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Perseverance Rover Rumbles Off the Launchpad to Mars NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is now successfully on its journey to Mars, launching from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:50 am EDT (1150 GMT). Just minutes before the Atlas 5 rocket rumbled off the launchpad, a 2.9 magnitude earthquake rumbled out in California, giving a minor shake to … Continue reading “Perseverance Rover Rumbles Off the Launchpad to Mars” The post Perseverance Rover Rumbles Off the Launchpad to Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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There’s a flash of ultraviolet just as a white dwarf is exploding as a supernova Astronomers recently spotted a rare type of supernova explosion that was accompanied by a massive flare of ultraviolet radiation. Untangling the mystery of the UV flash could help unravel the mysterious nature of these supernova explosions, and even help us understand the age of the universe. Enjoy Some Ultraviolet It doesn’t have a pretty name, … Continue reading “There’s a flash of ultraviolet just as a white dwarf is exploding as a supernova” The post There’s a flash of ultraviolet just as a white dwarf is exploding as a supernovaRead More →

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Outburst of the X-ray transient MAXI J1727–203 investigated with NICER Using the NICER instrument, astronomers have conducted a detailed X-ray spectral and variability study of an outburst from an X-ray transient source known as MAXI J1727-203. Results of this investigation could shed more light on the true nature of this source. The study is detailed in a paper published July 22 on arXiv.org. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Stunning Space Butterfly Captured by ESO Telescope Resembling a butterfly with its symmetrical structure, beautiful colours, and intricate patterns, this striking bubble of gas — known as NGC 2899 — appears to float and flutter across the sky in this new picture from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). This object has never before been imaged in such striking detail, with even the faint outer edges of the planetary nebula glowing over the background stars. ESO News Feed Go to SourceRead More →

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Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” IV: What is the Rare Earth Hypothesis? Looking to answer the question of “where are all the aliens,” some scientists have suggested that planets like Earth might actually be very rare. The post Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” IV: What is the Rare Earth Hypothesis? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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A Group of Meteorites All Came From a Destroyed Planetesimal With a Magnetic Core Before our Solar System had planets, it had planetesimals. Scientists think that most of the meteorites that have struck Earth are fragments of these planetesimals. Scientists also think that these planetesimals either melted completely, very early in their history, or that they remained as little more than collections of rocks, or “rubble piles.” But one … Continue reading “A Group of Meteorites All Came From a Destroyed Planetesimal With a Magnetic Core” The post A Group of Meteorites All Came From a Destroyed Planetesimal With a Magnetic Core appeared first onRead More →

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Thanks to Cosmic Radiation, There Could be Life on Mars, Just a Couple of Meters Under the Surface Remember back in 2008 when the Phoenix lander on Mars scraped away a few inches of rust-colored regolith to reveal water ice? Or in 2009, when Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observations revealed vast areas of subsurface ice, event at low latitudes? These findings – and many more like them – indicate there’s a lot of interesting … Continue reading “Thanks to Cosmic Radiation, There Could be Life on Mars, Just a Couple of Meters Under the Surface” The post Thanks to Cosmic Radiation, There Could be Life onRead More →

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Astronomers pinpoint the best place on Earth for a telescope: High on a frigid Antarctic plateau au, could offer the clearest view on Earth of the stars at night, according to new research by an international team from China, Australia and the University of British Columbia (UBC). The challenge? The location is one of the coldest and most remote places on Earth. The findings were published today in Nature. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Discovered: Remnant of ancient globular cluster that’s ‘the last of its kind’ A team of astronomers including Carnegie’s Ting Li and Alexander Ji discovered a stellar stream composed of the remnants of an ancient globular cluster that was torn apart by the Milky Way’s gravity 2 billion years ago, when Earth’s most-complex lifeforms were single-celled organisms. This surprising finding, published in Nature, upends conventional wisdom about how these celestial objects form. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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There Might Be an Entire Orbit, Filled with Asteroids that Came from Outside the Solar System Some asteroids orbit the Sun in highly inclined orbits, and they might be aliens to our solar system. The post There Might Be an Entire Orbit, Filled with Asteroids that Came from Outside the Solar System appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Researchers discover triple-layered leading-edge of solar coronal mass ejections In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal, Dr. MEI Zhixing in Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues reported a Magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) numerical study on the coronal mass ejection (CME). They presented a high-resolution 3-D resistive MHD simulation to investigate the large-scale structure of the CME due to the eruptive solar prominence/filament, and discovered the triple-layered leading-edge of solar coronal mass ejections. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Miniature telescope demonstration focuses on sharpening view of distant objects in space A recently deployed DARPA CubeSat seeks to demonstrate technology that could improve imaging of distant objects in space and allow powerful space telescopes to fit into small satellites. DARPA’s Deformable Mirror (DeMi) CubeSat deployed from the International Space Station July 13, beginning the technology demonstration of a miniature space telescope with a small deformable mirror called a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mirror. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Extended X-ray emission detected from the radio galaxy 4C 63.20 Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, an international team of astronomers has conducted deep imaging observations of a high-redshift radio galaxy known as 4C 63.20. The observational campaign has revealed an extended X-ray emission from this source. The finding is reported in a paper published July 20 on the arXiv pre-print paper. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Studying radioactive aluminum in stellar systems unlocks formation secrets An international team of astronomers including Stella Offner of the University of Texas at Austin has proposed a new method for the formation of aluminum-26 in star systems that are forming planets. Because its radioactive decay is thought to provide a heat source for the building blocks of planets, called planetesimals, it’s important for astronomers to know where aluminum-26 comes from. Their research is published in the current issue of The Astrophysical Journal. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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New evidence for fragmentation of energy release in solar flares Type III radio bursts from the sun are signatures of energetic (∼1–100 keV) electrons, accelerated at the reconnection sites, propagating upward through the corona into the interplanetary medium along open magnetic field lines. The emission mechanism of the bursts is widely believed to be due to coherent plasma processes. The bursts are observed typically in the frequency range ≈1GHz–10kHz, which corresponds to radial distance range between the low—upper corona; this implies that type III bursts can be used to trace the coronal magnetic field over the distance range. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Russia Just Tested an Anti-Satellite Weapon The United States and Russia/USSR have been adversaries for a long time. Their heated rivarly stretches back to the waning days of WW2, when the enormous Red Army was occupying large swathes of eastern Europe, and the allies recognized the inherent threat. The Cold War followed, when the two nations aimed an absurd number of … Continue reading “Russia Just Tested an Anti-Satellite Weapon” The post Russia Just Tested an Anti-Satellite Weapon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Here’s the New Space Force Logo The newest branch of the US Military has a logo and a motto now. The mottos is Semper Supra, meaning ‘Always Above’. The logo’s main feature is a delta wing design. The US Space Force is still in its infancy, after being officially created by the US President in December 2019. It’s the 6th branch … Continue reading “Here’s the New Space Force Logo” The post Here’s the New Space Force Logo appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Saturn-sized Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of Another Star. The First Planet Completely Discovered by Amateur Astronomers Exoplanets have been a particularly hot topic of late.  More than 4000 of them have been discovered since the first in 1995.  Now one more can potentially be added to the list. This one is orbiting Gliese 3470, a red dwarf star located in the constellation Cancer.  What makes this discovery particularly interesting is that … Continue reading “Saturn-sized Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of Another Star. The First Planet Completely Discovered by Amateur Astronomers” The post Saturn-sized Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of AnotherRead More →