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UrduAstronomers have spotted a giant ‘blinking’ star towards the centre of the Milky Way, more than 25,000 light years away. An international team of astronomers observed the star, VVV-WIT-08, decreasing in brightness by a factor of 30, so that it…
Tag: PLANETS/MOONS
Star’s death will play a mean pinball with rhythmic planets
Four planets locked in a perfect rhythm around a nearby star are destined to be pinballed around their solar system when their sun eventually dies, according to a study led by the University of Warwick that peers into its future
Lunar sample tells ancient story with help of Curtin’s world-class facilities
Curtin University researchers have helped uncover the 4-billion-year-old story of a lunar sample brought from the moon to Earth, by the manned Apollo 17 mission more than 50 years ago
Queqiao: The bridge between Earth and the far side of the moon
Researchers explain the design of the relay communication satellite that enabled us to peek at the hidden face of the moon
Scientists discover new exoplanet with an atmosphere ripe for study
An international group of collaborators, including scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and The University of New Mexico, have discovered a new, temperate sub-Neptune sized exoplanet with a 24-day orbital period orbiting a nearby M dwarf star. The recent discovery…
Asteroid 16 Psyche might not be what scientists expected
New UArizona research finds that the target asteroid of NASA’s Psyche mission may not be as metallic or dense as previously predicted
Stream of stars extends thousands of light-years across the Milky Way
It’s hard to see more than a handful of stars from Princeton University, because the lights from New York City, Princeton and Philadelphia prevent our sky from ever getting pitch black, but stargazers who get into more rural areas can…
Researchers prepare to send fungi for a ride around the moon
WASHINGTON — Microbiologists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory are preparing experimental samples of fungi to send for a ride around the moon tentatively scheduled for later in 2021 or early 2022. The experiment aims to provide insight into fungi’s…
Moon research to expand lunar measures beyond Apollo missions
Researchers designing tools needed to collect data and advance our understanding of the lunar subsurface
Dark energy survey releases most precise look at the universe’s evolution
First three years of survey data uses observations of 226 million galaxies over 1/8 of the sky
Deep oceans dissolve the rocky shell of water-ice planets
What is happening deep beneath the surface of ice planets? Is there liquid water, and if so, how does it interact with the planetary rocky “seafloor”? New experiments show that on water-ice planets between the size of our Earth and…
Planetary scientist receives NASA’s Early Career Award
Funding will support new field-portable lab, help train next-generation analog scientists
SwRI-led PUNCH mission passes important milestone
Solar wind imaging satellites one step closer to 2023 launch
Study reveals new details on what happened in the first microsecond of Big Bang
Researchers from University of Copenhagen have investigated what happened to a specific kind of plasma – the first matter ever to be present – during the first microsecond of Big Bang.
Leicester astronomers look ahead to first light from James Webb Space Telescope
Leicester space scientists will join a group of global experts investigating fundamental questions about our Universe, after being granted time to use the most advanced observatory ever built. A total of 286 scientific targets identified by astronomers and planetary scientists…
Researchers create new lunar map to help guide future exploration missions
The map, along with proposed paths for robotic rovers, provides new details on a scientifically important region of the moon’s south pole.
UBCO researcher uses geology to help astronomers find habitable planets
Findings will help better identify Earth-like planets that could sustain life
Humungous flare from sun’s nearest neighbor breaks records
Scientists have spotted the largest flare ever recorded from the sun’s nearest neighbor, the star Proxima Centauri.
Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life beneath its surface, study finds
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As NASA’s Perseverance rover begins its search for ancient life on the surface of Mars, a new study suggests that the Martian subsurface might be a good place to look for possible present-day life on…
Record-breaking flare from Sun’s nearest neighbor
Discovery a ‘coup’ in astrophysics involving observations with nine instruments
Researchers identify five double star systems potentially suitable for life
Stable liquid water could exist on surface of any Earth-like exoplanets
Caught speeding: Clocking the fastest-spinning brown dwarfs
Gemini North observations help set rotational speed limit for brown dwarfs
Mars didn’t dry up in one go
The Perseverance rover has just landed on Mars. Meanwhile, its precursor Curiosity continues to explore the base of Mount Sharp (officially Aeolis Mons), a mountain several kilometres high at the centre of the Gale crater. Using the telescope on the…
New research shows that Mars did not dry up all at once
Mars had dry and wet eras and dried up for good 3 billion years ago
Alien raindrops surprisingly like rain on Earth
WASHINGTON–Raindrops on other planets and moons are close to the size of raindrops on Earth despite having different chemical compositions and falling through vastly different atmospheres, a new study finds. The results suggest raindrops falling from clouds are surprisingly similar…
Astrophysics student Ellen Price awarded 51 Pegasi B Fellowship
The fellowship provides exceptional scientists with the opportunity to conduct theoretical, observational and experimental research in planetary astronomy
First X-rays from Uranus discovered
Astronomers have detected X-rays from Uranus for the first time, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result may help scientists learn more about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun…
Venus plots a comeback
In terms of space exploration, Mars is all the rage these days. This has left our closest neighbor, Venus — previously the most attractive planet to study because of its proximity and similar atmosphere to Earth — in the lurch.…
Researchers discover new type of ancient crater lake on Mars
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Researchers from Brown University have discovered a previously unknown type of ancient crater lake on Mars that could reveal clues about the planet’s early climate. In a study published in Planetary Science Journal , a…
Black hole seeds key to galaxies behemoths
Early Universe explosion sheds light on elusive black hole
Launch of Europe’s largest astronomy network
Until now, Europe has had two major collaborative networks for ground-based astronomy, one in the optical wavelength domain and the other in the radio-wave domain. OPTICON and RadioNet have now come together to form Europe’s largest ground-based astronomy collaborative network.…
Trinity researchers tackle the spiders from Mars
Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have been shedding light on the enigmatic “spiders from Mars”, providing the first physical evidence that these unique features on the planet’s surface can be formed by the sublimation of CO2 ice. Spiders, more formally…
Powerful stratospheric winds measured on Jupiter for the first time
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, a team of astronomers have directly measured winds in Jupiter’s middle atmosphere for the first time. By analysing the aftermath of a comet…
Found in space: Complex carbon-based molecules
Discovery may offer clues to carbon’s role in planet and star formation.
SwRI scientists help identify the first stratospheric winds measured on Jupiter
Jovian jet streams above the cloud tops measured using the aftermath of comet collision
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot feeds on smaller storms
The massive storm near the gas giant’s equator has been shrinking, but collisions with a series of anticyclones are likely only surface deep
Icy ocean worlds seismometer passes further testing in Greenland
The NASA-funded Seismometer to Investigate Ice and Ocean Structure (SIIOS) performed well in seismic experiments conducted in snowy summer Greenland, according to a new study by the SIIOS team led by the University of Arizona published this week in Seismological…
SwRI researcher theorizes worlds with underground oceans support, conceal life
Layers of ice and rock obviate the need for “habitable zone” and shield life against threats
Is there life on mars today and where?
Challenging assumptions about the possibility of modern life on Mars
Jupiter’s “dawn storm” auroras are surprisingly Earth-like
A new study tracks the life cycle of the spectacular ultraviolet storms in the big planet’s aurora, generated by charged particles from its volcanic moon, Io
Skoltech and MIT researchers identify optimal human landing system architectures to land on the Moon
Researchers from Skoltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have analyzed several dozen options to pick the best one in terms of performance and costs for the ‘last mile’ of a future mission to the Moon – actually delivering astronauts…
Experts recreate a mechanical Cosmos for the world’s first computer
Researchers at UCL have solved a major piece of the puzzle that makes up the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism, a hand-powered mechanical device that was used to predict astronomical events. Known to many as the…
How the habitability of exoplanets is influenced by their rocks
The conditions on Earth are ideal for life. Most places on our planet are neither too hot nor too cold and offer liquid water. These and other requirements for life, however, delicately depend on the right composition of the atmosphere.…
Hubble sees new atmosphere forming on a rocky exoplanet
The planet GJ 1132 b appears to have begun life as a gaseous world with a thick blanket of atmosphere. Starting out at several times the radius of Earth, this so-called “sub-Neptune” quickly lost its primordial hydrogen and helium atmosphere,…
Engineers propose solar-powered lunar ark as ‘modern global insurance policy’
The ambitious project proposed by a University of Arizona team aims to preserve humankind – and animal-kind, plant-kind and fungi-kind – in the event of a global crisis
What is life? And will we find it on other planets? (video)
WASHINGTON, March 8, 2021 — Chemistry is helping us figure out how life got started on Earth and is giving us molecules to look for on other planets. In this episode of Reactions, we break down what “life” is and…
A giant, sizzling planet may be orbiting the star Vega
Astronomers have discovered new hints of a giant, scorching-hot planet orbiting Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The research, published this month in The Astronomical Journal , was led by University of Colorado Boulder student Spencer…
Engineering marvel: Sixth mirror cast for Giant Magellan Telescope
The 8.4-meter mirror joins five of the world’s largest mirrors previously cast for the Giant Magellan Telescope, one of the world’s largest and most anticipated extremely large telescopes.
Sixth mirror casting brings Giant Magellan Telescope closer to completion
In a marvel of modern engineering that takes four years of effort, the 8.4-meter mirror is the second-to-last being made for the Giant Magellan Telescope, one of the world’s largest and most anticipated telescopes
A super-Earth is discovered which can be used to test planetary atmosphere models
During the past 25 years astronomers have discovered a wide variety of exoplanets, made of rock, ice and gas, thanks to the construction of astronomical instruments designed specifically for planet searches. Also, using a combination of different observing techniques they…