If Aliens Exist,They May Come to Get Us, Stephen Hawking Says
By Clara Moskowitz
SPACE.com Senior Writer

If intelligent alien life forms do exist out in the vastness of the space, they might not be the friendly cosmic neighbors the people of Earth are looking for, famed British scientist Stephen Hawking says in a new television series chronicling his work to explore the secrets of the universe...read more

Soaring meteor lights up skies across the Midwest

April 15 - MILWAUKEE – A large meteor streaked across the Midwestern sky momentarily turning night into day, rattling houses and causing trees and the ground to shake, authorities said Thursday. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The Gamma Virginids shower began April 4 and is expected to last through April 21. Thursday is expected to be the second straight day of peak activity...read more

Origin of key cosmic explosions unraveled

Astronomers who have long used supernovas as cosmic mile markers to help measure the expansion of the universe now have an answer to the nagging question of what sparks the massive stellar explosions..."It was a major embarrassment that we did not know how they worked", said...read more

Space junk raises risks for Hubble repair mission

WASHINGTON – Space shuttle Atlantis is now in a rough orbital neighborhood — a place littered with thousands of pieces of space junk zipping around the Earth at nearly 20,000 mph. There are more pieces of shattered satellites and used-up rockets in this region than astronauts have ever encountered...read more

Asteroid Flies Past Earth

March 2 - An asteroid the size of a 10-story building flew past Earth today about twice the distance as the highest Earth-orbiting satellites. The space rock was about 115 feet (35 meters) wide, perhaps a bit larger than one thought to have created a colossal explosion in the air above Siberia in 1908 that flattened 500,000 acres (2,000 square kilometers) of forest...read more at space.com

March 4 - Also see: Phew! Asteroid's passing was a cosmic near-miss

Telescope blasts into space to find other Earths

March 7 - NASA's planet-hunting telescope, Kepler, rocketed into space Friday night on a historic voyage to track down other Earths in a faraway patch of the Milky Way galaxy. It's the first mission capable of answering the age-old question: Are other worlds like ours out there?...read more

Idea Hatched to Grow First Flower on the Moon

April 3 - A lunar bouquet of flowers could greet astronauts who next set foot on the moon. Odyssey Moon, a team competing for a $30 million purse in the Google Lunar X Prize contest, officially joined forces with another private space firm Friday to deliver the first greenhouse to the moon as part the "Lunar Oasis" project...read more