Astronomy

Juno’s Latest Pic of Clouds on Jupiter Is an Absolute Stunner

The largest planet in our Solar System also happens to be one of the most beautiful, as the Juno spacecraft’s latest image reveals. Since its arrival at Jupiter on July 5, 2016, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has completed 16 close flybys—called perijoves—of the gas giant. With each successive perijove, the spacecraft inches ever closer to the…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Astronomers Have Stumbled Upon One of the Most Ancient Stars in the Universe

A tiny star located about 1,590 light-years from Earth could be as old as 13.53 billion years, making it one of the most ancient stars ever discovered. The diminutive “ultra metal-poor” star is called 2MASS J18082002–5104378 B—hereafter abbreviated to J1808-5104—and it was discovered by a team of astronomers led by Kevin C. Schlaufman from Johns…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Hawaiian Supreme Court Okays Controversial Planned Telescope

The Hawaiian Supreme Court ruled that the Thirty Meter Telescope project can build on Mauna Kea, clearing the legal way for construction despite protests from the Native Hawaiian community. As we’ve reported, there’s been a bitter battle between the 180-foot-tall telescope’s backers and a group of Native Hawaiians. In 2014 and 2015, protesters blocked construction…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Why a Mission to a Visiting Interstellar Object Could Be Our Best Bet for Finding Aliens

Life may exist elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, though try as they might, scientists have yet to detect any sign of it. Part of the problem has to do with the size of space; finding traces of organic substances or the waste signatures of alien megastructures isn’t easy at such cosmic distances. Fortunately, there’s…

Science George Dvorsky

Telescope Drama Could Thwart the Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life

For nearly 20 years, NASA has been planning and constructing a telescope unlike any ever built before: the James Webb Space Telescope. It will change the way scientists see the most distant galaxies and intensify the hunt for extraterrestrial life; it will answer outstanding questions about the birth and death of stars and planets. It…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Just Smashed Two Records in a Single Day

NASA’s historic mission to “touch the Sun” just reached two important milestones: It now holds the record for the closest approach to the Sun by a human-built object—and also the record for the fastest spacecraft ever sent into space. Launched on August 12, 2018, the Parker Solar Probe is now entering into the first stages…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Astronomers May Have Spotted One of Earth’s Ghostly Dust Moons

A ghostly dust satellite or two might be orbiting the Earth, according to new research building on a 60-year-old idea. Massive objects attract one another through the force of gravity. But when you have multiple huge objects with just the right masses, their mutual gravitational field can introduce some anomalies—like gravitational points that can hold…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

See the Glorious Winners of the 2018 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest

A stunning photograph of Utah’s Badlands—with the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies in the background—captured the top prize of this year’s Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. This annual competition, now in its 10th year, is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night Magazine.…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Launching Tonight: A Mission to the Best Planet (Mercury)

Mercury is the best planet, in my humble but well-researched opinion. Sure, it may be small, rocky, and lacking an atmosphere, but how it came to look the way it does absolutely baffles scientists. It might even have water and carbon hidden away from the beginning of the Solar System. Tonight, scientists from the European…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Trying to Understand the Size of This New Space Discovery Will Short-Circuit Your Brain

Light’s speed limit means that looking into the distance is the same as looking into the past: The farther incoming light travels, the older it is. Out in the distance, scientists have spotted a truly enormous, ancient “proto-supercluster,” dubbed Hyperion, which could help explain how the universe forms some of its largest structures. Hyperion is…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

New Supernova Discovery Explains Landmark Neutron Star Collision

August 17, 2017 heralded one of the most important observations in astronomy’s history: two neutron stars colliding, sending both light and gravitational waves toward the Earth. But it left one question wide open: how two of these stellar corpses could have ended up orbiting each other in the first place. Scientists have now reported spotting…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Hidden Secrets of Pulsars Revealed by Trippy Computer Simulations

A new computer model is revealing the unseen and often bizarre behaviors of particles streaming around rapidly spinning neutron stars, also known as pulsars. New research led by NASA astrophysicist Gabriele Brambilla shows the paths taken by charged particles caught in the magnetic and electric fields near pulsars. The work is based on a new…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Astronomers Wonder: Can Moons Have Moons?

Inquisitive kids ask some questions that parents just can’t answer. Astronomer Juna Kollmeier’s son gave her a real stumper one night back in 2014: “Can moons have moons?” So she went hunting for an answer. As far as scientists can tell, none of the Solar System’s planets have submoons, moons orbiting their moons. Kollmeier from…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Oh Crap, It Looks Like Europa’s Surface Is Covered With Gigantic Shards of Ice

Jupiter’s moon Europa, with its subsurface ocean, may have what it takes to foster alien life. A mission to this icy moon is on the wishlist of many astronomers, but new research suggests it won’t be easy to land spacecraft there: Its surface seems to be littered with icy spikes, the tallest of which measure…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

New Hubble Observations Boost Evidence for Elusive Exomoon

Astronomers have confirmed thousands of planets outside our Solar System, but not a single exomoon. New research is bolstering the case for a suspected exomoon first detected last year, but scientists say the evidence is still not definitive. To date, astronomers have confirmed the existence of 3,851 exoplanets—a surprisingly big number given that the first…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

A Third Probe Has Landed on Asteroid Ryugu—but It Has Just 16 Hours to Live [Update: RIP]

A German-French probe called MASCOT is now collecting valuable data from the surface of Ryugu, an asteroid located 190 million miles from Earth. But it better get cracking—the shoebox-sized probe has only 16 hours to live. The 22-pound (10 kg) probe was designed and built by the German Aerospace Center, or Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Discovery of ‘Goblin’ Solar System Object Bolsters the Case for Planet Nine

Astronomers have discovered an object, dubbed “the Goblin,” in the outer reaches of the Solar System. The dwarf planet never gets any closer to the Sun than 6 billion miles, but experts say its orbital configuration points to the existence of a much larger, more distant planet —the elusive Planet Nine. The Goblin, or 2015…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

The Hayabusa2 Rovers Just Made a Movie on the Surface of an Asteroid

Japan’s MINERVA-II rovers have sent back a batch of new photos from Ryugu, including a stunning new video taken from the asteroid’s rocky surface. The 15-frame video was captured by MINERVA-II1b, also known as Rover 1B, on September 23, the same day that it and its companion, MINERVA-II1a, landed on Ryugu, an asteroid located 174…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

New Observation Smashes Long-Held Belief About Neutron Stars

Scientists disproved a widely accepted idea about neutron stars with a recent observation of a high-energy particle jet. We’ve written lots about relativistic jets recently—these are particles shooting out of black holes or neutron stars at nearly light-speed. But scientists have long thought that strong magnetic fields around some neutron stars would prevent jets from…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

As Dust Clears, NASA Spots Possibly Dead Opportunity Rover From Space

It’s been 107 agonizing days since NASA last heard from Opportunity, raising fears that the 14-year-old rover has finally expired after being battered by a massive dust storm. The Martian probe may be quiet, but a new photo taken of Opportunity from space is providing some much-needed solace. If you look carefully, you can see…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Juno’s Latest Pic of Clouds on Jupiter Is an Absolute Stunner

Astronomers Have Stumbled Upon One of the Most Ancient Stars in the Universe

Hawaiian Supreme Court Okays Controversial Planned Telescope

Why a Mission to a Visiting Interstellar Object Could Be Our Best Bet for Finding Aliens

Telescope Drama Could Thwart the Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Just Smashed Two Records in a Single Day

Astronomers May Have Spotted One of Earth’s Ghostly Dust Moons

See the Glorious Winners of the 2018 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest

Launching Tonight: A Mission to the Best Planet (Mercury)

Trying to Understand the Size of This New Space Discovery Will Short-Circuit Your Brain

New Supernova Discovery Explains Landmark Neutron Star Collision

Hidden Secrets of Pulsars Revealed by Trippy Computer Simulations

Astronomers Wonder: Can Moons Have Moons?

Oh Crap, It Looks Like Europa’s Surface Is Covered With Gigantic Shards of Ice

New Hubble Observations Boost Evidence for Elusive Exomoon

A Third Probe Has Landed on Asteroid Ryugu—but It Has Just 16 Hours to Live [Update: RIP]

Discovery of ‘Goblin’ Solar System Object Bolsters the Case for Planet Nine

The Hayabusa2 Rovers Just Made a Movie on the Surface of an Asteroid

New Observation Smashes Long-Held Belief About Neutron Stars

As Dust Clears, NASA Spots Possibly Dead Opportunity Rover From Space

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