Weekly Space Hangout – Oct. 9, 2015: Nobel Prizes, Private Moon Launches & Water on Pluto!

Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain)

Guests:
Paul Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter)
Morgan Rehnberg (cosmicchatter.org / @MorganRehnberg )
Kimberly Cartier (@AstroKimCartier )
Brian Koberlein (@briankoberlein / briankoberlein.com)

This Week’s Stories:
Nobel Prize in Physics

Neutrinos Must Have Mass! Physics Nobel Awarded For Work On Neutrinos’ Metamorphosis

Impact of Declining Proposal Success Rate on Scientific Productivity

Mysterious Ripples Around Planet-Forming Disk

Exoplanet Habitibility Index

The First Private Lunar Mission Has Set a Launch Date for 2017

Repairs Completed at Orbital ATK’s Antares Launch Pad

20th anniversary of 51 Peg b

Possible First signs of self-interacting dark matter

Water ice and blue haze on Pluto

Einstein ring helps weigh a black hole

Physicists To Put One Large Physical Object In Two Places At The Same Time

Space travel for the 1%: VirginGalactic’s $250,000 tickets haunt New Mexico town

Southampton researchers find a new way to weigh a star

Where to look for life? UW astronomers devise ‘habitability index’ to guide future search?

Geology Award Going to Mars Landing Site Expert at JPL

Meet 7 Alien Planets Most Likely to Have Life

Exoplanet Anniversary: From Zero to Thousands in 20 Years?

NASA Challenge Seeks Ways to Use Mars’ Natural Resources for Astronauts?

The burgeoning field of neutrino astronomy

LIGO’s SURF Students Look for the Perfect Wave?

NASA Eyes Sample-return Capability for Mars Orbiter

Study indicates Earth’s inner core was formed 1- 1.5 billion years ago

Simulated Mars rover failure puts astronaut ePartners to test?

New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto?

Wet Paleoclimate of Mars Revealed by Ancient Lakes at Gale Crater?

NASA Releases Plan Outlining Next Steps in the Journey to Mars?

Dark Matter May Power Supernovae

NASA Webb Telescope Construction Leaps Forward with Delivery of Mirror Holding Backbone Flight Structure

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Friday at 12:00 pm Pacific / 3:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Google+, Universe Today, or the Universe Today YouTube page.

You can join in the discussion between episodes over at our Weekly Space Hangout Crew group in G+, and suggest your ideas for stories we can discuss each week!