Vote Now! Top Space Stories of the Week - July 8, 2012

Dark Matter, Higgs Boson Particle and Giant Radio Telescope

Jörg Dietrich, University of Michigan/University Observatory Munich.

In the last week we've detected a filament of elusive dark matter, NASA mourned tragic death of retired astronaut, and uncovered a dusty mystery. But which story comes out on top?

Root for your favorite space news story of the week here in our latest voting round!

New Rover Could Seek Evidence of Ancient Mars Life Just Below Surface: Study

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Evidence of ancient life on Mars, if there is any to be found, could lie within reach of NASA's newest Mars rover Curiosity, a new study suggests. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Huge Mars Rover One Month from Red Planet Landing

Huge Mars Rover One Month from Red Planet Landing

NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's next Mars rover will make its daring, anxiety-inducing landing on the Red Planet in one month. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Higgs Boson Particle Discovery May Help Reveal Dark Matter Secrets

Higgs Boson Particle Discovery May Help Reveal Dark Matter Secrets

CERN

The discovery of a new elementary particle that is likely the long-sought Higgs boson that is thought to give all other matter its mass, could mark an important step toward understanding the existence of dark matter in the universe. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: E.T., Phone Earth! Giant Radio Telescope Could Listen for Alien Signals

E.T., Phone Earth! Giant Radio Telescope Could Listen for Alien Signals

ESO

Can the Square Kilometer Array – a network of thousands of radio antennas to be based in South Africa and Australia -- be used to hunt for extraterrestrial signals? [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Why Doomsday Fears Will Survive 2012 'Apocalypse'

Vanishing Dust Belt Around Star Baffles Scientists

Gemini Observatory/AURA artwork by Lynette Cook

Astronomer sleuths have turned up a cosmic mystery: A dusty disk around a star that could be ripe for planet-making has suddenly disappeared, leaving scientists only to wonder why. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Giant Dark Matter Bridge Between Galaxy Clusters Discovered

Why Doomsday Fears Will Survive 2012 'Apocalypse'

gilderm | sxc.hu

Humanity will survive the supposed December 2012 apocalypse, but unfortunately so will irrational doomsday fears, scientists say. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Vanishing Dust Belt Around Star Baffles Scientists

Giant Dark Matter Bridge Between Galaxy Clusters Discovered

Jörg Dietrich, University of Michigan/University Observatory Munich.

Astronomers have for the first time detected a filament of elusive dark matter filament connecting two main components of a supercluster of galaxies. These dark matter filaments may hold more than half of all matter, but previous attempts to detect them have been unsuccessful. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: NASA Mourns Tragic Death of Retired Astronaut Alan Poindexter

NASA Mourns Tragic Death of Retired Astronaut Alan Poindexter

NASA/Scott Andrews

NASA officials and astronauts around the world are mourning the death of retired space shuttle commander Alan Poindexter, a two-time space shuttle flier who died Sunday (July 1) in a tragic jet ski accident in Florida. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: NASA Unveils Orion Space Capsule for 2014 Test Launch

NASA Unveils Orion Space Capsule for 2014 Test Launch

collectSPACE.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

NASA on Monday unveiled the first of its Orion capsules destined for space, a version of the deep-space capsule that will launch on a test flight in 2014. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Space Station Astronauts Return to Earth Aboard Soyuz Capsule

Space Station Astronauts Return to Earth Aboard Soyuz Capsule

NASA TV

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, European astronaut Andre Kuipers and NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned to Earth today (July 1), touching down on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 4:14 a.m. EDT (0814 GMT). The spaceflyers spent six months aboard the International Space Station before landing aboard a Soyuz capsule. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Leap Second Science: NASA Explains Earth's Longer Day Today

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Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.