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December 20, 2012 When a meteorite crashed down in April on the exact spot where gold was discovered in 1848, professional and amateur meteorite hunters alike fanned out to collect small chunks. Now more than 50 scientists have published an analysis of the rare space rock.

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December 18, 2012 If you've ever wanted to eat a replica of the Mars rover Curiosity that made history this summer, here's your chance. A Caltech chef made one out of gingerbread, and it's on display in the lobby of the Athenaeum, a faculty and staff club on the Caltech campus.

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December 17, 2012 The two washing machine-sized probes have been collecting data from the lunar surface down to the core. NASA ended the mission by flying the spacecrafts into the side of a mountain on the moon.

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December 14, 2012 Mariner 2's 1962 mission to Venus was the first time any spacecraft had gone to another planet. Before the mission, very little was known about the planets, and much of what was believed to be true turned out to be wrong.

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December 13, 2012 Commercial space travel is becoming a reality. Now people who have longed to go into space can buy a ticket, if they've got the cash. But are they healthy enough to make the voyage?

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December 13, 2012 Given the history of first orbital space shots, North Korea's apparent struggle with its mission is fairly typical, experts say.

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December 7, 2012 It's been 40 years since NASA launched Apollo 17, its final human mission to the moon. The commander of that mission says he'd love to give up his claim to fame as "the last man on the moon" but concedes that it probably won't happen in his lifetime. And future trips might be run by companies in the private sector.

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• INTERACTIVE: A Lunar 360

December 5, 2012 "The night is nowhere as dark as we might think," says one scientist. How does your location light up the night?

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December 3, 2012 NASA believes its Curiosity rover might have found carbon and chlorine molecules on the red planet. But before anyone says "life on Mars," NASA needs more testing to confirm the rover's results.

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December 3, 2012 The Hayden Planetarium director and pop-culture go-to science guy offered expert advice on how Superman could watch the destruction of Krypton.

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