Mars rover Curiosity explores lowland Yellowknife Bay

The Mars rover Curiosity, a key element of the mission Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) NASA resumed traffic January 3 and drove right up to the twisting geological formation, called Snake river ("Zmeistaya river").

Snake River is a thin curved line of dark rock, running through between flat slabs of lighter rocks and towering over the sand. Curiosity rover science team plans to study this form of relief in detail, before switching to other nearby rocks.

Maximum of solar activity in 2013 is expected to be the weakest

Maximum activity this year is likely to be the weakest in at least the last 100 years, according to NASA scientists observing the nearest star to the Earth every day.

The number of sunspots is low, despite the fact that the sun is close to the maximum of its 11-year activity cycle. Furthermore, the intensity of radio waves, usually pointing to the high solar activity, also significantly reduced.

The first direct detection sheds light on dark galaxies

Most people think of the giant galaxies as islands of stars, gas and dust that block our universe with its light. Theory, however, predicts that there are other types of galaxies, devoid of stars, and consisting mainly of dense gas. These "dark" galaxies you can not see on the black background of the universe.

Now an international team of astronomers has found a few bright galaxies, watching the glow of hydrogen these galaxies, UV-induced nearby quasar HE0109-3518.