News (Page 398)

Geologists Have Found the Earth’s Missing Tectonic Plate Northern Canada has been keeping a secret from the rest of the world. It’s home to “Resurrection,” a tectonic plate that has been much theorized but never found until now. A team of researchers used what amounts to a CAT scan of northern Canada and the mantle underneath it to find the missing plate. Finding … Continue reading “Geologists Have Found the Earth’s Missing Tectonic Plate” The post Geologists Have Found the Earth’s Missing Tectonic Plate appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers Find the Hollowed-Out Shell of a Dwarf Galaxy that Collided With the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago In 2005 astronomers found a dense grouping of stars in the Virgo constellation. It looked like a star cluster, except further surveys showed that some of the stars are moving towards us, and some are moving away. That finding was unexpected and suggested the Stream was no simple star cluster. A 2019 study showed that … Continue reading “Astronomers Find the Hollowed-Out Shell of a Dwarf Galaxy that Collided With the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago” The post Astronomers Find the Hollowed-Out Shell of aRead More →

Astronomers Challenge Recent Findings About Venus. “No Statistically Significant Detection of Phosphine” In September, a team of scientists reported finding phosphine in the upper atmosphere of Venus. Phosphine can be a biomarker and is here on Earth. But it’s also present on Jupiter, where it’s produced abiotically. The discovery led to conjecture about what kind of life might survive in Venus’ atmosphere, continually producing the easily-degraded phosphine. … Continue reading “Astronomers Challenge Recent Findings About Venus. “No Statistically Significant Detection of Phosphine”” The post Astronomers Challenge Recent Findings About Venus. “No Statistically Significant Detection of Phosphine” appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Scientists Think They Know What Caused the Deadliest Mass Extinction in the History of the Earth Humanity can have a love/hate relationship with itself, but there’s no denying that we’re the pinnacle of evolution on Earth as things stand now. But it took an awfully long time for evolution to produce beings such as we. Several times, life had to drag itself back from near annihilation. The largest extinction setback was … Continue reading “Scientists Think They Know What Caused the Deadliest Mass Extinction in the History of the Earth” The post Scientists Think They Know What Caused the Deadliest Mass Extinction in the HistoryRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: October 21, 2020, Dr. Jill Tarter and the Search for Technosignatures This week we are excited (and honored) to welcome Dr. Jill Tarter to the Weekly Space Hangout. Best known for her work in the field of SETI, tonight Jill will be discussing the search for technosignatures. Dr. Jill Tarter is the Emeritus Chair for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California and … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: October 21, 2020, Dr. Jill Tarter and the Search for Technosignatures” The post Weekly Space Hangout: October 21, 2020, Dr. Jill Tarter and the Search for Technosignatures appeared first onRead More →

Tales of Two Fall Comets: 88P Howell and M3 ATLAS Two more comets worth scouting the sky for into November 2020. The post Tales of Two Fall Comets: 88P Howell and M3 ATLAS appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

What Would a Realistic Space Battle Look Like? Science fiction space movies can do a poor job of educating people about space. In the movies, hot-shot pilots direct their dueling space ships through space as if they’re flying through an atmosphere. They bank and turn and perform loops and rolls, maybe throw in a quick Immelman, as if they’re subject to Earth’s gravity. … Continue reading “What Would a Realistic Space Battle Look Like?” The post What Would a Realistic Space Battle Look Like? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Crew of the ISS has Found the Source of the Station’s Air Leak The ISS crew has found the source of the elusive leak using (wait for it!) tea leaves! The hole is now patched, but a permanent fix is still needed. The post The Crew of the ISS has Found the Source of the Station’s Air Leak appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

We use the transit method to find other planets. Which extraterrestrial civilizations could use the transit method to find Earth? We have found more than 4,000 planets orbiting other stars. Life on distant worlds could find us in the same way. The post We use the transit method to find other planets. Which extraterrestrial civilizations could use the transit method to find Earth? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Oxygen Supply has Failed in the Russian Zvezda Module of the ISS. Don’t Worry, the Astronauts aren’t in Danger, but the Station is Showing its Age Crews aboard the ISS are working to repair the leak, which posed no significant risk. Unfortunately, it shows that the ISS is getting on in years! The post The Oxygen Supply has Failed in the Russian Zvezda Module of the ISS. Don’t Worry, the Astronauts aren’t in Danger, but the Station is Showing its Age appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Success! OSIRIS-REx Touches Asteroid Bennu to Collect Samples Out in the asteroid belt, 207 million miles (334 million km) from Earth, a little spacecraft briefly touched down on the surface of Asteroid Bennu today, attempting to collect samples of dust and rocks. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) spent about 10 seconds on the ancient asteroid to collect … Continue reading “Success! OSIRIS-REx Touches Asteroid Bennu to Collect Samples” The post Success! OSIRIS-REx Touches Asteroid Bennu to Collect Samples appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →