Fastest Star Ever Seen is Moving at 8% the Speed of Light A star orbiting the black hole in the center of our galaxy is moving so fast it can only be described relativistically. The post Fastest Star Ever Seen is Moving at 8% the Speed of Light appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Physicists calculate when the last supernova ever will happen The end of the universe as we know it will not come with a bang. Most stars will slowly fizzle as their temperatures fade to zero. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Virgin Galactic Wants to Build a Supersonic Jetliner That’ll go Even Faster Than the Concorde Virgin Galactic has announced a partnership with engine-maker Rolls Royce to develop a supersonic jetliner that will be even faster than the Concorde The post Virgin Galactic Wants to Build a Supersonic Jetliner That’ll go Even Faster Than the Concorde appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
A Huge Ring-Like Structure on Ganymede Might be the Result of an Enormous Impact Ganymede’s surface is a bit of a puzzle for planetary scientists. About two-thirds of its surface is covered in lighter terrain, while the remainder is darker. Both types of terrain are ancient, with the lighter portion being slightly younger. The two types of terrain are spread around the moon, and the darker terrain contains concurrent … Continue reading “A Huge Ring-Like Structure on Ganymede Might be the Result of an Enormous Impact” The post A Huge Ring-Like Structure on Ganymede Might be the Result of an Enormous Impact appeared first onRead More →
It’s Starting to Look Like Ceres is an Ocean World, Too A new and thorough analysis of high-resolution images and data from NASA’s Dawn mission have now provided fresh insights into the dwarf planet Ceres, with intriguing evidence that Ceres has a global subsurface salty ocean, and has been geologically active in the recent past. “Evidence that Ceres has long-lived deep brine reservoirs is an exciting … Continue reading “It’s Starting to Look Like Ceres is an Ocean World, Too” The post It’s Starting to Look Like Ceres is an Ocean World, Too appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
SpaceX is Hiring People to Help Build a Resort at the Boca Chica Launch Facility SpaceX recently announced that they are looking for a Resort Development Manager to help them turn Boca Chica into a bona fide spaceport The post SpaceX is Hiring People to Help Build a Resort at the Boca Chica Launch Facility appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
ALMA sees most distant Milky Way look-alike Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant and therefore very young galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy is so far away its light has taken more than 12 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just 1.4 billion years old. It is also surprisingly unchaotic, contradicting theories that all galaxies in the early Universe were turbulent and unstable. This unexpected discovery challenges our understanding of how galaxies form, giving newRead More →
Hubble Examines Earth’s Reflection as an ‘Exoplanet’ During a Lunar Eclipse What would we look for in a distant exoplanet in the hunt for Earth-like worlds, and perhaps life? A recent observation carried out by the Hubble Space Telescope found tell-tale signatures from our home planet by looking at a familiar source under extraordinary circumstances: Earth’s Moon, during a total lunar eclipse. The experiment was carried … Continue reading “Hubble Examines Earth’s Reflection as an ‘Exoplanet’ During a Lunar Eclipse” The post Hubble Examines Earth’s Reflection as an ‘Exoplanet’ During a Lunar Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation Stars form from the collapse of dense clouds of gas and dust, which makes it very hard for astronomers to watch the process unfold. Recently the ALMA telescope has revealed a treasure trove of embryonic stars in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, illuminating how baby stars are born. The Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama … Continue reading “Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation” The post Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Lava Tubes on the Moon and Mars are Really, Really Big. Big Enough to Fit an Entire Planetary Base Could lava tubes on the Moon and Mars play a role in establishing a human presence on those worlds? Possibly, according to a team of researchers. Their new study shows that lunar and Martian lava tubes might be enormous, and easily large enough to accommodate a base. Both the Moon and Mars were volcanically active … Continue reading “Lava Tubes on the Moon and Mars are Really, Really Big. Big Enough to Fit an Entire Planetary Base” The post Lava Tubes on the Moon and MarsRead More →
Broken cable damages giant radio telescope in Puerto Rico A broken cable caused severe damage at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, causing a suspension of operations for one of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes, officials said Tuesday. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Astronomers Think They’ve Found the Neutron Star Remnant From Supernova 1987a Recent observations and theortetical work have brought us one step closer to resolving the mystery of what lies at the center of the supernova SN 1987A The post Astronomers Think They’ve Found the Neutron Star Remnant From Supernova 1987a appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
InSight’s Mole Is In! The InSight lander is making progress on Mars. After many months of struggle and careful adaptation, the InSight lander’s ‘Mole’ is finally into the ground. There’s still more delicate work to be done, and they’re not at operating depth yet. But after such a long, arduous affair, this feels like a victory. The InSight (Interior … Continue reading “InSight’s Mole Is In!” The post InSight’s Mole Is In! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Martian Sky Pulses in Ultraviolet Every Night There’s a surprising phenomenon taking place in Mars’ atmosphere: during the spring and fall seasons on the Red Planet, large areas of the sky pulse in ultraviolet light, exactly three times every night. “The ultraviolet glow … is as bright in the ultraviolet as Earth’s northern lights,” said Zac Milby, of the University of … Continue reading “The Martian Sky Pulses in Ultraviolet Every Night” The post The Martian Sky Pulses in Ultraviolet Every Night appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
NASA’s planet Hunter completes its primary mission On July 4, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) finished its primary mission, imaging about 75% of the starry sky as part of a two-year-long survey. In capturing this giant mosaic, TESS has found 66 new exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system, as well as nearly 2,100 candidates astronomers are working to confirm. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Radio relics detected in the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J2032−5627 Using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), astronomers have performed observations of a cluster of galaxies known as SPT-CL J2032−5627. They identified two radio relics that could improve our knowledge about this cluster. The finding is reported in a paper published August 3 on arXiv.org. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Classifying galaxies with artificial intelligence Astronomers have applied artificial intelligence (AI) to ultra-wide field-of-view images of the distant Universe captured by the Subaru Telescope, and have achieved a very high accuracy for finding and classifying spiral galaxies in those images. This technique, in combination with citizen science, is expected to yield further discoveries in the future. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Mystery solved: Bright areas on Ceres come from salty water below NASA’s Dawn spacecraft gave scientists extraordinary close-up views of the dwarf planet Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. By the time the mission ended in October 2018, the orbiter had dipped to less than 22 miles (35 kilometers) above the surface, revealing crisp details of the mysterious bright regions Ceres had become known for. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Dwarf planet Ceres is an ocean world: study The dwarf planet Ceres—long believed to be a barren space rock—is an ocean world with reservoirs of sea water beneath its surface, the results of a major exploration mission showed Monday. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Inside the ice giants of space A new theoretical method paves the way to modeling the interior of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, thanks to computer simulations on the water contained within them. The tool, developed by scientists from SISSA in Trieste and the University of California at Los Angeles and recently published in Nature Communications, allows one to analyze thermal and electric processes occurring at physical conditions that are often impossible to reproduce experimentally, with a much easier and low-cost approach. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
