Starshade Competition Challenges Students to Block Starlight for Observing Exoplanets

The Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets proposes pairing the newest and largest ground-based telescopes with a starshade orbiting Earth to obstruct the light from a host star to identify and characterize an exoplanet. AIP, with NASA and SPS, is organizing a competition for undergraduate students in the physical sciences to design such a starshade.

Experts say the discovery of Earthbound asteroids and comets needs improvement; too many satellites could prevent discovery

A new survey of planetary defense experts from Apollo Academic Surveys and Olin College of Engineering reports that discovery of asteroids and comets needs improvement. In addition, the proliferation of commercial satellites could prevent them from identifying Earthbound asteroids and comets.

Color Change in Space Materials May Help Measure Degradation Remotely

For the next six months, a camera system on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) will be snapping photos of more than a dozen different material samples, gathering detailed information that will help researchers determine how – and why – the harsh conditions of space affect these materials.

Seeds in space: plant research on Artemis I mission

How will we grow food in space? That’s one question Michigan State University’s Federica Brandizzi has been particularly interested in solving.

Brandizzi, an MSU Foundation Professor in the College of Natural Science and the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, will be sending seeds on the Artemis I mission to better understand how to grow food during space travel.

Chula Engineering Student Team Wins Runner-up Award at Spaceport America Cup 2022

A big round of applause to members of the Chulalongkorn University High Altitude Research Club – CUHAR from Aerospace Engineering (AERO), Chula International School of Engineering, who represented Thailand at the Spaceport America Cup 2022.

GW Experts Available to Discuss Russia Leaving the International Space Station

WASHINGTON (July 26, 2022) — Yuri Borisov, head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, has announced Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024 to focus on building a Russian orbiting station. Experts from the George Washington University’s Space…

WVU scientist says NASA’s Webb Telescope will boost space research at University, Green Bank Observatory

The first photos from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have given researchers the deepest and clearest infrared look into space to date. West Virginia University researcher Maura McLaughlin, distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at the Eberly College of Arts…

NASA’s Webb to Uncover Riches of the Early Universe

Telescopes have spotted many distant galaxies – but none earlier than 400 million years after the big bang. What were galaxies that existed even earlier like? Two research teams using the James Webb Space Telescope will wield its state-of-the-art instruments to reveal an untold number of details about this early period in the universe for the first time – and revise what we know about some of the earliest chapters of galaxy evolution.

Rapid-fire fast radio burst shows hot space between galaxies

A recently discovered, rare and persistent rapid-fire fast radio burst source – sending out an occasional and informative cosmic ping from more than 3.5 billion light years away – helps to reveal the secrets of the broiling hot space between the galaxies. That’s according to an international team of astronomers who published their findings in the journal Nature.

Astronomers Closer to Unlocking Origin of Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts

Nearly 15 years after the discovery of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the origin of the millisecond-long, deep-space cosmic explosions remains a mystery. That may soon change, thanks to the work of an international team of scientists – including UNLV astrophysicist Bing Zhang – which tracked hundreds of the bursts from five different sources and found clues in FRB polarization patterns that may reveal their origin.

Laboratory Will Illuminate Formation, Composition, Activity of Comets

In Review of Scientific Instruments, researchers have developed a laboratory to simulate comets in space-like conditions. The goal of the Comet Physics Laboratory is to understand the internal structure of comets, as well as how their constituent materials form and react. Many of the lab’s future experiments will involve creating sample comet materials with differing compositions. By testing those materials in the space-like chamber, the researchers can compare each sample to what has been observed on actual comets.

Sanford Burnham Prebys professor Karen Ocorr awarded $2 million from NASA to study flies in space

As part of their larger initiative to understand the effects of space conditions on different organisms, NASA has awarded $2 million to Sanford Burnham Prebys assistant professor Karen Ocorr. The grant will fund a three-year project to study the effects of low gravity on muscle and neuron function in fruit flies and nematode worms aboard the International Space Station.

Cosmic Rays May Be Key to Understanding Galactic Dynamics

While moving around within the gas in the interstellar medium, cosmic rays kickstart the background protons, which causes a collective plasma wave movement akin to ripples on a lake. The big question is how cosmic rays deposit their momentum into the background plasma. In Physics of Plasmas, plasma astrophysicists review recent developments within the field of studying the streaming instability triggered by cosmic rays, which likely have more impacts on galactic dynamics and the star formation cycle than previously known.

Space Race with China: expert talk & interview availability

A New Space Race? Rediscovering Star Wars and the new High Frontier Tuesday, July 13 at 4PM EDT. The Foreign Press Association is hosting a critical talk by space policy and business expert Professor Greg Autry on China’s advances in…

36 Dwarf Galaxies Had Simultaneous “Baby Boom” of New Stars

Three dozen dwarf galaxies far from each other had a simultaneous “baby boom” of new stars, an unexpected discovery that challenges current theories on how galaxies grow and may enhance our understanding of the universe. Galaxies more than 1 million light-years apart should have completely independent lives in terms of when they give birth to new stars. But galaxies separated by up to 13 million light-years slowed down and then simultaneously accelerated their birth rate of stars, according to a Rutgers-led study published in the Astrophysical Journal.

UCI-led team challenges existence of recently proposed exoplanet at Barnard’s star

In 2018, astronomers announced that they had discovered an exoplanet orbiting Barnard’s star, our solar system’s second-closest stellar neighbor, but further analysis by an international group of researchers headed by a graduate student at the University of California, Irvine has cast doubt on the finding.

Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument team begins 3D mapping of universe

Irvine, Calif., May 18, 2021 — The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument collaboration launched a new era in cosmology today with a five-year endeavor to construct the largest three-dimensional map of the universe. Comprised of nearly 500 scientists from around the globe, including astronomers at the University of California, Irvine, the DESI group will collect spectral data from more than 30 million galaxies to study dark energy, an as-yet-unknown substance believed to be causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate.

Chula Unveils World-Class Innovative Prosthesis Made by Thais

April 9, 2021 – Chula holds the 4th CHULA the Impact Seminar entitled “World–Class Innovative Prosthesis Made by Thais” showcasing the capabilities of Chula researchers from Chula Engineering Enterprises

Rutgers Expert Available to Discuss Supernova Discovery

New Brunswick, N.J. (April 21, 2021) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick astrophysicist John P. (Jack) Hughes is available for interviews on a supernova (exploding star) discovery published today in the journal Nature. The discovery, made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, features…

Experimental Biology 2021 Press Materials Available Now

Embargoed press materials are now available for the virtual Experimental Biology (EB) 2021 meeting, featuring cutting-edge multidisciplinary research from across the life sciences. EB 2021, to be held April 27–30, is the annual meeting of five scientific societies bringing together thousands of scientists and 25 guest societies in one interdisciplinary community.