Space & Spaceflight

On going blind in space

Chris Hadfield, the astronaut who captured our hearts by singing Space Oddity in the International Space Station, just gave a TED talk about being prepared for the worst that can happen. Like, going blind in space… On Earth, we’ve got a lot of traditions for not being jinxed with bad luck. In space, astronauts can’t…

The Earth Was Almost Fried Back in 2012

A massive solar storm in July 2012 was more intense than thought—and it blasted right through the Earth’s orbit. Luckily for us, we were on the other side of the sun, thus missing the chaos completely. But if that storm had hit this beautiful little blue marble in space? “The solar bursts would have enveloped…

Explore the Moon’s North Pole With This Gargantuan Photo Mosaic

Over the past four years the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was busy collecting photographs… 10,581 to be exact. And it was all for you! So you could explore the moon at a dazzling resolution of six feet per pixel—your tax dollars at work The total explorable area captured by the LRO spans 25% of the…

The Sensor Array That Made the Big Bang Discovery Possible

Astronomers have long sought tangible proof that the Big Bang caused the universe to violently and exponentially expand in the first few milliseconds of its existence. Now they have it, thanks in part to a radio telescope in Antarctica that recently detected primordial gravitational waves, the “smoking gun” evidence of the Big Bang. This changes…

Why the Big Bang Discovery Is Even More Important Than You Think

As you’ve probably heard, yesterday a team of scientists identified evidence of cosmic inflation right after the Big Bang, a finding which helps explain how the entire Universe originated. Amazing as that sounds, it’s way more important than you even imagine. https://gizmodo.com/astronomers-discover-first-direct-proof-of-the-big-bang-1545525927 To truly grasp the significance, let’s start with what exactly it is that…

Herschel’s Largest Survey of Cosmic Dust Is Huge and Beautiful

The largest ever census of dust in the local Universe has been carried out by the European Space Agency’s Herschel space observatory—and the results are huge and beautiful. Dust might not sound super sexy, but the tiny grains are fundamental in the creation of stars and planets, and lend galaxies that amazing ghostly appearance that…

Incredible Discovery Provides Evidence for the Big Bang Theory

Today, Harvard’s servers were brought to their knees dealing with international demand to watch a press conference about … gravitational waves. It’s no surprise: as physicist Marc Kamionkowski reflected, “It’s not everyday you wake up and learn something completely new about the early universe.” Kamionkowski and his team were there to announce that B-modes of…

Astronomers Discover First Direct Proof of the Big Bang Expansion

Somebody’s going to win a Nobel Prize. At least that’s what the physics community is saying after the announcement on Monday that a Harvard team has found the first direct evidence of cosmic inflation right after the Big Bang. It’s more proof that the Big Bang really was the beginning of it all. https://gizmodo.com/this-animation-explains-the-big-bang-better-than-school-1535824886 The…

Today is the 88th anniversary of the first liquid-fueled rocket launch!

Today in 1926, Robert Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts. To quote from the beautifully-understated NASA history page: Goddard first obtained public notice in 1907 in a cloud of smoke from a powder rocket fired in the basement of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute physics building. School officials took an immediate interest…

I want to work and live in these awesome spaceships

Isaac Hannaford’s does amazing concept work for games like Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, and Destiny. His designs feel really solid and so elegant. My brain can buy into them. I can imagine and believe a future like this.

You Haven’t Seen Gravity Until You’ve Seen It in a Weightlessness Tank

Forget IMAX 3D. If you really want to see Gravity as it was meant to be seen, then this personal screening room/bathtub/human storage pod a la The Matrix is the only way to go. Last week, 12 lucky fans in Stockholm, Sweden were invited to take part in the ultimate Gravity viewing experience of true…

The Largest Yellow Star Ever Could Almost Devour the Whole Solar System

A team of astronomers peering through Chile’s Very Large Telescope just realized that HR 5171 A, a massive star in the Centaurus constellation, is actually twice as big as previously thought. They already thought it was pretty big—but it’s actually the biggest yellow star they’ve ever seen. How big is biggest? This star is 1300…

These Stunning Satellite Images of Cities Were Really Made With Data

Satellite images of cities at night look wonderful—until you zoom in and realize that they’re a big, blurry mess. These gorgeous city images, made by Marc Khachfe, solve that problem—because they’re actually computer generated from OpenStreetMap data. Using the open source mapping data, Khachfe is able to create a simulated map of the light you’d…

This Beautiful Blur of Color Is a Space Rainbow Over Venus

This isn’t some sort of alien test card beamed from Venus, but a rainbow-like optical phenomenon known as a glory in the atmosphere of our nearest planetary neighbour. In fact, it’s the first time a glory has ever been imaged on another planet, and it was snapped by the European Space Agency’s Venus Express. ESA…

The Pale Blue’n’Red Dot Shows Where Plant Life Is Thriving

Forget the Pale Blue Dot: let’s throw some red in there, too. This false color image shows plant growth across the planet in red where usually you’d expect some green. Captured by NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft, the image was captured using the Mercury Dual Imaging System’s wide-angle camera. NASA…

Sunday Space Links

Quick-links to space-news around the web: Far-out space suits of past, present and future. NYT review of Particle Fever, the documentary covering the search for the HiggsBoson XS-1 update, the military spaceplane with flight-testing scheduled for 2017 Finding water vapour in the atmosphere of hot Jupiter exoplanet Tau Boötis b NASA is doing a twin-test,…

Even Boring Exercise Is Awesome on the International Space Station

Hollywood, meet Cosmos

You know everyone at io9 is counting down the hours until the Cosmos premiere on Sunday. We already cornered the astrophysicist about why this show is so important for bringing science to the public, but it’s also important for the entertainment industry. Rockin’ a stylish spacesuit, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson understands the power of a…

After 100 days of science, LADEE will smash into the Moon

NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) just passed its 100 day marker of scientific observations. It did a great job, skimming a mere 20 to 60 kilometres above the lunar surface. With its prime science done, and portrait snapped for posterity, now it’s time to die. Seriously, that’s the next part of the…

This mysterious asteroid breakup has scientists scratching their heads

What you see above could have not happened, as far as astronomers know. The Hubble space telescope has photographed this never-before-seen break-up of an asteroid. The observed space object has fragmented into several smaller pieces—which is common when comets approach the Sun—but the process has never been observed before in the asteroid belt. Yet that…