ESA Recruits Amateur Astronomers Ahead of Hera Asteroid Mission The European Space Agency is looking to recruit amateur astronomers to help characterize possible secondary targets for the upcoming Hera asteroid rendezvous mission. The post ESA Recruits Amateur Astronomers Ahead of Hera Asteroid Mission appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source
An Asteroid has been Found that Orbits the Sun Closer than Venus Astronomers at Caltech’s Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) have discovered an asteroid that orbits inside Venus. Though other asteroids have a portion of their orbit inside Venus’, this is the first one with an orbit that is completely inside Venus’ orbit. The new object […]
Another Beautiful Image of Jupiter from Juno During its Latest Flyby. Great Work by Gerald Eichstadt and Sean Doran Confucius said, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” When it comes to Jupiter, Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran can certainly see it. And lucky for us, they have the skill to bring that beauty […]
Scientists Figure Out How to Continuously Watch the Entire Planet With Just 4 Satellites A new study has shown that optimal global satellite coverage can be achieved with just four satellites, and in a very cost-effective way. The post Scientists Figure Out How to Continuously Watch the Entire Planet With Just 4 Satellites appeared first […]
Beautiful Image of Ice at Mars’ Northern Polar Cap A new image from the ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft shows how beautiful, and desolate, Mars can appear. It also highlights some of the natural process that shape the planet’s surface. The image is of the northern polar region, and it features bright patches of ice, deep […]
A Second Planet May Have been Found Orbiting Proxima Centauri! And it’s a Super Earth. Astronomers have discovered another candidate exoplanet orbiting our neighbor, Proxima Centauri. A paper announcing these results was just published in the journal Science Advances. If confirmed, it will be the second exoplanet orbiting the star. It was big news in […]
It Takes Two Stars to Make a Gamma Ray Burst A new study by researchers from the University of Warwick shows how Gamma Ray Bursts can only occur with binary systems. The post It Takes Two Stars to Make a Gamma Ray Burst appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source
Underwater Robot Captures its First Sample 500 Meters Below the Surface of the Ocean The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) says their underwater robot has just completed the first-ever automated underwater sampling operation. The robot is called Nereid Under Ice (NEI) and it collected the sample in Greece. WHOI is developing Nereid in association with […]
Weekly Space Hangout: January 15, 2019 – Dr Erin Explains the Universe Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier ) Beth Johnson (@planetarypan) Moiya McTier (https://www.moiyamctier.com/ / @GoAstroMo) This week we welcome Dr. Erin Macdonald to the Weekly Space Hangout. Erin is an astrophysicist, science fiction consultant, aerospace engineer, and host of the online series […]
LightSail 2 is Still Solar Sailing, But it’s Getting Lower and Lower with Each Orbit LightSail 2 deployed it solar sail five months ago, and it’s still orbiting Earth. It’s a successful demonstration of the potential of solar sail spacecraft. Now the LightSail 2 team at The Planetary Society has released a paper outlining their […]
Carnival of Space #646 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang at his Next Big Future blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #646 And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. […]
Balloon-Based Cosmic Ray Observatory is Now on its Second Trip Around Antarctica The SuperTIGER-2 flight just completed its second tour around Antarctica in its mission to determine the origin and nature of cosmic rays. The post Balloon-Based Cosmic Ray Observatory is Now on its Second Trip Around Antarctica appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today […]
New View of the Swan Nebula From NASA’s Airborne SOFIA Telescope Using the SOFIA telescope, a team of NASA astronomers have conducted the most detailed survey of the interior of the Swan Nebula to date. The post New View of the Swan Nebula From NASA’s Airborne SOFIA Telescope appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today […]
Almost 800,000 Years Ago, an Enormous Meteorite Struck Earth. Now We Know Where. 20% of the surface of Earth’s Eastern Hemisphere is littered with a certain kind of rock. Black, glossy blobs called tektites are spread throughout Australasia. Scientists know they’re from a meteorite strike, but they’ve never been able to locate the crater where […]
In About 3 Million Years, WASP-12b Will Spiral into its Star and be Consumed A new study led by Princeton researchers has confirmed that in the long run, hot Jupiters are destined to be devoured by their suns. The post In About 3 Million Years, WASP-12b Will Spiral into its Star and be Consumed appeared […]
Hubble Finds Teeny Tiny Clumps of Dark Matter Using data from Hubble and the gravitational lensing technique, a team of astronomers have found definitive evidence that Dark Matter is indeed “cold”. The post Hubble Finds Teeny Tiny Clumps of Dark Matter appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to Source
There’s a new method to measure the expansion rate of the Universe, but it doesn’t resolve the Crisis in Cosmology In a recent post I wrote about a study that argued dark energy isn’t needed to explain the redshifts of distant supernovae. I also mentioned we shouldn’t rule out dark energy quite yet, because there […]
The Perfect Stars to Search for Life On Their Planets We tend to think of our Earthly circumstances as normal. A watery, temperate world orbiting a stable yellow star. A place where life has persisted for nearly 4 billion years. It’s almost inevitable that when we think of other places where life could thrive, we […]
TESS Finds a Planet That Orbits Two Stars Researchers working with data from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) have a found a planet that orbits two stars. Initially, the system was identified by citizen scientists as a pair of eclipsing binary stars without a planet. But an intern taking a closer look at that […]
An Upcoming Impact With the Magellanic Clouds is Already Causing Star Formation in the Milky Way A new study presented at the 235th meeting of the AAS this week shows how star formation is already happening thanks to the expected collision between the Milky Way and the LMC. The post An Upcoming Impact With the […]
