Astronomy

Curiosity Just Put Itself Into a Precautionary Safe Mode

Mission controllers at NASA are currently working to return the Curiosity Mars rover to full activity after a computer glitch that caused the rover to enter into a precautionary stand-down over the weekend. It doesn’t appear to be serious, but NASA engineers are still trying to find the cause of Curiosity’s safe-mode entry. The rover…

Tech News George Dvorsky

NASA Sent Jupiter’s Jealous Wife to Check Up on Him and His Satellites

NASA’s Juno spacecraft made all the headlines this past Fourth of July as it successfully went into orbit around Jupiter after a five-year journey—and deservedly so. But not many people realized the significance of the name. In Roman mythology, Juno was the god Jupiter’s wife—and Jupiter had one hell of a roaming eye. Before it…

Space & Spaceflight Jennifer Ouellette

The Prospects for Alien Life on Titan Keep Getting Better

Saturn’s moon Titan is a frigid hellscape by Earth standards, but it’s also one of the most hopeful spots for discovering alien life in our solar system. A new scientific paper hints that conditions on Titan’s surface might be favorable for the chemistry of life to emerge. Titan is the only other world we know…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

A Badass New Theory On the Origin of Mars’ Moons

Phobos and Deimos, Mars’ lumpy, runty moons, were once pegged as captured asteroids. But the truth is shaping up to be far more interesting. These ruddy satellites could be the lone survivors of a giant impact that eviscerated half of Mars’ surface billions of years ago. That violent origin story is detailed in a new…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Juno Had a Glorious View During Its Final Approach to Jupiter

Before it powered down in preparation for the big engine burn last night, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured some absolutely stunning footage of the four Galilean satellites in orbit around Jupiter. The time-lapse video above [update: now complete with epic orchestral soundtrack] shows us the four largest moons of Jupiter—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, from innermost…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

How to Watch the Juno Spacecraft Arrive at Jupiter [Update: We Made It!]

Tonight is the night, my fellow space nerds. After five years and 445 million miles, NASA’s Juno mission is about to arrive at Jupiter, becoming the second spacecraft in history to orbit the gas giant. We hope. First, Juno has to perform a high-risk sequence of maneuvers culminating in a 35-minute main engine burn at…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

A NASA Scientist Answers Your Questions About Juno Mission to Jupiter

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will be entering Jupiter’s orbit later tonight after a very long journey, kicking off the next phase of its mission. And we’ve got NASA JPL scientist Glenn Orton with us today to answer your burning questions about Jupiter, the Juno mission, what the team hopes to learn about our solar system, and…

Space & Spaceflight Jennifer Ouellette

NASA’s Juno Mission Is About to Perform Its Most Dangerous Maneuvers

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been spinning through space on its way to Jupiter for five years and 445 million miles, and now it’s less than 10 hours away from entering the gas giant’s orbit—the equivalent of a single rotation of Jupiter. If all goes well, scientists will finally be able to learn what lies beneath…

Space & Spaceflight Jennifer Ouellette

Why Halley’s Comet Has Such a Wacky Orbit

Halley’s Comet pays us a visit every 76 years or so, but its exact arrival date cannot be predicted. A team of European astronomers has finally come up with an explanation for this comet’s erratic behavior. The last time Halley’s Comet swung by was in 1986, and it’s scheduled to make a return at some…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Five Amazing Facts About NASA’s Mission to Jupiter

After five years and 445 million miles, NASA’s Juno mission arrives in orbit around Jupiter on Monday to begin an unprecedented scientific study of the behemoth planet that shaped our solar system. https://gizmodo.com/nasas-mission-to-jupiter-will-tell-us-earths-origin-sto-1782284448 In addition to doing amazing science, Juno itself is an amazing machine, built to fly risky maneuvers in an unimaginably hostile environment.…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

The Sound of a Spacecraft Entering Jupiter’s Magnetic Field Is Nightmare Fuel

As NASA’s Juno mission continues to hurl itself toward Jupiter, the terrifying reality of flying close to the biggest and baddest planet in our solar system is starting to set in. Yesterday, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory dropped recordings the spacecraft created based on data it collected as it crossed Jupiter’s “bow shock” and entered the…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Jupiter’s Northern Lights Look Absolutely Incredible

If you want to see beautiful auroras, forget Alaska, Canada, and Iceland—check out Jupiter. At the gas giant’s north pole, the most powerful and luminous northern lights in the solar system shimmer and glow in an endless geomagnetic storm that’s larger than our entire planet. Jupiter’s glorious auroras—caused by the gas giant’s enormous magnetic field…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Those Bright Spots on Ceres Are Weirder Than We Imagined

After months of rampant speculation, scientists announced late last year that the bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres are giant deposits of salt. Case closed, right? Not exactly. We’ve since gotten a better look at the spots, and the craters they reside in, and Ceres is shaping up to be a much weirder place than…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

NASA’s Mission to Jupiter Will Tell Us Earth’s Origin Story

Three hundred and sixty five million miles away sits a cloud of gas so large it weighs more than Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune combined. It’s so powerful it’s been accused of slinging entire planets into the sun, and so ancient it could hold the key to the origin of Earth. I’m talking about Jupiter; a…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

We’re Getting Really Fucking Close to Jupiter

On July 4th, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will arrive in orbit around Jupiter for a new scientific mission that seeks to solve the decades-long mystery of what lies beneath the gas giant’s swirling cloud tops. As the latest stunning image from the spacecraft’s approach shows, we’re getting really fucking close. Juno is closing in on Jupiter’s…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

New Meteorite Offers Clues About the Origins of Life on Earth

Opals are beautiful gemstones, supposed harbingers of bad luck, and perhaps the only thing to come out of Australia that won’t kill you. According to new research from a team of British researchers, however, they’re also adding some sweet bling to a meteorite recently found in Antarctica. Beyond looking cool, the opal-studded meteorite also offers…

Tech News Sophie Kleeman

The Curiosity Rover Sure Looks Lonely When Seen From Space

A remarkable new image captured by a satellite in orbit around Mars shows the Curiosity rover as it explores the barren landscape. Curiosity is currently investigating the Naukluft Plateau, which is just north of the Bagnold Dune field. A newly released photo taken by the HiRISE instrument on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the…

Tech News George Dvorsky

It Looks Like Pluto Has a Liquid Water Ocean

For a frigid little space rock at the ass-end of the solar system, Pluto is full surprises. Ice volcanoes, hazy skies, vast plains of churning nitrogen, what’s next? Just maybe, a subsurface ocean. Perhaps the most incredible discovery of the New Horizons Pluto encounter last summer was that the former ninth planet is geologically active,…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

The Atmosphere of Venus Is More Terrifying Than We Imagined

Add this to the list of reasons Venus is a blistering hellscape: not only is the surface hot enough to melt lead, not only will the sulfuric acid rainstorms burn gaping holes in your partially-melted spaceship, it’s got a monstrous electric wind that appears to have helped strip all the water out of the atmosphere.…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

We Might Finally Solve the ‘Alien Megastructure’ Mystery

Good news alien hunters! A Kickstarter to fund a year-long investigation into KIC 8462852—the star voted most likely to harbor an advanced alien civilization—just got funded. Alien megastructure or not, we may finally get to the bottom of this bewildering, flickering star. This crowdfunding campaign was set up in May by Yale astronomer Tabby Boyajian,…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Curiosity Just Put Itself Into a Precautionary Safe Mode

NASA Sent Jupiter’s Jealous Wife to Check Up on Him and His Satellites

The Prospects for Alien Life on Titan Keep Getting Better

A Badass New Theory On the Origin of Mars’ Moons

Juno Had a Glorious View During Its Final Approach to Jupiter

How to Watch the Juno Spacecraft Arrive at Jupiter [Update: We Made It!]

A NASA Scientist Answers Your Questions About Juno Mission to Jupiter

NASA’s Juno Mission Is About to Perform Its Most Dangerous Maneuvers

Why Halley’s Comet Has Such a Wacky Orbit

Five Amazing Facts About NASA’s Mission to Jupiter

The Sound of a Spacecraft Entering Jupiter’s Magnetic Field Is Nightmare Fuel

Jupiter’s Northern Lights Look Absolutely Incredible

Those Bright Spots on Ceres Are Weirder Than We Imagined

NASA’s Mission to Jupiter Will Tell Us Earth’s Origin Story

We’re Getting Really Fucking Close to Jupiter

New Meteorite Offers Clues About the Origins of Life on Earth

The Curiosity Rover Sure Looks Lonely When Seen From Space

It Looks Like Pluto Has a Liquid Water Ocean

The Atmosphere of Venus Is More Terrifying Than We Imagined

We Might Finally Solve the ‘Alien Megastructure’ Mystery

Smart Glasses Now Have One of the Vision Pro’s Best Features

Marvel Just Put ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 in a Very Weird Place in the MCU Timeline

Trump Drops $1B to Kill 2 Wind Farms, Then Watches a Bigger One Go Online

Scientists Found a Weird New Way to Wash Fruits and Vegetables

White House’s Mysterious ‘Covfefe Moment’ Was Stupider Than We Imagined

Gym Bros Are Pushing Mystery Muscle Drugs Doctors Barely Recognize, Study Warns

The Head of HBO Explains What it Takes to Get a ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff Going

Elon Musk’s Lawyer Claims Jury’s 420 ‘Joke’ Proves He Didn’t Receive a Fair Trial

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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