Posted on by Jason Rhian

Discovery, Bathed In Light, Conducts Final Rollout (Gallery)

Discovery on the way to the launchpad. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.

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CAPE CANAVERAL – The space shuttle Discovery, its nosed pointed toward the sky, its belly attached to the massive, orange External Tank (ET) and twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) slowly but surely emerged from the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at 7:24 p.m. EDT on Sept. 20. This marks the final time Discovery is scheduled to make the 3.4 – mile trip to Launch Complex 39A (LC39A) in preparation for her last planned mission – STS-133. 

Discovery emerges from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.

Bathed in spotlights Discovery’s last rollout was a bittersweet moment for workers that have cared for the orbiter. Discovery was rolled out four hours earlier than normal so that workers could take pictures. Rollout is conducted in the evening hours to prevent potential damage from possible lightning strikes. The crawler-transporter moves at a blistering mile-an-hour, but despite this slow speed, the vehicle and its precious cargo create an amazing spectacle. 

Discovery emerges from the Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to LC39A. Photo Credit: Jason Rhian

Discovery is currently scheduled to lift off from LC39A on Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT. Afterward Discovery will be maintained in flight ready condition in case the orbiter is needed to fly a possible rescue mission. After the end of the shuttle era, Discovery will go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum located in Washington D.C.

There are two crawler-transporters that NASA has used to transport spacecraft from the VAB to LC39A. They were originally used to transport the mighty Saturn family of rockets during the Apollo era. The crawler-transporters were designed by Bucyrus International and built by Marion Power Shovel. The vehicles cost $14 million a piece and are the largest self-powered track vehicles in the world.

Gleaming in white, Discovery reflects the glory of the shuttle program onto the waters of the Turn Basin. Photo Credit: Jason Rhian

STS-133 marks the 35th flight to the orbiting outpost and the 39th flight for Discovery and the 133rd flight in the space shuttle program. The crew members for this mission are Commander Steven Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt, Tim Kopra and Nicole Stott. Discovery will deliver and install the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), the Express Logistics Carrier 4 as well as deliver critical spare components to the ISS. Also onboard is the first humanoid robot to fly in space, Robonaut-2. For those that have cared for the orbiter however, this is just another day at the office.

Discovery. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today

“For me seeing Discovery head to the pad brings to mind all the hard work done by the team that has brought us to this point, ” Discovery’s Flow Director, Stephanie Stilson said. “While every rollout is a major milestone for us, this happens to be the last but we are trying to look at it as just another rollout to the pad.”

This night journey is scheduled to be the last for Discovery, the oldest orbiter in NASA's shuttle fleet. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
Discovery in the VAB, prior to rollout. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
Great view of Discovery in the VAB. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com)

UPDATE: And here are some shots of Discovery at the launchpad:

Discovery arrives at the launchpad. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Toda
Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Water on the Moon Could be Bad News for Future Lunar Astronomy

A false colour composite of the distribution of water and hydroxyl molecules over the lunar surface. Credit: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ./USGS

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The recent discovery of water on the Moon may have a serious impact on future plans for lunar based astronomy. Space scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have calculated that the scattering caused by molecules vaporized in sunlight could heavily distort observations from telescopes mounted on the Moon.

“Last year, scientists discovered a fine dew of water covering the Moon. This water vaporizes in sunlight and is then broken down by ultraviolet radiation, forming hydrogen and hydroxyl molecules. We recalculated the amount of hydroxyl molecules that would be present in the lunar atmosphere and found that it could be two or three orders higher than previously thought,” said Zhao Hua, who presented his team’s results at the European Planetary Science Congress in Rome.
The research has particular implications for the Chinese Lunar lander, Chang’E-3, which is planned to be launched in 2013. An ultraviolet astronomical telescope will be installed on the Chang’E-3 lander, which will operate on the sunlit surface of the Moon, powered by solar panels.

“At certain ultraviolet wavelengths, hydroxyl molecules cause a particular kind of scattering where photons are absorbed and rapidly re-emitted. Our calculations suggest that this scattering will contaminate observations by sunlit telescopes,” said Zhao.

The Moon’s potential as a site for building astronomical observatories has been discussed since the era of the Space Race. Lunar-based telescopes could have several advantages over astronomical telescopes on Earth, including a cloudless sky and low seisimic activity.

The far-side of the Moon could be an ideal site for radio astronomy, being permanently shielded from interference from the Earth. Radio observations would not be affected by the higher hydroxyl levels.

Source: European Planetary Science Conference

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Hot Atmosphere of Venus Might Cool the Interior

Temperature distribution within Venus and local mobilization at the surface. Credit: DLR

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Venus is so hot, it’s cool! This very groovy 1960’s-looking image shows the temperature distribution within Venus and local mobilization at the surface, and is the result of new model of the atmosphere of Earth’s sister planet. The model reveals that the heat in the atmosphere induced from a strong greenhouse warming might actually have had a cooling effect on Venus’ interior. While counter intuitive, the theory might explain why Venus was a highly volcanic planet in the past. And interestingly, it might mean that Venus may have some active volcanoes even today. If so, that would be like, outta sight, man!

“For some decades we’ve known that the large amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of Venus cause the extreme heat we observe presently,” said Lena Noack from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin, lead author of the study who presented her findings at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) in Rome.

“The carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are responsible for the high temperatures were blown into the atmosphere by thousands of volcanoes in the past, “ Noack said. “The permanent heat – today we measure almost 470 degrees Celsius globally on Venus – might even have been much higher in the past and, in a runaway cycle, led to even more volcanism. But at a certain point this process turned on its head – the high temperatures caused a partial mobilization of the Venusians crust, leading to an efficient cooling of the mantle, and the volcanism strongly decreased. This resulted in lower surface temperatures, rather comparable to today’s temperature on Venus, and the mobilization of the surface stopped.”

The source of the magma, or molten rocky material, and the volcanic gases lies deep in the mantle of Venus. The decay of radioactive elements, inherited from the building blocks of the Solar System’s planets, and the heat stored in the interior from planet formation produce enough heat to generate partial melts of silicate-, iron- and magnesium-rich magma in the upper mantle. Molten rock has more volume and is lighter than the surrounding solid rock of identical composition. The magma therefore can rise upwards and eventually penetrate through the rigid crust in volcanic vents, spreading lava over the surface and blowing gases into the atmosphere, mostly greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

3-D perspective of the Venusian volcano, Maat Mons generated from radar data from NASA’s Magellan mission.

However, the more greenhouse gases, the hotter the atmosphere – possibly leading to even more volcanism. To find out if this runaway process would end in a red-hot Venus, Lena Noack and Doris Breuer, co-author of the study, calculated for the first time a model where the hot atmosphere is ‘coupled’ to a 3D model of the planet’s interior. Unlike here on Earth, the high temperatures have a much bigger effect at the interface with the rocky surface, heating it up to a large extent.

“Interestingly, due to the rising surface temperatures, the surface is mobilized and the insulating effect of the crust diminishes,” said Noack. “The mantle of Venus loses much of its thermal energy to the outside. It’s a little bit like lifting the lid on the mantle: the interior of Venus suddenly cools very efficiently and the rate of volcanism ceases. Our model shows that after that ‘hot’ era of volcanism, the slow-down of volcanism leads to a strong decrease of the temperatures in the atmosphere”.

The calculations of the geophysicists yield another interesting result: the process of volcanic resurfacing takes place at different places at different times. When the atmosphere cools, the mobilization of the surface stops. However, there are indications from the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission that there may be a few active volcanoes even today which resurface some spots with lava flows. While no volcanic activity has acutally been seen, Venus Express has detected ‘hot spots’, or unusual high surface temperatures at volcanoes previously thought to be extinct. So far no ‘smoking gun’, or active volcano has been identified on Venus – but it perhaps Venus Express or future space probes will detect the first active volcano on Earth’s neighbor.

Source: European Planetary Science Conference

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Mars Methane Gets Even More Mysterious

Map of methane concentrations in Autumn (first martian year observed) on Mars. Credit: NASA/Università del Salento

Mars’ atmosphere consists of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and contains small amounts of oxygen and water, as well as trace amounts of methane. The methane – although small in percentage – might be the most intriguing because the source of this very short-lived gas remains a mystery. And the mystery has just gotten a little more puzzling, as the lifetime of methane in Mars atmosphere appears to be even shorter than scientists had originally thought. Using observations from the Mars Global Surveyor — which functioned in orbit around for almost ten years – a group of scientists from Italy have determined the methane in the atmosphere of Mars lasts less than a year.

Scientists Sergio Fonti (Università del Salento) and Giuseppe Marzo (NASA Ames) reported their findings of evolution of the methane over three Martian years at the European Planetary Science Congress in Rome.

“Only small amounts of methane are present in the Martian atmosphere, coming from very localized sources,” said Fonti. “ We’ve looked at changes in concentrations of the gas and found that there are seasonal and also annual variations. The source of the methane could be geological activity or it could be biological – we can’t tell at this point. However, it appears that the upper limit for methane lifetime is less than a year in the Martian atmosphere.”

Levels of methane are highest in autumn in the northern hemisphere, with localized peaks of 70 parts per billion, although methane can be detected across most of the planet at this time of year. There is a sharp decrease in winter, with only a faint band between 40-50 degrees north. Concentrations start to build again in spring and rise more rapidly in summer, spreading across the planet.

“One of the interesting things that we’ve found is that in summer, although the general distribution pattern is much the same as in autumn, there are actually higher levels of methane in the southern hemisphere. This could be because of the natural circulation occurring in the atmosphere, but has to be confirmed by appropriate computer simulations,” said Fonti.

Top: Map of methane concentrations in Autumn (first martian year observed). Peak emissions fall over Tharsis (home to the Solar System's largest volcano, Olympus Mons), the Arabia Terrae plains and the Elysium region, also the site of volcanos. Bottom: True colour map of Mars. Credit: NASA/Università del Salento

There are three regions in the northern hemisphere where methane concentrations are systematically higher: Tharsis and Elysium, the two main volcano provinces, and Arabia Terrae, which has high levels of underground water ice. Levels are highest over Tharsis, where geological processes, including magmatism, hydrothermal and geothermal activity could be ongoing.

“It’s evident that the highest concentrations are associated with the warmest seasons and locations where there are favorable geological – and hence biological – conditions such as geothermal activity and strong hydration. The higher energy available in summer could trigger the release of gases from geological processes or outbreaks of biological activity,” said Fonti.

The mechanisms for removing methane from the atmosphere are also not clear. Photochemical processes would not break down the gas quickly enough to match observations. However, wind driven processes can add strong oxidisers to the atmosphere, such as the highly reactive salt perchlorate, which could soak up methane much more rapidly.

Martian years are nearly twice as long as Earth years. The team used observations from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on Mars Global Surveyor between July 1999 and October 2004. The team studied one of the characteristic spectral features of methane in nearly 3 million TES observations, averaging data together to eliminate noise.

“Our study is the first time that data from an orbiting spectrometer has been used to monitor methane over an extended period, “ Fonti said. “The huge TES dataset has allowed us to follow the methane cycle in the Martian atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy and completeness. Our observations will be very useful in constraining the origins and significance of Martian methane.”

Methane was first detected in the Martian atmosphere by ground based telescopes in 2003 and confirmed a year later by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft. Last year, observations using ground based telescopes showed the first evidence of a seasonal cycle.

Source: European Planetary Science Congress

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Herschel Observations May Revise Our Understanding of Mars’ Atmosphere

Artist's Impression of the Herschel Space Telescope. Credit: ESA

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While the Herschel Space Observatory usually looks at some of the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe, it also has a side mission to study objects within our own solar system, looking for water-related chemistry on some of the other neighboring planets and moons, as well as comets. At the European Planetary Science Congress in Rome, Herschel scientists presented their first results from their observations of Mars, and said their findings may completely revise our understanding of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.


Herschel has observed Mars with its three instruments, the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI), the Photodetector Array Camera & Spectrometer, and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE). From these observations, Herschel scientists have been able to obtain an accurate globally-averaged temperature profile of the Martian atmosphere which may cause scientists to revise their models about atmospheric circulation on Mars.

Additionally, the first sub-millimeter observation of molecular oxygen on the planet may lead to a completely new picture of the oxygen distribution in the Martian atmosphere.

“Water vapor plays a key role in the Martian atmospheric chemistry and physics,” said Dr. Paul Hartogh of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany.

SPIRE has provided the first continuous spectrum of the Martian atmosphere in the spectral range in the far-IR/sub-millimeter, as well as, the first complete set of water vapor and carbon monoxide (CO) content in this range.

HIFI observed Mars between April 11-16, 2010, and while only a small part of the data has been analyzed up to now, it already has provided some interesting results: A globally averaged temperature profile has been retrieved from the first simultaneous observations of two carbon monoxide isotopes.

“The best fit of the Martian atmospheric model to these observations shows important differences compared to what we were predicting: between 40 and 80 km from the ground, the atmosphere appears to be more than 10 degrees Celsius colder than predicted,” said Hartogh.

Observations (black) and model (red) of molecular oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. Credit: ESA/Herschel team

Scientists also reporedt on the first sub-mm detection of molecular oxygen (O2) on Mars, with an observational accuracy at least 10 times better than was done before.

“Our sub-mm observations provide for the first time a vertical profile of molecular oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. We found that, contrary to the general assumption of a constant O2 content independently of altitude, the Martian atmosphere is richer in oxygen near the ground and then O2 decreases rapidly with altitude,” said Hartogh.

If this profile is confirmed it may imply different oxygen production and loss processes not considered before, leading to new insights about the Martian atmosphere.

“Obviously, much work still needs to be done on the vertical profile of O2 before we draw such conclusions,” he added.

Herschel’s “Water and related chemistry in the Solar System” project, was conceived with the sole aim to determine the origin, evolution, and distribution of water in Mars, the outer planets, Titan, Enceladus and the comets. Herschel will continue exploring our solar system in the next 2–3 years of its planned mission duration.

“We hope that surprises and major breakthroughs in our knowledge will keep coming in, and that at the end we will have gained a unified picture of the origin and evolution of water in the Solar System objects,” says Dr. Hartogh.

The Herschel Space Observatory launched on May 14, 2009.

For more information, the teams’ papers are available here:

First results on Martian carbon monixide from Herschel/HIFI observations, Hartogh, P., Blecka, M., Jarchow, C. et al., 2010, A&A in press, http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.1291.

HIFI observations of Mars: first detection of O2 at submillimetre wavelengths and upper limits on HCl and H2O2, Hartogh, P., Jarchow, C., Lellouch, E. et al., 2010, A&A in press, http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.1301

Water and related chemistry in the Solar System. A guaranteed time key programme for Herschel, Hartogh, P., Lellouch, E., Crovisier, J., et al., 2009, Planet. Space Sci., Vol. 57, Issue 13, Pages 1596-1606

The Herschel-SPIRE submillimetre spectrum of Mars, Swinyard, B., Hartogh, P., Sidher, S. et al., 2010, A&A, 518, L151, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201014717

Source: European Planetary Science Congress

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

New Theory Says Phobos Formed From Re-Accretion of Impact Debris

Spatial locations of PFS and observations of Phobos used for the compositional analysis. Credit: Giuranna and Rosenblatt

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Most theories on the formation of Phobos and its sister moon of Mars, Deimos, hold that the two moons did not form along with Mars, but were captured asteroids. However, new research indicates that Phobos formed relatively near its current location via re-accretion of material blasted into Mars’ orbit by some catastrophic event, such as a huge impact. This could be an event similar to how Earth’s moon formed. Thermal infrared spectra data from two Mars missions, ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor have provided independent researchers similar new conclusions of how Phobos formed.

The origin of the two Martian satellites has been a long standing puzzle. Previous researchers have postulated that because of Phobos small size and highly cratered surface, as well as the fact that Mars is reasonably close to the asteroid belt, that Phobos was a captured asteroid. Recently, alternative scenarios suggested that both moons were formed in-situ by the re-accretion of rocky-debris blasted into Mars’s orbit after a large impact or by re-accretion of remnants of a former moon which was destroyed by Mars’s tidal force.

Today, Dr. Giuranna from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Rome, Italy, and Dr. Rosenblatt from the Royal Observatory of Belgium presented their new findings at the European Planetary Science Congress in Rome, saying that the thermal data from the two spacecract, as well as the measurements of Phobos’ high porosity from the Mars Radio Science Experiment (MaRS) on board Mars Express, supports the re-accretion scenario.

“Understanding the composition of the Martian moons is the key to constrain these formation theories,” said Giuranna.

Spatial locations of TES and observations of Phobos used for the compositional analysis. Credit: Giuranna and Rosenblatt

Previous observations of Phobos at visible and near-infrared wavelengths suggest the possible presence of carbonaceous chondritic meteorites, carbon-rich and likely from the early formation of the solar system, commonly associated with asteroids dominant in the middle part of the asteroid belt. This finding would support the early asteroid capture scenario. However recent thermal infrared observations from the Mars Express Planetary Fourier Spectrometer, show poor agreement with any class of chondritic meteorite. They instead argue in favor of the in-situ scenarios.

“We detected for the first time a type of mineral called phyllosilicates on the surface of Phobos, particularly in the areas northeast of Stickney, its largest impact crater,” said Giuranna. “This is very intriguing as it implies the interaction of silicate materials with liquid water on the parent body prior to incorporation into Phobos. Alternatively phyllosilicates may have formed in situ, but this would mean that Phobos required sufficient internal heating to enable liquid water to remain stable. More detailed mapping, in-situ measurements froma lander, or sample return would ideally help to settle this issue unambiguously.”

But other observations appear to match up with the types of minerals identified on the surface of Mars. From that data, Phobos appears more closely related to Mars than objects from other locations in the solar system.

“The asteroid capture scenarios also have difficulties in explaining the current near-circular and near-equatorial orbit of both Martian moons,” said Rosenblatt.

The MaRS instrument used the frequency variations of the radio-link between the spacecraft and the Earth-based tracking stations in order to precisely reconstruct the motion of the spacecraft when it is perturbed by the gravitational attraction of Phobos, and from this, the team was able provide most precise measurement of Phobos’ mass, with a precision of 0.3%.

Additionally, the team was able to give the best estimate yet of Phobos’s volume, with a density of 1.86±0.02 g/cm3.

“This number is significantly lower than the density of meteoritic material associated with asteroids. It implies a sponge-like structure with voids making up 25-45% in Phobos’ interior,” said Rosenblatt.

“High porosity is required in order to absorb the energy of the large impact that generated Stickney crater (the large crater on Phobos) without destroying the body,, said Giuranna. “In addition a highly porous interior of Phobos, as proposed by the MaRS team, supports the re-accretion formation scenarios”.

The researchers said a highly porous asteroid would have probably not survived if captured by Mars. Alternatively, such a highly porous Phobos can result from the re-accretion of rocky-blocks in Mars’ orbit. During re-accretion, the largest blocks re-accrete first because of their larger mass, forming a core with large boulders. Then, the smaller debris re-accrete but do not fill the gaps left between the large blocks because of the low self-gravity of the small body in formation. Finally, a relatively smooth surface masks the space of voids inside the body, which then can only be indirectly detected. Thus, a highly porous interior of Phobos, as proposed by the MaRS team, supports the re-accretion formation scenarios.

The researchers said they would like more data on Phobos to verify their findings, and the upcoming Russian Phobos-Grunt mission (Phobos Sample Return), scheduled for launch in 2011, will help to provide more understanding regarding the origin of Phobos.

Source: Europlanet Conference

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 199: The Voyager Program

Voyager at Neptune

Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager spacecraft were sent to explore the outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Because of a unique alignment of the planets, Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to ever make a close approach to Uranus and Neptune. Let’s take a look back at this amazing program, and see where the spacecraft are today.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

The Voyager Program shownotes and transcript.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomy Cast Ep. 198: How is a Space Mission Chosen?

Cassini at Saturn.

Space missions are expensive to build and launch, so there’s a lot of planning that goes into choosing exactly what’s going to be shot into space. Space scientists and engineers recently went through the process of deciding on their science goals, so we thought we’d spend an episode explaining how this works, and how the next generation of spacecraft and telescopes will be selected.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

How is a Space Mission Chosen shownotes and transcript.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Carnival of Space #170

Carnival of Space -- credit: Victoria Jaggard, via Breaking Orbit.

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This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Victoria Jaggard over at the Breaking Orbit blog at National Geographic. This is Victoria’s first time hosting, so go give her a warm, CoS welcome!

Click here to read the Carnival of Space #170.

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to [email protected], and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he’ll schedule you into the calendar.

Posted on by Tega Jessa

What are the Steps of the Scientific Method

Scientific Methods
Scientific Methods

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The scientific method is the important process by which all scientific knowledge is acquired. It is a tried and tested method that has been refined over the centuries leading to ever greater discoveries and a better understanding of the universe around us.

The scientific method began with the rules of logic established by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Over time other philosophers and scientists improved on his work refining the process of inquiry and proving of theories and hypotheses. The current version of the method is 6 to 8 steps depending on whether you are looking to explain an observed phenomenon, coming up with new methods, or integrating old information.

The first step is to define the question. You look at the problem you are trying solve or the phenomena you are trying to understand and formulate a question that can get a solution. This step is the most important as asking the right question is more likely to lead you to the right answer.

The next step is to collect data and observe. This is the part where you either study previous bodies of knowledge or observe the phenomena for the first set of clues needed to find the answer to your question. Observation when done properly will draw your attention to information you may miss at the first glance.

The proceeding step is to form a hypothesis. This is your preliminary explanation of the answer to your question. If you are answering the question of whether an atom is divisible you would look at data of previous scientist observe an atom and make an initial hypothesis. You can say that given the data that the unique characteristics of different atoms must mean that atoms are made up of smaller particles that determine its differing properties.

After the hypothesis are experimentation and more data collection. You find a premise or test to prove or disprove your hypothesis. In the case of whether an atom is made up of smaller particles we can use the example of Rutherford Hayes polonium experiment. He used a radioactive material in the form of cathode rays to bombard a material to see if it was altered.

Data Analysis immediately follows your experiment. You look at the data to see if you found new clues. Depending on the data you may find evidence that proves or disproves your hypothesis.

You finally draw a conclusion and see if the data supports your hypothesis or if you need to remodel it. This step often has scientists restarting the process so they can better refine their hypothesis or try a new approach.

The final two steps involve publishing your findings and retesting where other scientists as well as yourself retest and experiment to see if the hypothesis holds up in all cases. Many times this can lead to the discovery of exception on theories and natural laws.

We have written many articles about scientific methods for Universe Today. Here’s a podcast about The Scientific Method, and here are some Science Fair Ideas.

If you’d like more info on the Scientific Methods, check out NASA’s Scientific Method Article. And here’s a link to Problem Solving Using the Scientific Method.

We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about the Scientific Method. Listen here, Episode 90: The Scientific Method.

Source: How Stuff Works