Space

May 8th, 2025 - Women have long contributed meaningful scientific discoveries to the field of astronomy; however, men have primarily dominated the vocation. As of 2019, women earn about 40 percent of the Ph.D.s granted in the field of astronomy, but that has not always been the case. And there are many cases of women working in astronomy only to have their findings overshadowed or derided in some capacity. Until relatively recently, women typically had to be related or married to a prominent astronomer, take ... [Read More]

May 8th, 2025 - For the first time, two spacecraft in orbit were aligned in formation with millimeter precision and maintained their relative position for several hours without any control from the ground. The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission has achieved its ambitious goal when its two spacecraft , the Coronagraph and the Occulter, flew 150 meters apart in perfect formation, simulating a single giant spacecraft. Earlier this year, the first step of the mission was successfully completed. The operations ... [Read More]

May 8th, 2025 - A mysterious cluster of 60 stars may be just another Milky Way star cluster, or it may be one of the smallest galaxies ever seen. How do you distinguish a galaxy from a mere cluster of stars? That's easy, right? A galaxy is a large collection of millions or billions of stars, while a star cluster only has a thousand or so. Well, that kind of thinking won't get you a Ph.D. in astronomy! Seriously, though, the line between galaxy and star cluster isn't always clear. Case in point, UMa3/U1 . It's ... [Read More]

May 7th, 2025 - Beyond our solar system, sub-Neptunes — gassy planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune — reign as the most common type of exoplanet observed in our galaxy. Despite their prevalence, no such planets exist around our Sun, so these worlds have remained shrouded in mystery. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently observed exoplanet TOI-421 b, whose unique atmospheric conditions are now enabling scientists to understand sub-Neptunes in unprecedented detail. A unique ... [Read More]

May 7th, 2025 - Spacecraft can 'brake' in space using drag − advancing craft agility, space safety and planetary missions When you put your hand out the window of a moving car, you feel a force pushing against you called drag . This force opposes a moving vehicle, and it's part of the reason why your car naturally slows to a stop if you take your foot off the gas pedal. But drag doesn't just slow down cars. Aerospace engineers are working on using the drag force in space to develop more ... [Read More]

May 7th, 2025 - Earth's minimoon may be a chip off the old block: New research suggests that 2024 PT5 ​​— a small, rocky body dubbed a "minimoon" during its discovery last year — may have been blown off the moon during a giant impact long ago, making it the second known sample traveling near Earth's orbit. The discovery hints at a hidden population of lunar fragments traveling near Earth . "If there were only one object, that would be interesting but an outlier," Teddy Kareta, a ... [Read More]

May 6th, 2025 - Future space missions could use quantum technologies to help us understand the physical laws that govern the universe, explore the composition of other planets and their moons, gain insights into unexplained cosmological phenomena, or monitor ice sheet thickness and the amount of water in underground aquifers on Earth. NASA's Cold Atom Lab (CAL), a first-of-its-kind facility aboard the International Space Station, has performed a series of trailblazing experiments based on the quantum ... [Read More]

May 6th, 2025 - The NASA and European Space Agency's Hubble Space Telescope snapped a mesmerizing shot of an astronomical oddball, known as Arp 184 or NGC 1961. This strange spiral galaxy's single broad arm earned it a place in Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies , published in 1966. That structure, along with multiple past supernovae, makes it an interesting subject for astronomers. Arp 184 resides approximately 190 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis the Giraffe. The ... [Read More]

May 6th, 2025 - Ancient Mars may have had a carbon cycle − a new study suggests the red planet may have once been warmer, wetter and more favorable for life Mars, one of our closest planetary neighbors, has fascinated people for hundreds of years, partly because it is so similar to Earth . It is about the same size, contains similar rocks and minerals, and is not too much farther out from the Sun. Because Mars and Earth share so many features, scientists have long wondered whether Mars could have ... [Read More]

May 6th, 2025 - The sky is filled with thousands of amazing objects for you to explore with binoculars or a small telescope. I'll be highlighting an interesting object or group of objects in this new daily series, Deep-Sky Dreams. This takes me back to my earliest days in amateur astronomy, when I had a pair of binoculars, a Celestron 8 telescope, and a voracious appetite for exploring what was out there.  Starting high in the Northern Hemisphere sky, I'll be highlighting lots of stuff over the coming ... [Read More]

May 5th, 2025 - A meteorite found in Antarctica in 2012 suggests Earth may have formed with the materials needed to make water, a new study hints. The chemical composition of a meteorite could shake up scientists' understanding of how Earth got its water. Researchers found signs of hydrogen sulfide in a type of meteorite similar to those that made up the early Earth. If these rocky bodies contain abundant hydrogen when out in space, it's possible that Earth could have formed with the materials to make water, ... [Read More]

May 5th, 2025 - The origins of heavy elements such as gold have been one of the biggest mysteries of astrophysics. A study has now provided a clue about the precious metal's cosmic origins. Scientists have found that explosions in highly magnetised neutron stars, called magnetars, could have created gold in the universe. Here is more about the study: What is the latest discovery about the origins of gold? Analysis of archival data from space missions shows that a large amount of heavy metals, including gold, ... [Read More]

May 5th, 2025 - A new discovery could reshape the Solar System's edge. For years, astronomers have toyed with the idea that the Sun hides an extra planet so distant and dim that even the best telescopes have missed it. Now, a new study digs into decades-old infrared maps of the sky and turns up one faint object whose slow drift could fit the bill—renewing hopes (and doubts) about the long-sought "Planet Nine." Astronomers have nudged the Planet Nine debate back into the spotlight in their  study ... [Read More]

May 4th, 2025 - SPHEREx, NASA's latest space observatory, has officially begun scanning the skies after weeks of careful preparation in orbit. Each day, it captures around 3,600 images to build a vibrant, detailed map of the universe that is unlike anything seen before. Launched into space on March 11, the observatory was created by scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other institutions. Over six weeks, the mission team checked and calibrated ... [Read More]

May 4th, 2025 - Astronomers have spotted around a dozen of these weird, rare blasts. Could they be signs of a special kind of black hole? Astronomers had never seen anything like it before – something vast, in the depths of space, went boom. Telescopes on Earth picked up the astonishingly bright and unusual explosion in 2018, watching as it played out 200 million light years away. The blast brightened rapidly and brilliantly, far more than one would expect for a regular star explosion, a supernova, ... [Read More]

May 4th, 2025 - Astronomers have captured the sharpest, most detailed images yet of young solar systems where planets are just beginning to take shape. Exquisite snapshots released on April 28 provide a rare glimpse into the earliest stages of planet formation in more than a dozen star systems, revealing where planets emerge, how quickly they form and what materials they're made from. Scientists say the data could help refine computer models of planetary formation and evolution, as well as shed new light on ... [Read More]