Universe Today (Page 215)

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 →

Wow, Betelgeuse Might Be 25% Closer than Previously Believed In the last year, Betelgeuse has experienced two episodes of dimming. Normally, it’s one of the ten brightest stars in the sky, and astrophysicists and astronomers got busy trying to understand what was happening with the red supergiant. Different research came up with some possible answers: Enormous starspots, a build-up of dust, pre-supernova convulsions. Now … Continue reading “Wow, Betelgeuse Might Be 25% Closer than Previously Believed” The post Wow, Betelgeuse Might Be 25% Closer than Previously Believed appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

It’s still possible to detect the site of the 2017 kilonova explosion It’s been over a thousand days since the historic kilonova observation, and yet the region continues to emit X-rays, long after models predicted they should have faded away. What’s going on? August 2017 was a pretty momentous month in astronomy. The gravitational wave detectors LIGO and VIRGO spotted the unique signature of two colliding neutron … Continue reading “It’s still possible to detect the site of the 2017 kilonova explosion” The post It’s still possible to detect the site of the 2017 kilonova explosion appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Watch “Live” as NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Nabs an Asteroid Sample Today’s the day! The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is going to reach out and boop asteroid Bennu! You can watch the broadcast here as the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission attempts to collect a sample of an asteroid on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6:12 pm EDT (5:12 pm CDT, 3:12 PDT). Live coverage … Continue reading “Watch “Live” as NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Nabs an Asteroid Sample” The post Watch “Live” as NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Nabs an Asteroid Sample appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

You’ll Experience 200 Times More Radiation Standing on the Moon than Standing on the Earth January 31, 2021, will mark 50 years since the launch of Apollo 14. This historic mission was the first to broadcast a color television signal from the surface of the Moon and marked the heroic return to space of America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard, who famously hit two golf balls off of the lunar regolith. … Continue reading “You’ll Experience 200 Times More Radiation Standing on the Moon than Standing on the Earth” The post You’ll Experience 200 Times More Radiation Standing on the Moon than Standing on the EarthRead More →

NASA and Seven Countries Sign the Artemis Accords for the Exploration of the Moon. Russia Declined to Participate It looks like Russia is thumbing its nose at international cooperation on the Moon. They’ve refused to sign the Artemis Accords, which are a set of rules governing Lunar exploration. NASA and seven other countries have signed on already, with more to come. Russia is NASA’s largest partner in space exploration. The two countries are … Continue reading “NASA and Seven Countries Sign the Artemis Accords for the Exploration of the Moon. Russia Declined to Participate” The post NASA and Seven Countries Sign the Artemis Accords forRead More →

What’s Happening with Betelgeuse? Astronomers Propose a Specialized Telescope to Watch the Star Every Night An international team of astronomers recommends creating “Betelgeuse Scope” to monitor this mysterious star find out why it has been acting so strangely of late! The post What’s Happening with Betelgeuse? Astronomers Propose a Specialized Telescope to Watch the Star Every Night appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The galaxy with 99.99% dark matter isn’t so mysterious any more The dwarf galaxy known as Dragonfly 44 caused a stir recently: apparently it had way, way more dark matter than any other galaxy. Since this couldn’t be explained by our models of galaxy formation, it seemed like an oddball. But a new analysis reveals that Dragonfly 44 has much less dark matter than previously thought. … Continue reading “The galaxy with 99.99% dark matter isn’t so mysterious any more” The post The galaxy with 99.99% dark matter isn’t so mysterious any more appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

NASA Announces 14 New “Tipping Point” Technologies for its Lunar Exploration NASA recently awarded contracts to fourteen companies to develop technologies that will help them return to the Moon, and stay there! The post NASA Announces 14 New “Tipping Point” Technologies for its Lunar Exploration appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

We actually don’t know how fast the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole is spinning but there might be a way to find out The stars at the center of our galaxy could tell us just how fast our closest supermassive black hole is spinning. The post We actually don’t know how fast the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole is spinning but there might be a way to find out appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Half of its Coral Over the Last 25 Years A new study found that warmer ocean temperatures driven by climate change have caused Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to lose more than half of its corals since 1995. The researchers say virtually all coral populations along the Great Barrier Reef have declined due to repeated “bleaching events” in the past 25 years. They said the … Continue reading “Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Half of its Coral Over the Last 25 Years” The post Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Half of its Coral Over the Last 25 Years appeared first onRead More →

Impatient? A Spacecraft Could Get to Titan in Only 2 Years Using a Direct Fusion Drive Fusion power is the technology that is thirty years away, and always will be – according to skeptics at least.  Despite its difficult transition into a reliable power source, the nuclear reactions that power the sun have a wide variety of uses in other fields.  The most obvious is in weapons, where hydrogen bombs are … Continue reading “Impatient? A Spacecraft Could Get to Titan in Only 2 Years Using a Direct Fusion Drive” The post Impatient? A Spacecraft Could Get to Titan in Only 2 Years Using aRead More →

InSight’s ‘Mole’ is Now Completely buried! It’s been a long road for InSight’s Mole. InSight landed on Mars almost two years ago, in November 2018. While the lander’s other instruments are working fine and returning scientific data, the Mole has been struggling to hammer its way into the surface of the planet. After much hard work and a lot of patience, … Continue reading “InSight’s ‘Mole’ is Now Completely buried!” The post InSight’s ‘Mole’ is Now Completely buried! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Operating a Rover in Real-time From a Distance There are instances other than pandemics when it is necessary to work remotely. Spacecraft operators are forced to do most of their work remotely while their charges travel throughout the solar system.  Sometimes those travels take place a little closer to home. Engineers at DLR, Germany’s space agency, recently got to take the concept of … Continue reading “Operating a Rover in Real-time From a Distance” The post Operating a Rover in Real-time From a Distance appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Pluto has Snowcapped Mountains, But Why? We can thank NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft for opening our eyes up to Pluto’s complexity. On July 14th, 2015, the spacecraft came within 12,500 km (7,800 mi) of the dwarf planet. During the flyby, New Horizons was able to characterize Pluto’s atmosphere and its surface. Among the things New Horizons saw was a region of snowcapped mountains. … Continue reading “Pluto has Snowcapped Mountains, But Why?” The post Pluto has Snowcapped Mountains, But Why? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Summer is Dust Devil Time on Mars Just like Earth, Mars undergoes seasonal changes due to its axial tilt. And while summer heat on Mars can’t compare with Earth’s, along with the Martian summer warmth comes an increase in small whirling storms known as dust devils. Several spacecraft on or orbiting Mars have captured dust devils in action, including the Phoenix lander … Continue reading “Summer is Dust Devil Time on Mars” The post Summer is Dust Devil Time on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Elon Musk Shares a View of Starship With Three Raptor Engines Installed The SN8 Starship prototype just got its three Raptor engines, and is now preparing to test fire them. After that, it’s smooth sailing towards the 15 km (50,000 ft) hop test! The post Elon Musk Shares a View of Starship With Three Raptor Engines Installed appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: October 14, 2020, Drs. Jane Huang & Jonathan Williams, Protoplanetary Disks This week we are joined by Dr. Jane Huang and Dr. Jonathan Willams from the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA). Dr. Huang, Dr. Williams, and their team recently discovered some surprising information about the size and shape of some protoplanetary disks. The post Weekly Space Hangout: October 14, 2020, Drs. Jane Huang & Jonathan Williams, Protoplanetary Disks appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers Report They’ve Detected the Amino Acid Glycine in the Atmosphere of Venus Does it feel like all eyes are on Venus these days? The discovery of the potential biomarker phosphine in the planet’s upper atmosphere last month garnered a lot of attention, as it should. There’s still some uncertainty around what the phosphine discovery means, though. Now a team of researchers claims they’ve discovered the amino acid … Continue reading “Astronomers Report They’ve Detected the Amino Acid Glycine in the Atmosphere of Venus” The post Astronomers Report They’ve Detected the Amino Acid Glycine in the Atmosphere of Venus appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

China’s Mars-bound Tianwen-1 Takes a Selfie The CNSA (Chinese National Space Agency) has released an image of its Tianwen-1 spacecraft to coincide with the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. The spacecraft is on its way to Mars, and if the landing is successful, China will be only the third nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the planet. The image shows … Continue reading “China’s Mars-bound Tianwen-1 Takes a Selfie” The post China’s Mars-bound Tianwen-1 Takes a Selfie appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →