Astronomy

Colliding Neutron Stars Likely Birthed a Baby Black Hole

On August 17, 2017, astronomers witnessed an extraordinary celestial event: a collision between two ultra-dense neutron stars. Scientists had never seen anything quite like it, leading to much speculation as to what happened in the wake of the monumental encounter. New research now suggests the collision produced a black hole—but if true, it would be…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Astronomers Spot Surprising Evidence of Methane Dunes on Pluto

Astronomers peering closely at images of Pluto have spotted what look like dunes on the surface of the former planet. They wouldn’t be sand dunes, but dunes of methane ice—an Earthly feature on a totally alien world. Dunes don’t just happen—they require both tiny grains and some sort of force, like wind, to push them…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

New View of the Tarantula Nebula Is the Space Picture We All Need Today

It’s already been quite a year for space porn, so sometimes I feel excessive by posting yet another new picture and saying “Look at this! It looks really cool!” But you know what, we’re hard-working people who deserve a break to marvel at the universe. So take in this incredible new image of the Tarantula…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Massive Neutron Star Is the Definition of Extreme

Using a new technique, astronomers have documented one of the heaviest neutron stars known to science. It’s an important discovery for astronomers, but the newly recorded object is also providing an unprecedented opportunity to conduct particle physics research from a distance. Neutron stars are among the most fascinating objects in the universe. Often heavier than…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Telescope Aimed at Black Hole Gives Taste of Incredible Results to Come

You might remember that about a year ago, astrophysicists turned the whole Earth into a telescope to try and get a picture of a black hole. That image isn’t available yet, but the folks behind this “Event Horizon Telescope” just released data from previous observing periods, and it’s making us even antsier for the final…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Haunting Timelapse Shows Hawaii’s Glowing Kilauea Volcano From Above

The recent images of Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano are as fascinating as they are disturbing, but as this new timelapse video taken from the top of nearby Mauna Kea shows, the view from above the cloud tops is just as dramatic. Normally, the wide-angle camera at the Gemini North telescope is used to monitor atmospheric…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Why Is This Asteroid Orbiting the Wrong Way Around the Sun?

Asteroid 2015 BZ509 is orbiting the wrong way around the Sun. Why? According to a hyped new paper from astronomers Fathi Namouni and Helen Morais, this asteroid with its contrary orbit may not be native to our Solar System at all—it may have been captured from interstellar space. If that’s true, it could be important…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Hubble’s Latest Batch of Space Porn Is Some of the Best We’ve Ever Seen

Space is mind-bogglingly vast, and it’s practically impossible for our puny brains to comprehend just how huge it really is. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has completed an exhaustive survey of star-forming galaxies in the local Universe. The resulting catalog won’t help you fathom the immensity of the cosmos, but…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

China to Launch Mission to Moon’s Far Side on Monday

China’s mission to explore the Moon’s far side is set to launch in part on Monday (Sunday in the US). As the Guardian reports: The Chang’e 4 relay satellite will be stationed about 60,000km (almost 40,000 miles) behind the moon and provide a communications link for a rover that is designed to land and explore…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Space Rock Discovery Boosts Evidence for Planet Nine

I’m sorry, but Pluto sucks and I’m glad it’s not a planet anymore. It’s smaller than our Moon, and it’s about the same size as several other distant, rocky solar system objects. Have you ever seen the way it orbits alongside its partner, Charon? Classifying it as a planet in the first place was a…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Famous Neutron Star Just Glitched in a Huge Way

On November 8, 2017, a spinning neutron star inside one of the most studied objects in the sky “glitched” more than it had ever glitched before. Back in the year 1054, Chinese astronomers spotted what looked like a new star, which soon dimmed. They’d actually seen a supernova: a star exploding, ejecting gas and dust…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

The Hungriest Black Hole Ever Detected Gobbles a Sun-Sized Star Every Two Days

Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies can get absurdly huge, sometimes reaching masses billions of times greater than our Sun. The rate at which black holes grow can vary, but Australian astronomers have detected one such object with an unusually intense appetite, making it the fastest-growing black hole ever detected in the observable…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Does Earth’s Shifting Orbit Influence How Life Evolves?

It’s nice to think we’re part of something bigger. And we are, really—in a cosmic, evolutionary sense. A team of researchers from the United States and New Zealand took a look at how likely species were to go extinct and how likely new species were to appear during a 60-million-year period, long before humans evolved.…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Spacecraft May Have Flown Right Through a Plume of Water on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Sometimes, scientists have the answers all along—they just don’t think to ask the question. For example, it appears that in 1997, the Galileo orbiter flew through a jet of water shooting out from Jupiter’s moon Europa without even trying. Scientists think that Europa has an ocean below its icy surface, which could be a big…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Saturn’s Rings Look Razor-Thin in This Posthumous Cassini Release

It’s been more than six months since the Cassini probe plummeted to its demise, but scientists are still releasing incredible images from two-decade mission to Saturn. Take this new image that NASA published this week, snapped by Cassini on March 13, 2006. You can see pale Saturn as a looming behemoth, with its rings like…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Congressman Divulges Unreleased Study to Win Support for Life-Hunting Mission to Jupiter’s Moon Europa

A mission that would sample plumes of gas shooting off of Jovian moon Europa appears to remain on track for a 2022 launch, after a meeting of the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) subcommittee in which Republican Congressman John Culberson shared unreleased scientific results with his colleagues. The new paper could contain findings based on…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

How the Hell Did This Asteroid Get All the Way Out Past Neptune?

A rock that formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter seems to have somehow traveled to the orbit of Neptune, according to a new observation. When scientists first observed the 291-kilometer-wide asteroid dubbed “2004 EW95,” they immediately knew something strange, based on the way it reflected too little ultraviolet light. When they took…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Are Jupiter and Venus Messing With Earth’s Climate?

Our planet is in a remarkably circular orbit around the Sun, but as new research points out, Earth’s orbit sometimes experiences a slight jolt, thanks to the combined gravitational influence of Jupiter and Venus. Incredibly, this cycle has been going on for at least 215 million years—and one scientist suggests it could possibly have influenced…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Grab Your Telescope: Jupiter Will Shine Its Brightest Tonight

This weekend I got to experience the dark skies over a nameless lake somewhere between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Bemidji, Minnesota. It was my first time seeing the faint band of our own Milky Way. But we had our telescope pointed on something we could have seen just as easily from a Brooklyn stoop:…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

On This Saturn-Like Exoplanet, the Forecast Always Calls for Clear Skies [Updated]

Astronomers have detected an exoplanet whose sodium-rich atmosphere is completely devoid of clouds—a strange celestial feature that until this point only existed in theory. The planet is called WASP-96b, and it’s located about 980 light-years from Earth. This distant world is what astronomers call a hot-Saturn—a planet with a mass comparable to our own Saturn…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Colliding Neutron Stars Likely Birthed a Baby Black Hole

Astronomers Spot Surprising Evidence of Methane Dunes on Pluto

New View of the Tarantula Nebula Is the Space Picture We All Need Today

Massive Neutron Star Is the Definition of Extreme

Telescope Aimed at Black Hole Gives Taste of Incredible Results to Come

Haunting Timelapse Shows Hawaii’s Glowing Kilauea Volcano From Above

Why Is This Asteroid Orbiting the Wrong Way Around the Sun?

Hubble’s Latest Batch of Space Porn Is Some of the Best We’ve Ever Seen

China to Launch Mission to Moon’s Far Side on Monday

Space Rock Discovery Boosts Evidence for Planet Nine

Famous Neutron Star Just Glitched in a Huge Way

The Hungriest Black Hole Ever Detected Gobbles a Sun-Sized Star Every Two Days

Does Earth’s Shifting Orbit Influence How Life Evolves?

Spacecraft May Have Flown Right Through a Plume of Water on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Saturn’s Rings Look Razor-Thin in This Posthumous Cassini Release

Congressman Divulges Unreleased Study to Win Support for Life-Hunting Mission to Jupiter’s Moon Europa

How the Hell Did This Asteroid Get All the Way Out Past Neptune?

Are Jupiter and Venus Messing With Earth’s Climate?

Grab Your Telescope: Jupiter Will Shine Its Brightest Tonight

On This Saturn-Like Exoplanet, the Forecast Always Calls for Clear Skies [Updated]

Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay TSA

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Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

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