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Wally Funk, Aviation Pioneer and Oldest Woman to Travel to Space, Dies at 87 Wally Funk, an aviation pioneer who was the oldest woman to launch into space, has died. She was 87. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
A Rapidly-Growing Black Hole in a Nearby Galaxy Could Provide a Window Into the Early Universe. The black hole at the centre of a nearby galaxy is growing exceptionally fast, and is producing a burst of radio emission that has never been observed before. With characteristics that are expected in the early Universe, this unique galaxy provides important insights into the processes that governed the growth of the first black holes. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Astronomers Use a Neutron Star Merger to Measure Cosmic Expansion Swinburne University of Technology and CSIRO have combined telescope and gravitational wave data in an attempt to unlock the true value of the Universe’s expansion. Existing measurements of the Hubble Constant have split cosmologists for more than a decade Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Only Binary Stars Can Create Interacting Supernovae When a massive star reaches the end of its life, it explodes as a supernova that can light up the sky for months. But some supernovae stay luminous for much longer, and astrophysicists have wondered what causes their extended brightness. New research points to binary stars, where one star expels material right before the explosion that creates a cocoon of circumstellar medium. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
How ‘Star City’ Reimagined the Space Race With Soviets as the Stars How do you capture the mood of the 1960s space race in a fictional universe where the Soviets beat the Americans to the moon? The production team for Apple TV’s “Star City” series rose to the challenge. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
To Ancient Astronomers, Theta Eridani Was Brighter For A Thousand Years. Now We Know Why Ptolemy and al-Sufi were keen ancient astronomers, one in Greece and one in Persia, whose observations were separated by almost a thousand years. They both noted that the star Theta Eridani was far brighter than it is today. Now we know why. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Ultra-Black Coating Could Mitigate Light Pollution Caused by Satellites Astrophysicists working tirelessly to tackle the growing impact of satellite constellations have pioneered a new ultra-black coating as one possible way to mitigate the problem. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Could Permanent Magnets Protect Astronauts from Solar Storms? Shielding astronauts from the killer radiation they face is a central challenge facing any designer of a deep-space crewed mission. Even relatively low levels of exposure for long periods of time can lead to everything from central nervous system damage to cancer. But current solutions, such as passive water shells or active superconducting magnets, have their own limitations. To get around those, a new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv by Valerio Parisi and a team of researchers from Italy and Germany, looks at the feasibility of using a permanent magnet (and its associated permanent magnetic field)Read More →
NASA Is Calling on Industry to Build Its Lunar Infrastructure NASA is serious about going back to the Moon. Ongoing missions like the recently completed Artemis II trip around the Moon are just one such sign. But perhaps more importantly, NASA is recognizing how much additional work will have to go into funding technology development if we hope to stay on the lunar surface permanently. To reflect that understanding, the agency recently released a request for public feedback on what it calls the Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator – which might have been named after a Star Wars fan, since its acronym is LEIA. Universe TodayRead More →
A “Smart Ruler” Could Help Swarms of Space Telescopes Image Exoplanets We’ve talked plenty of times here about the infeasibility of launching a mirror big enough to directly image exoplanets using current rocket fairings – at least as long as we’re not sending them 500+ AU away to a gravitational lensing point. We’ve also talked at length about the potential solution to that problem – interferometry, where multiple smaller satellites link up precisely, but are spaced far enough apart to act as one gigantic mirror. The problem is, from a technical standpoint, it’s really hard to build these kinds of systems. But the field hasRead More →
Does Space Speed Up Ageing? A New Study Says Yes! Scientists at UCF have found that the harsh conditions of spaceflight, radiation and weightlessness combined, can trigger changes in the liver that closely resemble accelerated ageing, and remarkably, the same genetic fingerprints show up in real astronaut blood samples. The discovery could shape how we protect future Mars explorers, and might just hold clues to slowing ageing back here on Earth too. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Scientists Heard the Fireball No Camera Could See When a fireball streaked across the Alaska sky in broad daylight, the cameras meant to capture it saw nothing useful. Undeterred, scientists turned to sound waves too low for human ears and faint tremors picked up by earthquake sensors, piecing together an extraordinary account of the object’s final seconds. What they discovered points to a surprising new way of tracking dangers falling from space, whether we can see them coming or not. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Could Astronauts Grow Rice on the Moon? Scientists in Japan have built a low power device that pulls nitrogen straight from the air and turns it into fertiliser, then used it to successfully grow rice in simulated lunar soil. Along the way, they stumbled on an unexpected bonus that could make crops both healthier and better suited to life in space, one with surprising promise for farms back on Earth too. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
7,000 Galaxy Clusters, Hiding in Plain Sight A five year survey by the South Pole Telescope has produced a catalogue of more than seven thousand galaxy clusters, some dating back nearly eight billion years, giving astronomers their most detailed map yet of the universe’s largest structures. Hidden inside the data is something even the researchers did not expect, a discovery that is quietly reshaping how we think star formation unfolded across the history of the universe. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Detecting Atomic Weapons in Space The Outer Space Treaty from 1967 prohibits weapons in space. But a satellite launched by Russia has generated suspicion. Despite claims that it’s a normal satellite, some things about it suggest otherwise. New research proposes a way to detect atomic weapons in space, helping enforce the treaty. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Milky Way’s Arms Reach Out Further Than we Thought A new result using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that the outer spiral arms in the Milky Way galaxy may reach wider than previously thought. This finding may lead astronomers to adjust their understanding of our home galaxy’s structure. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The JWST and the Mystery of Massive Quenched Galaxies in the Early Universe With its ability to observe the red-shifted light from early galaxies, the JWST has revealed some surprises. Many massive galaxies in the early Universe had ceased star formation and were already quenched hundreds of millions of years sooner than thought. By examining their morphology, new research shows that mergers that were previously hidden from view are responsible. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Another Success for Hayabusa 2 as it Completes a Flyby of Asteroid Torifune JAXA’s Hayabusa 2 has completed its flyby of asteroid Torifune. The spacecraft came within about 800 meters of the asteroid’s surface. Though the spacecraft is travelling very rapidly, making navigation challenging, it was still able to capture clear images of the asteroid’s boulder-strewn surface. Based on ground-based observations, scientists suspected that Torifune was a contact binary asteroid, and these images confirm it. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Euclid Space Telescope Has Found 31 New Ancient Quasars, Including the Most Ancient One Ever Found Euclid is only 1.5 years into its Euclid Wide Survey and has found 31 new quasars from the Universe’s first 800 million years. Though the Survey isn’t specifically aimed at finding ancient quasars, it’s proving to be remarkably effective at it. This large sample of quasars will help with the study of ancient galaxies and supermassive black holes. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Galaxy Mergers Aren’t Always Obvious Mergers are a part of a galaxy’s life in this Universe. Though clear signs of these mergers fade over hundreds of millions of years, evidence is still present, yet obscured, in the galaxies that experience them. The powerful JWST has made it possible to find this evidence, and it did so recently for Centaurus A. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
