Thursday Space News

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Neutron stars form when stars up to 40 times the mass of the Sun explode at the end of their lives and leave behind super-dense, spinning corpses. The corpses are thought to be made of neutrons, although their incredible densities have led some researchers to propose their centres contain a state of matter found nowhere else in the universe. Now, a team led by Tod Strohmayer of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, US, has begun to probe the actual structure of the stars. Using data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, the researchers measured the frequencies of vibrations on a star called SGR 1806-20 during a starquake in December 2004.

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he D33 Eros B1 satellite was launched on Tuesday from a military space launch site in Russia's far eastern Amur region. The satellite blasted off aboard a Topol solid-fuel rocket booster and was successfully placed into orbit about 20 minutes after its launch. The satellite will be used to spy on Iran's nuclear programme, according to an unnamed Israeli defense official, quoted on the website of the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot.

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But just 4 minutes before the countdown was completed "upper level winds exceeding launch weather criteria", causing the launch to be delayed until Wednesday at 1002 GMT. The launch has to take place at that time in order to reach the correct orbit. Friday's launch was scrubbed due to a communications malfunction, while