Universe Today (Page 218)

Room-temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time, but There’s a Catch One of the most interesting things about space exploration is how many technologies have an impact on our ability to reach farther.  New technologies that might not immediately be used in space can still eventually have a profound long-term impact.  On the other hand, everyone knows some technologies will be immediately game changing.  Superconductors, or … Continue reading “Room-temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time, but There’s a Catch” The post Room-temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time, but There’s a Catch appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Youngest Stellar Disk Ever Seen, Just 500,000 Years Old Unless you’re reading this in an aircraft or the International Space Station, then you’re currently residing on the surface of a planet. You’re here because the planet is here. But how did the planet get here? Like a rolling snowball picking up more snow, planets form from lose dust and gas surrounding young stars. As … Continue reading “The Youngest Stellar Disk Ever Seen, Just 500,000 Years Old” The post The Youngest Stellar Disk Ever Seen, Just 500,000 Years Old appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Why Does the Moon’s Ryder Crater Look This Way? This may be one of the strangest craters you’ll ever see. Ryder crater is located near the south pole of our Moon, and it has a bizarre oblong shape (approximately 13 x 17 km in size),  with a ridge cutting across the middle. The majority of impact craters are round. How did Ryder crater end … Continue reading “Why Does the Moon’s Ryder Crater Look This Way?” The post Why Does the Moon’s Ryder Crater Look This Way? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

ISS Crew Return Safely to Earth After 196 days in space, some record spacewalks, several experiments, and patching an air leak, the crew of Expedition 63 made it home safely! The post ISS Crew Return Safely to Earth appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

What Martian Settlers Need to Know About Soil Can Teach us How to Grow Better on Earth The Soil Health in Space experiment is now being conducted on the ISS, which could lead to sustainable farming on the Moon, Mars, and also Earth! The post What Martian Settlers Need to Know About Soil Can Teach us How to Grow Better on Earth appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

This is What Perseverance’s Landing Site Looked Like Billions of Years Ago. See Why it’s Such a Compelling Target? Today is a milestone in NASA’s Perseverance mission to Mars. At 1:40 pm Pacific time today, the rover will have traveled 235.4 million km (146.3 million miles). That means the spacecraft is halfway to Mars and its rendezvous with Jezero Crater. The spacecraft isn’t traveling in a straight line, and the planets are moving, so … Continue reading “This is What Perseverance’s Landing Site Looked Like Billions of Years Ago. See Why it’s Such a Compelling Target?” The post This is What Perseverance’s Landing Site LookedRead More →

Scientists in Japan Have Found a Detailed Record of the Earth’s Last Magnetic Reversal, 773,000 Years Ago Every 200,000 to 300,000 years Earth’s magnetic poles reverse. What was once the north pole becomes the south, and vice versa. It’s a time of invisible upheaval. The last reversal was unusual because it was so long ago. For some reason, the poles have remained oriented the way they are now for about three-quarters of … Continue reading “Scientists in Japan Have Found a Detailed Record of the Earth’s Last Magnetic Reversal, 773,000 Years Ago” The post Scientists in Japan Have Found a Detailed Record of the Earth’sRead More →

Boo! A Halloween Blue Moon The final ‘Blue Moon’ of the decade rounds out October 2020. The post Boo! A Halloween Blue Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

OSIRIS-REx Collected So Much Material, the Sample Capsule Overflowed. Time to Bring it All Home. Is there such as thing as too much asteroid? Scientists and engineers for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx decided to perform an “early stow” of the sample from Asteroid Bennu collected by the spacecraft on October 20, because the collection container is full-to-overflowing, possibly jamming the collector head from sealing shut. Images sent back from OSIRIS-REx on Oct. … Continue reading “OSIRIS-REx Collected So Much Material, the Sample Capsule Overflowed. Time to Bring it All Home.” The post OSIRIS-REx Collected So Much Material, the Sample Capsule Overflowed. Time to Bring it All Home.Read More →

Astronomers are ready and waiting to detect the neutrino blast from a nearby supernova explosion like Betelgeuse When giant stars die in impressive supernova blasts, about 99% of the energy released goes into producing a flood of neutrinos. These tiny, ghostly particles slip through tons of matter like it’s not even there. But a new generation of detectors will be able to catch them, telling us of the inner machinations of the … Continue reading “Astronomers are ready and waiting to detect the neutrino blast from a nearby supernova explosion like Betelgeuse” The post Astronomers are ready and waiting to detect the neutrino blast fromRead More →

Astronomers Map Out the Raw Material for New Star Formation in the Milky Way A team of researchers has discovered a complex network of filamentary structures in the Milky Way. The structures are made of atomic hydrogen gas. And we all know that stars are made mostly of hydrogen gas. Not only is all that hydrogen potential future star-stuff, the team found that its filamentary structure is also a … Continue reading “Astronomers Map Out the Raw Material for New Star Formation in the Milky Way” The post Astronomers Map Out the Raw Material for New Star Formation in the Milky Way appeared first onRead More →

There’s a new record for the shortest time measurement: how long it takes light to cross a hydrogen molecule To measure small differences in time, you need a really tiny clock, and researchers in Germany have discovered the smallest known clock: a single hydrogen molecule. Using the travel of light across the length of that molecule, those scientists have measured the smallest interval of time ever: 247 zeptoseconds. Don’t know what a “zepto” is? … Continue reading “There’s a new record for the shortest time measurement: how long it takes light to cross a hydrogen molecule” The post There’s a new record for the shortestRead More →

SpaceX Starship Passes Static Fire Test With Three Raptor Engines, Finally Gets Nose Cone! The Starship is coming together, literally and figuratively! With its three Raptor engines test fired, and nosecones and fins attached, the vessel is ready for its highest hop test yet! The post SpaceX Starship Passes Static Fire Test With Three Raptor Engines, Finally Gets Nose Cone! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Color of Habitable Worlds “This is where we live. On a Blue Dot.” said Carl Sagan when the now famous Pale Blue Dot photo was released. Captured February 14, 1990 by the Voyager 1 Space Probe, Pale Blue Dot remains the most distant photograph of the Earth ever taken at 6 billion kilometers. This past February marked the 30th … Continue reading “The Color of Habitable Worlds” The post The Color of Habitable Worlds appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Mixing Science and Art, One Painting at a Time All her life, Laci Shea Brock has needed to be creative and inventive. So, perhaps it’s not completely surprising that in addition to pursuing her PhD in planetary sciences and astrophysics, she’s also a talented artist. “My Dad says I’ve always had a paintbrush in my hand,” Brock said, “and I’ve always been inspired by … Continue reading “Mixing Science and Art, One Painting at a Time” The post Mixing Science and Art, One Painting at a Time appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

About 3% of Starlinks Have Failed So Far SpaceX has drawn plenty of praise and criticism with the creation of Starlink, a constellation that will one-day provide broadband internet access to the entire world. To date, the company has launched over 800 satellites and (as of this summer) is producing them at a rate of about 120 a month. There are even plans … Continue reading “About 3% of Starlinks Have Failed So Far” The post About 3% of Starlinks Have Failed So Far appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

New Receiver Will Boost Interplanetary Communication As we explore the solar system, we’ll need an interplanetary communication network that can keep up. A new receiver might be up for the job. The post New Receiver Will Boost Interplanetary Communication appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Geologists Have Found the Earth’s Missing Tectonic Plate Northern Canada has been keeping a secret from the rest of the world. It’s home to “Resurrection,” a tectonic plate that has been much theorized but never found until now. A team of researchers used what amounts to a CAT scan of northern Canada and the mantle underneath it to find the missing plate. Finding … Continue reading “Geologists Have Found the Earth’s Missing Tectonic Plate” The post Geologists Have Found the Earth’s Missing Tectonic Plate appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers Find the Hollowed-Out Shell of a Dwarf Galaxy that Collided With the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago In 2005 astronomers found a dense grouping of stars in the Virgo constellation. It looked like a star cluster, except further surveys showed that some of the stars are moving towards us, and some are moving away. That finding was unexpected and suggested the Stream was no simple star cluster. A 2019 study showed that … Continue reading “Astronomers Find the Hollowed-Out Shell of a Dwarf Galaxy that Collided With the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago” The post Astronomers Find the Hollowed-Out Shell of aRead More →

Astronomers Challenge Recent Findings About Venus. “No Statistically Significant Detection of Phosphine” In September, a team of scientists reported finding phosphine in the upper atmosphere of Venus. Phosphine can be a biomarker and is here on Earth. But it’s also present on Jupiter, where it’s produced abiotically. The discovery led to conjecture about what kind of life might survive in Venus’ atmosphere, continually producing the easily-degraded phosphine. … Continue reading “Astronomers Challenge Recent Findings About Venus. “No Statistically Significant Detection of Phosphine”” The post Astronomers Challenge Recent Findings About Venus. “No Statistically Significant Detection of Phosphine” appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →