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Astronauts Could Use the ScanMars Device to Search for Water on Mars There’s solid evidence for the existence of water on Mars, at least in frozen form at the planet’s poles. And a more recent study confirms the existence of liquid water at the south pole. But visitors to Mars will need to know the exact location of usable water deposits at other Martian locations. A ground-penetrating … Continue reading “Astronauts Could Use the ScanMars Device to Search for Water on Mars” The post Astronauts Could Use the ScanMars Device to Search for Water on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

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Here are the First Pictures From the Parker Solar Probe. Wait… That’s Not the Sun The Parker Solar Probe recently collected its first-light data in order to test its instruments, and snapped some beautiful pictures of the cosmos. The post Here are the First Pictures From the Parker Solar Probe. Wait… That’s Not the Sun appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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In the northern constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair) lies the impressive Coma Cluster— a structure of over a thousand galaxies bound together by gravity. Many of these galaxies are elliptical types, as is the brighter of the two galaxies dominating this image: NGC 4860 (center). However, the outskirts of the cluster also host younger spiral galaxies that proudly display their swirling arms. Again, this image shows a wonderful example of such a galaxy in the shape of the beautiful NGC 4858, which can be seen to the left of its bright neighbor and which stands out on account of its unusual, tangled, fiery appearance. PoweredRead More →

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An odd-shaped formation of gas and dust at the centre of the Milky Way, captured by the far-infrared cameras on board ESA’s Herschel space observatory. The nearly continuous strip of dense and cold clumps of material forms an infinity symbol, or sideways 8, that is a few hundred light years across. In this image, the strip twists around an invisible axis running roughly from the top left to the bottom right. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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A duo of researchers from the Czech Republic has performed a study of the neutral hydrogen supershell known as GS242-03+37, a large structure in the Milky Way galaxy. The research, presented in a paper published September 11 on arXiv.org, provides insights into the nature of this supershell and into its interactions with surroundings. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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There are about 4433 exoplanets in the latest catalogs. Their radii have generally been measured by knowing the radius of their host star and then closely fitting the lightcurves as the planet transits across the face of the star. The radius of the host star is thus a key parameter and latest data release of the Gaia mission has enabled astronomers to improve the accuracy of stellar properties in its catalog very significantly – to a precision in radius of about 8 percent—for nearly one hundred and eight thousand stars in the Kepler exoplanet fields. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions were observed earlier this night as a dense solar wind structure arrived at our planet. The north-south direction of the interplanetary magnetic field went mostly southward dipping as low as -9nT and that combined with the equinox effect caused us to reach minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions at 02:45 UTC. Source is likely the southern extension of the polar coronal hole that you can see in this video from NASA/SDO. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Astronomers find Planet Vulcan – 40 Eridani A – Right Where Star Trek Predicted it. One of the more interesting and rewarding aspects of astronomy and space exploration is seeing science fiction become science fact. While we are still many years away from colonizing the Solar System or reaching the nearest stars (if we ever do), there are still many rewarding discoveries being made that are fulfilling the fevered dreams … Continue reading “Astronomers find Planet Vulcan – 40 Eridani A – Right Where Star Trek Predicted it.” The post Astronomers find Planet Vulcan – 40 Eridani A – Right Where Star Trek Predicted it.Read More →

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Inside the Crust of Neutron Stars, There’s Nuclear Pasta; the Hardest Known Substance in the Universe A new study has shown that “nuclear pasta”, which exists beneath crust of a neutron star, is the strongest material is the Universe. The post Inside the Crust of Neutron Stars, There’s Nuclear Pasta; the Hardest Known Substance in the Universe appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Ice Volcanoes on Ceres are Still Actively Blasting out Material In science, one discovery often leads to more questions and mysteries. That’s certainly true of the ice volcanoes on the dwarf planet Ceres. When the Dawn spacecraft discovered the massive cryovolcano called Ahuna Mons on the surface of Ceres, it led to more questions: How cryovolcanically active is Ceres? And, why do we only see … Continue reading “Ice Volcanoes on Ceres are Still Actively Blasting out Material” The post Ice Volcanoes on Ceres are Still Actively Blasting out Material appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Narrowing Down the Mass of the Milky Way Using information from Gaia’s second data release, a team of scientists have made refined measurements of the mass of the Milky Way. The post Narrowing Down the Mass of the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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A UK team of astronomers report the first detection of matter falling into a black hole at 30 percent of the speed of light, located in the centre of the billion-light year distant galaxy PG211+143. The team, led by Professor Ken Pounds of the University of Leicester, used data from the European Space Agency’s X-ray observatory XMM-Newton to observe the black hole. Their results appear in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), European astronomers have uncovered the presence of an M-dwarf around the star EPIC 206011496. The newly found object is more than 60 percent less massive than our sun and is bounded to the primary star. The finding is reported in a paper published September 10 on arXiv.org. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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A team led by researchers from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB, UB-IEEC) and the University of Groningen has found, through the analysis of Gaia data, substructures in the Milky Way that were previously unknown. The findings, which appeared when combining positions and speed of 6 million stars from the galactic disk, have been published in the journal Nature. Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Last Year’s Gravitational Wave Detections Failed to Provide a Hint of Any Extra Spatial Dimensions In a new study, astrophysicists used the gravitational waves from last year’s kilonova event to determine if the Universe has additional dimensions. The post Last Year’s Gravitational Wave Detections Failed to Provide a Hint of Any Extra Spatial Dimensions appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Carnival of Space #579 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by me at the CosmoQuest blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #579 And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to susie@wshcrew.space, and … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #579” The post Carnival of Space #579 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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How to Know Once and For All if the Universe Began With a Bang or a Bounce In a recent study, a team of Harvard University scientists presented a new means of ruling out alternative explanations for how our Universe began. The post How to Know Once and For All if the Universe Began With a Bang or a Bounce appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Heralding the 2018 Harvest Moon Following the Moon lately? The up and coming Full Moon is the most famous of them all, as we approach the Harvest Moon for 2018. The post Heralding the 2018 Harvest Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →

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Black holes form when stars die, allowing the matter in them to collapse into an extremely dense object from which not even light can escape. Astronomers theorize that massive black holes could also form at the birth of a galaxy, but so far nobody has been able to look far enough back in time to observe the conditions creating these direct collapse black holes (DCBH). Powered by WPeMaticoRead More →