Outer space

Our Solar System is a pretty calm place these days, all things considered, but that wasn't always the case. In the period when the planets were still forming, collisions between various large bodies were common, and they ultimately helped shape the system that we see today.

An international team of scientists has discovered a young planet — just 5 or 6 million years old — forging its own path through space and likely growing along the way.

The scientists captured a photograph, which they say is the very first direct image of the birth of a planet still forming around a star.

A strong undersea quake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale occurred shortly before 9 a.m. near Pylos, in southern Greece.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage.

According to initial data, the quake occurred 34 kilometers southwest of Pylos at a depth of 10 kilometers.

A quake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale rattled southeastern Peloponnese just before noon on Tuesday morning and was felt some 300 kilometers away in Athens.

The Geodynamic Institute put the epicenter 18 kilometers southeast of the coastal village of Gytheio and 54 kilometers from Sparta, while its depth was at 5 kilometers.

An Atlas 5 rocket soared into space early on May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying NASA's first robotic lander designed for exploring the deep interior of another planet on its voyage to Mars.

Six years after last landing on Mars, NASA is sending a robotic geologist to dig deeper than ever before to take the planet's temperature.

Scientists have discovered a second magnetic field on Earth, which is 20,000 times weaker than the one we know existed up to now, said the European Space Agency.

On April 12 the whole World celebrates an Aviation and Cosmonautics Day - a date to commemorate the first ever flight of human in space. On April 12, 1961 a citizen of the Soviet Union, first lieutenant Yuri Gagarin orbited the Erath onboard "Vostok" spacecraft for the first time in mankind history, thus opening the era of manned space missions.

It's not likely that you'll ever be offered the opportunity to visit Venus. But on the odd chance you are, you might want to decline. The temperature on the surface of the planet is around 870° F (465° C)—hot enough to melt lead—and the atmospheric pressure at Venusian sea level (not that there are any seas) is 92 times what it is on Earth.

A defunct Chinese space lab hurtled through Earth's atmosphere on Monday, breaking up into piece as it headed towards a watery grave in the South Pacific, reported AFP.