This week we tracked Hurricane Irene from space, watched a black hole swallow a star and solved the mystery of earth's asteroids. Vote for your top space story of the week:
Today marks the five-year anniversary of Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet. What did the demotion mean, and what has changed in the last five years? [<a href="http://www.space.com/12709-pluto-dwarf-planet-decision-5-years-anniversary-iau.html">Full Story</a>]
An unmanned Russian space cargo ship failed to reach orbit after a failed launch from its Central Asia launch site today (Aug. 24). The cargo ship was carrying more than 2 tons of supplies for the International Space Station. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12715-russia-rocket-launch-progress-spaceship-lost.html">Full Story</a>]
NASA's WISE spacecraft has detected the coolest star-like bodies known, with temperatures around those of the human body. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12714-coldest-failed-stars-brown-dwarfs-wise.html">Full Story</a>]
A supermassive black hole has been observed as it apparently pulls apart and swallows a star that got too close, offering a rare chance to see the birth of its relativisitic jet. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12719-black-hole-swallows-star-nasa-swift.html">Full Story</a>]
NASA astronaut Mike Fossum said that Hurricane Irene, like all hurricanes, looks "terrifying from above," and its evolution into a major storm this week has been unmistakable from his vantage point in orbit. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12732-hurricane-irene-terrifying-space-astronaut.html">Full Story</a>]
The densest planet yet discovered orbits a millisecond pulsar, a remnant of a star more massive than the sun. Only the second millisecond pulsar found to have a planet, this discovery can help astronomers understand how these systems form. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12731-diamond-alien-planet-discovered-neutron-star.html">Full Story</a>]
DARPA released video, as well as some new details, of the Aug. 11 test flight of its HTV-2 prototype vehicle this week.[<a href="http://www.space.com/12739-video-hypersonic-military-aircraft-flight-darpa-htv2.html">Full Story</a>]
The longstanding mystery of where most meteorites striking our planet come from has now been solved by the first asteroid samples that a spacecraft has ever returned to Earth. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12733-earth-meteorites-stony-asteroid-mystery.html">Full Story</a>]
Astronomers have spotted the closest supernova in a generation — and in a week or so, stargazers with a good pair of binoculars might be able to see it, too. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12745-closest-supernova-discovered-star-explosion.html">Full Story</a>]
NASA's selection of display locations for its retired space shuttles in California, Florida, New York and Virginia was carried out fairly and without improper influence, federal investigators reported Thursday (Aug. 25). [<a href="http://www.space.com/12747-nasa-picked-space-shuttle-museums-report.html">Full Story</a>]
