News (Page 388)

Geysers on Europa might come from pockets of water under the ice Observations have already confirmed the existence of a sub-surface ocean on Europa, and there has been rampant speculation about whether they could contain life.  While there have been tentative plans to send a submersible spacecraft to this ocean, we are still a long way from uncovering what lies in those depths. Which is one big … Continue reading “Geysers on Europa might come from pockets of water under the ice” The post Geysers on Europa might come from pockets of water under the ice appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

The Moon has Resources, but Not Enough to Go Around A new study led by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics explains how the Moon may not have enough resources to support everything we plan to build up there. The post The Moon has Resources, but Not Enough to Go Around appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers See a Newly Forming Planetary Disk That’s Continuing to Feed On Material from its Nebula Over the last few years, astronomers have observed distant solar systems in their early stages of growth. ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) has captured images of young stars and their disks of material. And in those disks, they’ve spotted the tell-tale gaps that signal the presence of growing young planets. As they ramped up their … Continue reading “Astronomers See a Newly Forming Planetary Disk That’s Continuing to Feed On Material from its Nebula” The post Astronomers See a Newly Forming Planetary Disk That’s Continuing to Feed On MaterialRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: November 25, 2020, Dr. Olivier Witasse, Project Scientist, the JUICE Mission This week we are aired Fraser’s pre-recorded interview with Dr. Olivier Witasse, Project Scientist on the JUICE mission. Olivier studied fundamental physics and astrophysics at the universities of Paris XI (Orsay) and Lyon between 1990 and 1996. He obtained a PhD at the University of Grenoble in 2000. In 1995, he successfully completed the exams … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: November 25, 2020, Dr. Olivier Witasse, Project Scientist, the JUICE Mission” The post Weekly Space Hangout: November 25, 2020, Dr. Olivier Witasse, Project Scientist, the JUICE Mission appeared first onRead More →

RocketLab Recovers a First-Stage Booster for the First Time: “Return to Sender” In recent years, one of the most impressive developments for space exploration has been the rise of the commercial space industry (aka. NewSpace). Beyond fulfilling contracts with space agencies like NASA to provide commercial and crewed launch services, private aerospace companies are also fostering innovation that is helping to reduce the cost of sending payloads … Continue reading “RocketLab Recovers a First-Stage Booster for the First Time: “Return to Sender”” The post RocketLab Recovers a First-Stage Booster for the First Time: “Return to Sender” appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

A New Artist’s Illustration of the Extremely Large Telescope. So Many Lasers Everyone loves lasers. And the only thing better than a bunch of lasers is a bunch of lasers on one of the world’s (soon to be) largest telescopes, the E-ELT. Well, maybe a bunch of lasers on a time-travelling T. Rex that appears in your observatory and demands to know the locations and trajectories of … Continue reading “A New Artist’s Illustration of the Extremely Large Telescope. So Many Lasers” The post A New Artist’s Illustration of the Extremely Large Telescope. So Many Lasers appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Catch Monday Morning’s Subtle Lunar Eclipse A penumbral lunar eclipse in the early morning hours of November 30th marks the start of the last eclipse season for 2020. The post Catch Monday Morning’s Subtle Lunar Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Solar astronomers can now predict future sunspots. There should be a big one in a couple of days Predicting the appearance of a sunspot is like predicting a tornado. But astronomers are starting to do it. The post Solar astronomers can now predict future sunspots. There should be a big one in a couple of days appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

China’s Chang’e-5 Probe Is Off to Bring Back a Moon Sample — and NASA Hopes to See the Data China’s Chang’e-5 probe is on its way to the Moon for a mission that could bring back the first samples of lunar rocks and dirt in more than 40 years. The 8.2-metric-ton spacecraft was sent into space from south China’s Wenchang Space Launch Center at 4:30 a.m. local time November 24th (20:30 Universal Time November 23rd) atop a Long … Continue reading “China’s Chang’e-5 Probe Is Off to Bring Back a Moon Sample — and NASA Hopes to See the Data” The post China’s Chang’e-5 Probe Is Off to BringRead More →

Here’s what we know about Earth’s new minimoon For only the second time in history, astronomers have discovered a new, natural-origin, minimoon orbiting the Earth. The minimoon, known as 2020CD3 (CD3 for short), was first discovered by Kacper Werizchos and Teddy Pruyne using data from the Catalina Sky Survey. Once CD3’s orbit was determined to be geo-centric, Queens University Belfast Post-Doctoral Research Fellow … Continue reading “Here’s what we know about Earth’s new minimoon” The post Here’s what we know about Earth’s new minimoon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →