's atmosphere on Friday. This was the third closest miss on record. Astronomers at the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey group announced the finding. They discovered the asteroid about 15 hours before it passed our planet, moving at more than 16,000 miles per hour.

So, what would have happened if the asteroid would have entered our atmosphere? Well, at 23 feet across, it most likely would have burned up in our atmosphere. The heat generated by air resistance as it fell toward Earth would have caused the asteroid to disintegrate. In fact it would take a very large asteroid, hundreds of feet across, to cause any significant damage, and those are large enough to see coming from quite a distance away. And yes, NASA is keeping a watchful eye.

For those of you following the space elevator games, the LaserMotive team was awarded the second place $900,000 prize. Their design, which used a ground based laser to power a robot, climbed nearly 3,000 feet in about 3 minutes and 48 seconds. The LaserMotive team was the only team to meet the criteria necessary to claim one of the top prizes. They could have won the top prize of $2 million if they could have ascended the course more quickly.

The LaserMotive team used a ground based laser, pointed upwards, to power their robot platform. Once the laser light reached the robot, a photo voltaic cell converted the light into electricity. Once powered, the robot scaled a cable that was being dangled from a helicopter nearly a kilometer in the air.

I can almost hear it now:
Elevator door opens...
"What floor sir?"
"Space Station Please."
"Yes sir."
Sound ridiculous? Well, yeah, it is actually. But, the idea of an elevator to space may be a reality sooner than you might think. The 2009 Space Elevator games are under way, and there have already been some interesting developments. For those of you not familiar the the competition, NASA has put up a $2 million prize for anyone who can construct a prototype elevator capable of taking a heavy payload up one kilometer in the air.

In order to qualify for a part of the prize money, a team must ascend a 900 meter course with an average speed of 5 meters per second. This benchmark was reached by Team LaserMotive this week, and there are two other teams that will try and reach that milestone this week as well.

Of course this all is a far cry from building an actual space elevator. But it is a necessary first step. The ultimate goal is to create an efficient way for NASA and others to transport heavy payloads (like satellites and space craft) to low Earth orbit. Right now, that is the most difficult and costly aspect of NASA's operations. The common wisdom is that such an elevator would pay for itself in just a few years of operation.

Unfortunately though, my vision of taking an elevator to space and visiting the international space station, or some other space hotel will have to remain a dream... at least for now.

After a suspenseful race to the finish, NASA handed out a $1 million prize to Masten Space Systems. The company, based in California, participated in the Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The Armadillo team out of Texas earned the $500,000 second place prize.

Each team that competed had to design, build and fly a module from one landing pad to another, and then return. They only had 135 minutes to complete the tasks, and were judged based on the precision and accuracy of their landings. The Masten team had difficulty getting their craft ready to fly for their scheduled attempts on Wednesday and Thursday. However, the judges allowed the team to worth through the night and attempt a flight on Friday, which turned out to be the winning attempt.

The spirit of the competition was similar to that of the $10 million Ansari X-prize, where groups competed to build a privately funded manned space craft. The hope is that new technology will be developed privately, allowing advancement to happen at a more rapid pace.

Only 630 million years after the creation of the Universe a super-massive star exploded in a violent supernova. The energy from this explosion has been traveling across the Universe ever since, more than 13 billion years. This event marks the most distant object ever observed.

These types of events, known as a gamma-ray burst or GRB, typically occur at least twice a week on average. However, this is the oldest event ever recorded, besting the previous mark by 150 million years.

GRBs are important to understanding the Universe as they allow us to "see" events that occurred billions of years ago. Normally, celestial events are difficult to observe when they are that far away, but GRBs emit so much light, particularly in the gamma-ray band (hence the name), that scientists can easily detect them.

Love space and astronomy? Have an iPhone (I wish)? Well the ultimate geek tool is now available -- a new iPhone app that will allow you to keep up on all things NASA anywhere, anytime!

The new free application, developed by NASA themselves, has four functions: Missions, Videos, Images, and Updates. The video and image functions will give you access to NASAs vast archive of, well, images and videos.

The mission function gives you access to information about any of NASAs many satellites, shuttle launches, Moon missions, rocket tests... well you get the idea. But if you just want to know what the latest happenings are, check out the updates function. You could also track orbiting craft like the international space station in real time.

Perhaps the coolest feature (in my geeky opinion) is the NASA picture of the day. Let's face it, space and astronomy pictures are pretty cool (don't believe me, check out the vast array of image galleries on this site), so this is a great way to have those images sent right to your phone.