Naming landmarks on Mars isn't just for scientists and rover drivers anymore. Now, anybody with an Internet connection and a few dollars to spare can give a moniker to one of the Red Planet's 500,000 or so unnamed craters, as part of a mapping project run by the space-funding company Uwingu. "This is the first people's map of Mars, where anybody can play," said Uwingu CEO Alan Stern, a former NASA science chief who also heads the space agency's New...

Scientists have detected water vapor features around the hot Jupiter Tau Bootis b. (Alexandra Lockwood/Caltech) Water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of one of the first alien planets ever identified by astronomers. Advances in the technique used to scan the atmosphere of this "hot Jupiter" could help scientists determine how many of the billions of planets in theMilky Waycontain water like Earth, researchers said. The exoplanet Tau Boötis b was discovered in 1996, when the search for worlds...

Liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour Billows of smoke and steam infused with the fiery light from space shuttle Endeavour's launch on the STS-127 mission fill NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A. Endeavour lifted off on the mission's sixth launch attempt, on July 15, 2009 at 6:03 p.m. EDT. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The six space station astronauts finally got their Christmas presents Sunday with the arrival of a privately launched supply ship that took an extra month to soar....