Why Lava Tubes Should be Our Top Exploration Priority on Other Worlds When magma comes out of the Earth onto the surface, it flows as lava. Those lava flows are fascinating to watch, and they leave behind some unique landforms and rocks. But a lot of what’s fascinating about these flows can be hidden underground, […]

New Zealand just got its first International Dark Sky Park As light pollution around the world increases, we are losing our access to the night sky. Thankfully, dark sky preserves and parks do exactly what their names suggest – preserve the night sky as our ancestors knew it. And recently, the Wai-iti Recreational Reserve and […]

Finally! We’ve got a comet that’s visible to the unaided eye. Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE Look up! A rare naked-eye comet, C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), is now visible to the unaided eye. But act fast – this celestial treat won’t last long. Astronomers first detected the comet C/2020 F3 (better known as NEOWISE) in late March […]

A Giant Galaxy Seen Lighting Up the Universe Shortly After the Big Bang The discovery of a bright galaxy that existed 13 billion years ago is shedding light on a period known own as the “Cosmic Dark Ages.” The post A Giant Galaxy Seen Lighting Up the Universe Shortly After the Big Bang appeared first […]

That Strange Gel-Like Material Discovered by China’s Lunar Rover? It’s Just Rock In January 2019, China landed its Chang’e 4 mission on the Moon’s far side. The Yutu-2 rover got busy exploring its surroundings. It’s still going, even though the rover’s nominal operating mission was only three months. Among the mission’s findings was a strange […]

Scientists Have Developed a Way to Make Human Skin More Protected from Space Radiation Earth is a radiation cocoon. Inside that cocoon, the atmosphere and the magnetosphere keep us mostly safe from the Sun’s radiaition. Some ultraviolet light gets through, and can damage us. But reasonable precautions like simply minimizing exposure can keep the Sun’s […]

Languages Will Change Significantly on Interstellar Flights A pair of linguists recently did a study, which appeared in an ESA-associated journal, that discusses how interstellar travel could lead to changes in our language. The post Languages Will Change Significantly on Interstellar Flights appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source

Although InSight’s Mole is Completely Buried, it Might be Stuck Again You’ve gotta hand it to NASA, and to the German Aerospace Center (DLR.) They’ve been struggling for over a year to get the InSight Lander’s Mole working. There’ve been setbacks, then progress, then more setbacks, as they try to get the Mole deep enough […]

What Telescope Will Be Needed to See the First Stars in the Universe? The Ultimately Large Telescope The oldest stars in the Universe are cloaked in darkness. Their redshift is so high, we can only wonder about them. The James Webb Space Telescope will be our most effective telescope for observing the very early Universe, […]

Detecting the Neutrinos From a Supernova That’s About to Explode Neutrinos are puzzling things. They’re tiny particles, almost massless, with no electrical charge. They’re notoriously difficult to detect, too, and scientists have gone to great lengths to detect them. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, for instance, tries to detect neutrinos with strings of detectors buried down […]

Dawn Patrol: Jupiter and Saturn at Opposition 2020 Missing the planets in the first half of 2020? That’s all about to change, as the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn reach opposition in rapid succession this month, heralding a return to the dusk sky. The post Dawn Patrol: Jupiter and Saturn at Opposition 2020 appeared first […]